How Schools Stifle Creativity & Extrasensory Perception

The 2021 school year is only a few weeks away and many stakeholders are excited that it’s actually brick and mortar time. My response to this is: I am glad I have no children or grand children in today’s education system. Some of us educators feel that COVID was not necessarily a bad thing. It gave many students the opportunity to reconnect with their authentic selves.

In my last post, Angel Readings: How to Find Your Spiritual Path, I mentioned how school systems disrupt the positive flow of creativity. So now I would like to expand on that belief system by expressing my personal experiences with education.

I remember my encounters with Preschool and the results of those interactions vividly, mostly because I hated it. What I mean by ‘hated’ can be translated as ‘fear.’ Fear of being abandoned (left by Mom for work); Fear of being rejected (not coloring properly); Fear of being alone (nobody played with me); Fear of being different (I cried hysterically while others were calm). Fear was the common denominator which is not a fun way to begin a relationship with education.

Was this perception or reality? Well, probably a little bit of both.

What I know for sure is that years later when I began driving, I got lost and turned down a random street where I passed this same Preschool. I stopped dead on my tracks as panic set in. I had to pull over as I stared at the then empty building for what seemed like hours. I was triggered. Up until then, my recollection of this place was only in nightmares. I relived that traumatic experience and it immobilized me. One particular standout was the activity of coloring fish.

As a child, I did not see things around me in terms of solid colors. I always saw my world as layers of colors or multi-colored, similar to rainbows and somewhat obscure. I suppose this enhanced my ability to see visions and angels.

So, when we were asked to do a project on goldfish, I was not successful. I was supposed to paste goldish-yellow paper onto the fish but since there were only “those colors” available, I added coloring to my project using crayons (which I thought was perfect), but was considered a rainbow scribbled mess! And it didn’t matter what I felt or thought, it only mattered what the people around me believed, children and adults alike.

Being a highly emotional and sensitive child, I had melt downs every time it was time to go to school. Returning to this building and the people inside it caused me anxiety because the fish incident would not be the only time I was called out for doing things wrong. "You are bad," was the message I perceived and what I embodied for the rest of my life.

These “learning outcomes” began the demise of my life because the end result was this:

1. Your visions are wrong.

2. You need to ‘people please’ to be accepted.

3. Your ideas, creativity, and feelings are not good enough.

Thus began the manifestation of embracing another’s opinion as more important than mine .

After that, I was really good at school and life because I became an expert at conformity. The caveat was my inability to see angels and visions, which began soon after my transition. Although I admired my primary school teachers, it was at the price of seeing my world through their eyes. It was these negative experiences however, that led me to become a teacher, and I was awesome at it. I was loved very much by students and parents (not by faculty or admin, but that’s another story) and everybody thrived.

Then Common Core Standards came along around 2010 and it was Preschool all over again. Suffice it to say, I did not last long after that!

Morale of the story is to live your life FEARLESSLY!

Support your child’s visions.

 Embrace self-acceptance to augment self-worth.

Creativity, self-expression, and feelings are never wrong!

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In the next blog discussion, I will disclose secrets about Common Core and how it destroyed my love of teaching and how it promoted (and continues to foster) a mass destruction of anxiety in which the stress response is fear (all the points we discussed in this post), while eliminating creativity and mindful thinking.

It is time for ruffled rejuvenation: The antiquated education system is not benefitting your child.

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Patti Ayala-Martin, Ph.D. is an educator and a Mindfulness Education expert. Her goal is to rejuvenate the antiquated education system so that learners have successful outcomes honoring their authentic selves. Patti advocates for anti-bullying systems and works with underserved students to facilitate positive self-worth. Volunteering in prison systems for reading literacy is a passion for giving back to the community.

Patti coaches newbie teachers who need help with lesson planning, time management, behavior modification, instruction, and other educational related needs including language literacy, reading strategies, and writing.