We tend to think of ourselves as superior and more competent than children, but that is now always the case.
Children are more observant than adults because they have fewer duties and more time to look around and notice things. We could say that they see everything and understand none of it and we see little that is new and we understand almost all of it. When we are driving a car with a child, we have to concentrate on the road, but a child in a car can stare and notice everything.
Children’s brains are much better than ours. They have lost fewer brain cells (neurons) and have better blood circulation. They can think faster than we can. The brain reaches nearly full size at age three to five, so a five or six year old child has a brain capable of learning almost anything. What holds them back?
What we have, and they do not, is experience and prerequisite knowledge. Before you can know what a tiger is, it is helpful to see a cat first. Before you can read, you need to learn the alphabet and learn to print. So some things have to be taught in a certain order.
I can remember some things back to age one, but only things which were emotional. I remember my mother pushing me in my baby buggy and saying to me, “I am going to Guthrie’s Drug Store and I’ll be right back.”
I heard and understood everything she said. My thoughts are these: “Why in hell are you leaving me alone in a strange place? Don’t you know I am scare out of my cute little mind? Get your butt back here on the double!”
I have shown you that in my case, at least, understanding precedes talking. Being able to remember things back to infancy means that I was unusually emotional and emotional things are what we remember. We remember the first day of school, but we do not remember the ordinary. I do not remember anything before Mother stopped at the drug store.
When I taught seventh grade, my 12-year-olds could do the arithmetic problems on the board faster than I could, but they made more mistakes (lack of experience). I might add that age 12 seems to be the earliest age at which children become aware of the world and current events.
Douglas R. Murphy
Ashtabula
Opinion
April 28, 2012 Letters to the Editor: Douglas R. Murphy
Not always superior
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