Don’t Raise a Hoop Jumper

I am fortunate to have a great network of parents who forward me articles and other links that they know will interest me.  Yesterday, a dad forwarded this fabulous post from the TED blog.  It includes the video of Jane Andraka’s TEDx talk.  If that name sounds a bit familiar, but you can’t quite place it, Mrs. Andraka is the mother of two successful young men.  One of them is Jack Andraka, a teenager who developed an early-detection test for pancreatic cancer.  The other son, Luke, won an international science fair and the MIT Think Award.

Mrs. Andraka speaks about how she helped her sons find their passions, and the responsibility that all parents have to do so.  In the Q&A included in the blog post, she says the following,

Jane Andraka, parent of Jack and Luke Andraka, speaking on the TED blog.

Ultimately, Mrs. Andraka’s message is to help your children develop a growth mindset and to learn how to make themselves truly happy. The only point that I somewhat disagree with her on is that this job falls squarely on the shoulder of the parents.  Of course, I believe that parents must work hard to advocate for their children and guide them.  But I also think that schools need to be partners in this process.  That may seem contradictory since schools seem to encourage the “hoop-jumper” mentality.  But I am hoping that future education reforms will change that. It should really be our goal to teach every child to “make your own self remarkable.”