Herman: > If a 20 month old can do that, this is strong evidence > of giftedness right there, and that child should be > considered for much faster and more rigorous education.
I'm not an instructor of any sort; however, my 2 cents on this last statement based on my own experiences with the educational system... Just because someone is "smart" doesn't imply they should be educated "faster". I think "fast" education is just the problem -- far too much unrelated "stuff" at the expense of a detailed understanding of just a few important concepts is the problem. IMO, understanding can't be rushed, no matter how smart one is. I would have been much "smarter" or "well-informed" if we spent more time in school reading good books, writing book reports, and doing math, rather than splitting up our days into 5-10 different subjects that all demanded an entirely different set of skills. This not only makes it hard to keep up, but I suspect promotes ADD (attention deficit disorder). I would have, for example, preferred having just two subjects -- one that is directed towards "grammar/reading", and one devoted to "arithmetic" skills -- like in the early days of education. This would give us a solid 3-4 hour block of time per subject per day and I think that makes a huge difference (compared to 1 hour of each subject, with no time to really think or ask questions that may come up after prolonged thinking). In that respect, I think homeschooling offers many advantages -- you can learn what you want to learn when you want to (or are ready to) learn it. . . ================================================================= Instructions for joining and leaving this list, remarks about the problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are available at: . http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ . =================================================================
