Children Can Teach Themselves Beautifully

Children are much smarter than we give them credit for. They have the incredible ability to self-regulate their own learning process without much help from adults. It is amazing to think that although we adults oftentimes view infants as helpless, needy, little people, they actually develop the autonomy to teach themselves from an early age.

In this age of technological advancement, it seems quite natural to create interactive computer programs to teach toddlers and young children. But as David Elkind shares in his book, The Power of Play, "Many infants and young children faced with computer programs and instructional videos...are not sure what they are supposed to be looking at or for. Often they end up being...confused and disheartened... [They] know for themselves what they have to learn. Indeed they are programmed to learn the basic adaptive skills and concepts necessary for survival. Most infants and young children have the good sense to ignore or resist such intrusions into their self-directed learning. But if adults push too intensely on the look harder materials, even infants and young children can get discouraged and give up."

Children come perfectly wired with the ability to teach themselves what they need to know, all in good time. Unfortunately, many Americans, concerned for the future of their children, value education (and the high status that can eventually result from it) so much that they try to force too much information on a child before they are ready. As Elkind discusses in his book, most formal schooling in Europe does not begin until age six or seven. They do have preschool before that, but their preschools do not focus on learning numbers or how to read, rather, they choose to allow their students to develop physically and socially before they start their more formal instruction.

Americans are simultaneously highly competitive in respect to their children's education, while also extremely concerned that their children may be falling behind in their studies. These attitudes toward education in our country have been leading us down a self-destructive path in which we are oftentimes doing more harm than good by introducing concepts too early during a child's cognitive development. I think the lesson to be learned here is that you can't force a learning process that has been biologically wired to work in a certain way. Stop trying to "force it," America! Children will learn, all in good time.