Need some “Genius” Time?

If leisure is the foundation of a healthy culture, why has it been stripped from the halls of modern education?  By leisure I do not mean recess or lunchtime, but rather the free ability to pursue voluntary creative pursuits.   One of the major arguments against public education has consistently been its inability to accommodate such innate desires, stifling them instead beneath mountainous regulations and procedures.  However, some schools have begun to experiment, reintroducing the idea of free-time into American education.  

In a recent article for CNN, Emanuella Ginberg explains how this movement has begun to grasp the imaginations of educators.  Select schools have begun implementing various “genius hours,” providing their students time to innovate and explore ideas that are of personal interest.

“It’s getting kids to learn on their own and become lifelong learners … They’re not going to have teachers to help them throughout life. They’re going to be on their own.”

“There’s not a lot of freedom in education right now. There’s still so much emphasis on standardized testing. This is a tiny little bit of freedom in a safe environment, to explore and push boundaries, and there are no bad repercussions.”

Featured students used their “genius” time to research commercial products, read great literature, build feats of engineering, or create masterpieces of art.  If education should foster culture, perhaps teachers and administrations should lose the state standards obsession and focus instead upon students’ ability to experience leisure.