The Importance of Imagination

It doesn't seem like a day goes by when we don't hear from another parent who has seen their child become less and less imaginative. Sadly, most parents think that a declining imagination in children is just a natural consequence of growing up, but it's not. It's a consequence of putting children into environments, like their school, that praise conformity, and sameness.

How is a child's Imagination supposed to flourish when it's stripped from them daily in a traditional school? Your child is punished for not falling in line or for "acting out.

But why is a child's Imagination so important? Well, to quote Albert Einstein, "Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while Imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand."

Imagination is praised by the greatest thinkers and innovators throughout history, so we, as parents, need to refocus our efforts on our children's Imagination and less on academics.

Maria Montessori said, "We cannot make discoveries unless we can first imagine what we are seeking. We must not think that the Imagination works only through fairy tales. All the intellect works like a form of the Imagination. Imagination is the real substance of our intelligence. All theory and all progress comes from the mind's capacity to construct something."

This is why at Acton Academy, we give every child reality-based experiences like starting a business, gardening, robotics, etc. Imagine if we gave a child a pretend kitchen, pretend cooking utensils, and pretend food versus a child who is given actual cooking utensils, actual ingredients, and who can perform the actual work of making bread. The child with the pretend kitchen will use their imagination so that they can "cook,." In contrast, the child who is actually doing the work of making bread is free to use his Imagination in other ways allowing him to conjure up new ideas.

Your child deserves a school that allows them to discover who they are and what they're capable of. Your child has unique talents, gifts, abilities, and passions. Isn't it about time they let the world see what they're capable of without the restrictions traditional school places on them?

At Acton Academy, we treat every child as an individual in an environment that allows them to explore, create, and grow to develop their Imagination and who they are as a person.