Metaphor(s) for our System

In sifting through my feeds the other day, I came across this advertisement (91 seconds long):

The Metaphors

#1) The so-called experts (teachers, doctors, psychologists, etc.) immediately treat the student with a pathological mindset. Their first thoughts when they don't understand are, "What's wrong with him?" How often do we do this to students? Often there's nothing wrong. Our students often think in ways that are foreign to us. How often do we as educators tell students who think outside our realm of experience that they're doing it wrong?

#2) In the ad, the powers that be allow the student to continue working, but how many of us would tell a student to stop and start doing things "correctly." How often do we stifle creativity in our students without truly realizing it?

#3) The boy in the ad was thinking about three levels above any of his students, yet wasn't receiving much support in his endeavors. Do our schools allow our most gifted students to explore, experiment, and push themselves to their own zones of proximal development?

Of course, the student could've explained his idea, and the ad would've been over 80 seconds earlier. 😉