Are you smart?

« Mum, I am smart », explained my son while drawing another Ninja. As a proud mother I rather agree with his statement. Yet I challenge him: “How do you know that? How do you know you are smart?” To what he replied: “Because I find lots of solutions.”

SolutionS with a plural. Not “a” solution.

Yes sweetie, you are smart. When I attended school it was all about finding THE solution. THE right answer so you can pass exams, enrol in a highly regarded school, find a stable job and climb the corporate ladder. With the unemployment rate rising after what was called in France “les Trente Glorieuses” (Glorious Thirty), this model was shaking on its feet. Yet we were blindly following the principles built to educate for the industrial age.

This time is over.
In the school of the 21^st century, it is all about how to find lots of solutions.

This was inspired by a previous post on my French blog.