Thursday, July 19, 2007
More on school reform
I think one can reasonable sum of the developmental environment of a born-citizen of the United States as such:
0-18: stasis within natural bounds.
18-beyond: competitive free-markets in nearly all fields
Wouldn't it be more valuable to focus in teaching skills until the beginning of adolescence, and then focusing on career- and success- goals once adolescence begins?
(gnxp talked about this years ago, by the way)
I'm not sure if I get what you mean.
However, I do think that youngsters under the age of 12, who have amazing memories and can soak up languages like sponges, outta be memorizing everything including every language available that they can possibly fit in their heads while it's easy for them. There will be plenty of time to learn how to use all those facts later when the soil is fertile for learning ethics and moral character.
Posted by: Wolf Pangloss | Thursday, July 19, 2007
You're exactly right.
Children have weaker cognitive abilities than adolescents, but can still memorize. Memorization is also beneficial, because it always them not to have to think about every step of complicated processes (such as long division), along them to do even hard things. Memorization makes impossible things hard and hard things easy. It's a tool that sadly has been lost in the elementary school curriculum. It should come back.
Posted by: Dan tdaxp | Friday, July 20, 2007