Scholarship (Debate and Public Speaking Class)

There are so many schools of thought about education and our initial instincts sometimes are contradicted by the emerging needs of these creative and complex individuals.  One more radical concept rejects much of the push toward academics among young kids and encourages play instead, promising that this will fuel creativity and initiative and that young scholars will emerge organically by their early teen years.  I've been intrigued by this, but nervous too... what if you get to that magic age and they never do become scholars and  instead are stuck irretrievably behind?   In other words, I never had the courage to embrace this entirely and instead we've adopted an eclectic approach, combining different approaches and educational philosophies.

Still, I've been seeing more evidence of emerging scholarship here and it is rewarding.  Here, she is working on an assignment to present a "anti-cloning" argument in her public speaking and debate class.  She's been entirely independent and diligent about it, working hard and digging deep for arguments and counter arguments.  I'm so impressed!

UPDATE:  She won her debate!  Better yet, when I got there to pick her up, she didn't immediately leave - she was hanging around with the other kids, talking and laughing.  Love it!