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.

WHY?

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 5th 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."

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.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment