The Marshmellow Man Knows More Than You Might Think

All it takes is a few toothpicks and a bag of mini-marshmellows for a new character to spring to life. Most children easily spend their time inventing, not only characters, but narratives that put them to work.

When it comes to children and the way we educate them, as a writer, one of my pet peeves is the vocabulary test imposed on kids that rewards linear thinking and ignores creative interpretation and context.

Let me get specific. In a reprise of many previous experiences with all of my kids, my youngest got one of her 31 Vocab questions marked "wrong" yesterday.

Here was the question:

10. To recover is to
a. buy something new.
b. get well again.
c. get a new job.
d. move to a new home.

According to orthodoxy, the correct answer is, of course (b) but she chose (c).

Here is the context of this child's reality: Both of her parents have lost their jobs during the current recession. Anyone who listens to the news (which she does) hears the word "recovery" used much more often w.r.t. the national economy than to matters of illness.

If I were her teacher, rather than marking her down, I'd give her extra credit for perceiving that the meanings of words have a certain plasticity in English. A year ago, (b) might have been correct, but things have changed radically, and our use of language has, as well.

-30-