Gary Crook | artist ALS Fund Life Factoid: In my Traditional Schooling years, I went to TWO different Elementary Schools, THREE different Middle Schools (I failed 7th grade and had to repeat it), and THREE different High Schools

The Crook children: Jordan Dylan and Malcolm - FirstDay School 2010

Gary Crook | artist ALS Fund Life Factoid: In my Traditional Schooling years, I went to TWO different Elementary Schools, THREE different Middle Schools (I failed 7th grade and had to repeat it), and THREE different High Schools 

- some in different parts of the same city, some in different states, and some in different countries (Germany, my adopted father was a career fighter pilot in the Air Force), some by choice and some not.  

I obviously had a very difficult time in traditional school, in fact, I hated it!  School, to me during that time, was a gut wrenching, nerve wracking, soul crushing yearly endeavor which consisted of endless Parent Teacher “Strategy Sessions” designed to “Motivate Gary,” nightly battles and screaming matches with the parents about homework, Lying, Referrals and inevitably long-term groundings...  

And I’ll be Damned if I didn’t repeat the EXACT SAME behavior with my own school aged children!...  =0(

Now I look back with the clock ticking on my earthly existence, and as a parent myself now, and ask: “How did our culture LET our education system into our homes on such a personal level?  How (and Why) did the act of learning get so ugly?  WHEN did we give this bureaucratic entity sooooooooooo much control over our familial tranquility?”

I did end up graduating in what could best be described as night school/correspondence high school, and eventually found myself receiving my bachelor’s and eventually master’s degrees - MUCH to my parent’s utter befuddlement!... =0)

Anyway, the moral of this story is this: humans cannot be forced-fed ANYTHING!, and that includes education and/or motivation - I did not get interested in school until college when it became interesting to ME! - it’s simply not worth the nightly battles with your loved one’s (and this is coming from a former college professor!).

So be good to those underage students who live under your roof, and DON’T let some random teacher and/or some bureaucratic entity sooooooooooo much control over your familial tranquility - DON’T be afraid to Push Back a little when you’ve had enough of the berating of your precious children; after all they don’t even know them!

Most importantly, don’t let “school” create an ugly rift in your household, as I now know, Life is indeed Way too Short!

~ Gary Crook | artist, Louisville, Kentucky 2014

>  If you’d like to donate directly to Gary Crook’s ALS Fund, please go to: http://www.gofundme.com/60j52k