I'd let her program my computer.

     I'm sure you've heard about those with beautiful minds.  Maybe you've seen the movie, "A Beautiful Mind."  But do you know that all of our minds are beautiful? From the day we're born, even.  Here's a wonderful little story about someone I met who reminded me of that.  Maybe you'll see it too.
     This weekend, I worked with students in the area where I live at a program that introduces them to the idea of careers in science and math.  This particular event was focused on computer science.  Students from all over came to see computer programs for the first time, watch a 3D printer work, and gain understanding about the basic to advanced running of a computer.
     The station I worked at was about basic programming commands.  One girl came in, sat down, introduced herself, and began working at the 12-level game.  I sat nearby, ready to help if she needed it, but eager to let her plug away at it herself until she really needed me.  I had been helping students all day.
     Anyway, she made it astonishingly fast to the 7th level, and all she asked me for was a little bit of guidance.  I simply placed my finger on the computer screen and kept up with where the commands she had used were taking her.  That's ALL she needed.  Nothing more.
     She continued to work, eventually getting to levels that taught her about loops and repeating commands.  She made it through an entire game that I couldn't have even figured out without a basic programming class I took freshman year of college.
     Here's the kicker.  Guess how old she was.  11?  12?  No, the little girl was only 6.  Take a moment to absorb that.  A 6 year old was rivaling the knowledge of most of the children and college students there.  Her brain is beautiful.  With brains as amazing as that, why do we try to restrict and take away students' power of thought?  We let them dance and sing and imagine that they're in a land far away until the day we sit them down in a desk and indoctrinate them for upwards of 15 years.  By the time they reach high school, they've forgotten what it's like to question the authority of a teacher.
     That's why we have to make a change.  Instead of sitting teenagers down in a classroom and making them work problem after problem, we have to let them hear about engineering, build their own masterpieces with math, tell their teachers they're wrong and back it up, and just live.  We have to let them smile when they see that there's so much more out there for them than 34 homework problems due the next day.