When Does Learning Take Place?

Or, more specifically, at what age does this “so called” learning take place? 

Ubiquitous wisdom would have us believe that learning takes place during the typical time frame of K-12 grades and it is the teacher or the instructor who is responsible for this learning. 

Once the child’s behavior has been modified to rely on the teacher for their reinforced learning skills, this conditioning continues to be exhibited in colleges and universities throughout the country. 

And, we as thoughtful educators pat ourselves on the back and exclaim, “job well done.” If the job is not well done (as is often the case nowadays) we (the powers that be) have no choice but to blame the teacher or instructor or professor as the case may be.

The 2001 No Child Left Behind Act  that required schools to bring 100% of the students to math and English proficiency by the year 2014.  The Act was designed (by thoughtful law makers) to close the gap between low and middle income families.  Regardless of well-intentioned educators, 10 years later (2011) the data collected provided conclusive and persuasive proof that the NCLB Act was a total disaster and failure.

WHY?

ArneDuncan, President Obama's Secretary of Education, has derided the bill as “utopian.”  Any critique of the NCLB Act, other than the Act aimed its sights too high, is irrelevant.  It is ludicrous to think that parents (regardless of their income levels) would not want their children to be proficient in both math and English or at the very least, a basic understand. 

“Our understanding of child development is always evolving, and it is now clear that learning begins at birth or earlier.”    

The NCLB Act does take into consideration that neither the instructor (skills, abilities, or characteristics) nor the instructor’s credentials have a direct link to learning and/or achievement, as we first thought. 

“What we do know is that children gain major intellectual and development advantages from earlychildcare and that these advantages persist into adolescence.”   

In 1998, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), conducted a study to assess early knowledge and behavior among young children, collected data on them from kindergarten through the 5^th grade.   The study found that prior to entering school, "substantial minorities of children are already experiencing risks for developmental difficulties, with one in five being described as overly active, one in six having problems concentrating for sustained periods, and one in nine not articulating words clearly or fluently." 

In other words, young children must learn rudimentary skills or building blocks to learning before they enter school.  Some of these children learned these building blocks from their parents while others did not and still others learned them at daycare, depending upon how “gifted” those daycare workers are being aware of their important role. 

The bottom line here for the child and subsequent adult learner is that up until the age of 5 is when children acquire the skills that they will later use to become proficient in math and English.  In other words, it all starts at home first; and, if in the reading of this post, the message is still clear as mud then you need to re-read. Being parents is not just about fornication and buying toys; it is about teaching and nurturing so that they will be receptive to learning when it is time for them to attend school. 

And, it is time to stop blaming the teacher who we have willingly given our responsibility to for educating our children because the data shows that it clearly must start at home first.