Developing creativity during childhood is very important, but one teacher in Arizona has been accused of thinking otherwise. A mother, going by the username Fresh_Laundry56 on Reddit, says that her daughter was doing an art project at school involving only drawing using shapes. In her post on r/mildlyinfuriating, the mother shared a photo of her child’s drawing: a “nice American flag with rectangles and stars, and added the house, tree, and person holding a balloon.” Unfortunately for the 6-year-old, the teacher wasn’t pleased.
“She was told it did not follow directions, she was not supposed to draw a flag, just shapes,” Fresh Laundry wrote vehemently. So, the teacher allegedly forced the girl to start over on the other side of the paper, where she drew a “very uninspiring collection of shapes.” “And this is why kids start to hate education,” the mom sighed.
Luckily, the mom said she was very supportive of her 6-year-old daughter. “I told her the teacher didn’t have any creative thinking skills and I thought her picture was beautiful,” she recalled, and tens of thousands of Redditors also had the daughter’s back.
Reddit Sided with the Daughter and Condemned the Arizona Teacher’s Correction
“Is the flag not made of shapes?” questioned a commenter. “Asking a kid to draw ‘a picture with shapes’ is like asking them to write a story with words. All pictures are made of shapes,” added another user. “Are these teachers stupid?” exclaimed a third.
As to why Fresh Laundry’s child chose to draw an American flag, she believes it was because school started in July for her daughter. And at the start, the children learned about the American flag, since it was around July 4th.
However, a small minority sided with the teacher, saying that the 6-year-old needs to learn to follow instructions, not do things on her own. “Her teacher did the right thing by making her re-do her work correctly,” remarked a Redditor.
To that remark, the Arizona mother responded, saying that she agrees that following instructions is important but creative thinking is just as important. “My kid thinks outside the box and she’s in a program for gifted kids so they should know this and they should have accepted it.”
To be fair, this is coming from the mother’s side of the story and not the teacher’s, so there’s a big chunk of missing context. Still, many were pleased with upvotes and supportive comments that Fresh Laundry praised her daughter’s creativity instead of criticizing her for “not following directions.”
