Daniel makes stuff, and, in his spare time, writes about things like movies, kid culture, and geek stuff.
Brilliant Words from Jamie Oliver

In an accompanying bio-piece in the New York Magazine’s annual Food Issue, Alex Witchel talks to celebrity chef Jamie Oliver about his work, life, and community activism – including talking about a project of Oliver’s where he helps train disadvantaged youth to work in the restaurant business.

Nestled in there was this truly sage bit of insight I couldn’t help but be impressed by:

“Look, I think the brilliant and beautiful thing in life is that anyone can do anything,” he said. “When I used to go to special needs, we got laughed at, but we’re not supposed to all be academic. What is education? A bunch of stuff that people think we should know. Ultimately if you can put a wall up, if you can paint, if you can work with other people and, most important, if you find out what you are good at, that’s the key. Kids can do detailed, technical things, and they can do them well. Have you seen them on skateboards and surfing? It doesn’t have to be a BMX, it can be a pot and a pan and a knife, but we wrap them up in cotton wool and treat them like babies and they’re not.”

Kids really are capable of the most impressive things. They just might not be things we expect, or value – and when we don’t recognise our own biases in this, that’s the tragedy.

Oct 11, 2009 :: Tagged under: , , :: #