Children are born whole and full of possibilities. Then, in an age old tradition, we start chipping away at them, trying to turn them into acceptable members of our society.
If we were all artists with an artist's eye, looking at that original child and trying to see what was inside, this might be more successful, but most people think, what do I want for my child. Then begins the process to make the child fit the mold rather than the search for which mold to use. This has been an acceptable process since the days of Sparta when all boys were groomed to be warriors.
Most children are pliable enough to fit into the mold. They may not thrive. It certainly may not make them happy, but they become acceptable citizens of the community they live in. Others just can't do it and they become the outliers, the misfits, sometimes the artists and sometimes the criminals -- all trying to make sense of something they were not meant to do or be.
Wouldn't it be great if we simply guided our children towards those things they naturally loved and excelled at? For some children pi is a number with infinite possibilities. For others pie is something you eat with infinite tastes and for a few it may just be a book about The Life of Pi.
Imagine what a great world it could be if we found a few hundred other possibilities and allowed them all to evolve naturally.
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