Creative Writing

I think a lot of children fall into one of two categories: they`re either over-taught or under-prepared. It`s the former group that I`m focused on here.

Does a child who attends a good school (and I mean `good` in the ordinary sense, not with reference to Ofsted) need to spend the weekends in a tuition centre? Is there a better way to do things?

Weekends should be spent doing other things. Yes, an hour or so of extra tuition can make sense, and homework must be done, but that`s about it. Brains need to rest, and variety is the spice of life. What your child needs to do is not more of the same fare that they receive Monday to Friday, but something else.

It`s been known for decades that learning a musical instrument makes you smarter. There`s now a great deal of attention on the fact that experience of the natural world helps you to be happier. Then there are swimming, reading, board-games, baking, making things (medical schools are in despair at their students` lack of dexterity nowadays), socialising, cinema, museums, walking, acting, social clubs, family time...

It`s not necessary to sit in front of screen in order to enrich your life - in fact, it`s probably a good idea to ban screens for most of the weekend. And plugging away at academic study beyond the requirements of a good school, or a less good school supplemented by a suitably demanding tutor, is a limiting approach to education. There`s a world out there.

This article is entitled Creative Writing. The question is, how creative can your writing be if you are intellectually stultified, restricted in the range of your wider education and glued to a desk for too much of your young life?