Finding brilliance in all children is possible
Part I of two parts
By Stephanie Bertholdo bertholdo@theacorn.com

Resa Brown

Is it possible to discover the brilliance within each child in a public school setting where conformity takes precedence over passion, where young minds are shaped according to an agenda rather than nurtured and personal fervor takes a back seat to rote memorization?

Educator Resa Steindel Brown, author of the newly released book, "The Call To Brilliance," believes every child is born with a wealth of passion and surprising talents. As a mother, she should know. Brown's family tale turns public education's conventions on their head and could double as a blueprint for change.

Brown heads the Las Virgenes Unified School District's home independent study program, commonly known as homeschooling. She has been a teacher for 36 years and is credentialed in all grade levels from kindergarten through 12th grade as well as college.

"The Call To Brilliance" weaves Brown's personal triumph over a cookie cutter education in 1960s Los Angeles with the incredible story of her three homeschooled children. All are now thriving adults whose individualism might have been improperly labeled a disorder by today's No Child Left Behind standards.

The No Child Left Behind Act leaves more children behind than ever, according to Brown. Children can't move forward, she said, when teachers are tied to the text and the text is tied to state standards. "It's too easy for some, too hard for others," Brown said. "We want children to learn on their own."

"I decided to use my background as a vehicle to explain how we evolved in the education system in the last 50 years," she said. She believes the system is based on an 1850s industrial age model when it was important to ready the children of farmers for work in factories.

Brown attended school in the Los Angeles Unified School District. She remembers the hope and passion she had on her first day of kindergarten, only to have such passion zapped away by third grade when her teacher publicly ridiculed an art project after Brown made the mistake of not matching certain colors.

Brown's juxtaposition of her educational journey with her children's vastly different experience is shocking. When Brown's first child, Stephen, didn't quite fit the public kindergarten mold 23 years ago, Brown opted to teach him at home.

Stephen was different from the children in his play group, she said, describing him as "pure kinetic motion" in her book. Stephen didn't read until he was 9, yet entered college at 12. Now 28, he holds a master's degree from UCLA in computer electronics. Erin, 25, is now finishing her doctorate in applied mathematics.

Brown's youngest son, Matthew, didn't read until he was 11, but within a year he was attending college. He graduated from UCLA with a bachelor's degree in science in mathematics/applied science management and accounting, with a specialization in computing. He has just published his first book.

Brown said she homeschooled all of her children and let their talents rise naturally from their interests and passions. They learned through play, laughter and life.

Brown believes Stephen and Matthew would have been labeled with a variety of learning disabilities had they been in public school, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia and dysgraphia, a writing difficulty, had they been placed in public school.

"Had they been sorted, tested and labeled when they were little, they would not have had the confidence to excel," Brown writes in her book. "Their behaviors would have been molded to defeat, their minds forced to follow the format and their bodies pinned behind their desks. Their failures would have been reinforced in report card after report card. They would have lost touch with their true identities- the particular genius each child has at birth."

Matthew was dyslexic and even spoke in his own language. His sister understood him, but few others could decipher his odd chatter. He was given speech lessons, but the speech pathologist predicted Matthew would never properly read.

Reading readiness is a neurological milestone, Brown said. In public education, all children are expected to read at approximately the same time, and controlling the behavior of children may be more pernicious than forcing reading upon children before their brains are ready. Brown called social conditioning "a form of testing and conditioning that is reinforced daily- a form that will dispense their self-concepts and frame their sense of self worth."

Brown said she hopes her book will inspire change in the Las Virgenes district. Multiage classrooms would top her list of adjustments to more kidfriendly classrooms. "Kids are all at different levels anyway," Brown said. "No one feels badly wherever they are. If we could create these kinds of schools inside our school system- and we can- all we have to do is restructure. We would find children's passion and talents, and we would have brilliance everywhere."

Brown will be signing her book from noon to 2 p.m. Sat., Feb. 10 at the Thousand Oaks postal annex, 1336 Moorpark Road, and at 7 p.m. Mon., Feb. 12 at Barnes & Noble in the Westlake Promenade.

For further information, visit www.thecalltobrilliance.com.

Next week's article will focus on the Las Virgenes Unified School District's plans for alternative education.