"Who Gets To Decide Normal?"

Although it is, "backwards", I simply love this image. That one tree in focus gives it a unique depth which really makes me pause & think. It is a strange perspective & for weeks I have pondered why it so appeals to me. So many people would see it as "wrong".
Individual learning styles is a particular soap-box of mine. The traditional method of education is for the student to sit quietly & take in information. You only have to glance at the drop-out & adjudication rates (particularly of men) to see this is not the way everyone learns. Most of my student-artists are global & they wrestle with trying to be forced into the world's linear "box". Being a global learner makes me good at teaching art, but most principals are analytic, so I can sympathize. I often tell my kids, "Analytics run the world. Globals make it fun. We need each other." Having just spent 2 days testing & teaching my students on their own learning styles I was delighted to hear Cynthia Tobious speaking about this on the radio. I was captivated when she began to talk about long nights of helping a child with homework. This week, we spent countless hours on 4th grade math.
Cynthia's mother was a concrete, sequential who always wanted things done 1-2-3. She, however is wired as a random, global learner. In her wonderful, supportive tone she recalled saying to her mom, "I understand these things need to be done. I love you & I won't let you down, but why can't they be done 3-1-2?" When the parent or teacher is wired differently than the kid, they often need to let go of the "how" it gets done & focus on helping the student find their own best way to accomplish the task. The ultimate goal is to assist the kid to be independent & learn within the style in which they were created. Cynthia could have been quoting me when she said, "I personally don't do things 1-2-3, but I can. If I concentrate on doing it your way, I may accomplish the task but that doesn't mean I will have learned what I was supposed to have learned. It simply means I did it your way."
We really do seem to live in a linear, analytic world. If half of us are wired as random, globals why are we cast down as doing it wrong? I absolutely LOVE her closing words, "Who gets to decide normal"?