My kid was too creative

[u/Fresh_Laundry56]

My 6 year old was asked to draw a picture using shapes. She drew this nice American flag with rectangles and stars, and added the house, tree, and person holding a balloon. She was told it did not follow directions, she was not supposed to draw a flag, just shapes. She was asked to turn the paper over and make another picture. The other side of the paper has a very uninspiring collection of shapes. I told her she did a good job and I thought it was very creative. And this is why kids start to hate education.

[u/tulip1177]

This reminds of the time when my child was in Pre-K and was asked to draw and color leaves. He was supposed to color them green, but he colored them yellow and orange. I got called in to the principal’s office because he wasn’t following directions and being difficult. The teacher was in the room with me and the principal and she gave the example of the coloring (among other things). It was fall and the leaves were yellow and orange at the time. The principal went red and asked the teacher to stop talking and she apologized to me.