What to Think or How to Think?

A recent report entitled "The Genius Dip" indicated children are born with innate genius, but lose it by the time they are 20 years old. The theory proposed to explain this phenomena was that public schools eliminated the kind of thinking and creativity that nurtures brilliance.

I couldn't agree more!

In most schools, memorization is considered the yardstick of learning. Children are expected to read some drivel in a textbook, memorize it, and regurgitate it on an upcoming test. If they get lots of right answers, they are considered smart, and teachers feel they have mastered the subject.

Is that really learning? Or is it merely exercising short-term memory?

When I homeschooled my son, I took a far different approach. I taught him to research broadly, and through critical thinking, to assess what he had learned, and to form his own conclusions.

For example:

David loved dinosaurs. After countless hours of happy immersion on the topic, he felt that Tyrannosaurus Rex was not the savage hunter he is alleged to be, but was a scavanger that ate carrion, and occasionally wounded and dying prey.

When I asked David to explain why he came to that conclusion, he gave me a laundry list of ideas that included the size of his arms, the length and shape of his teeth, fossil remains, and the theorized social habits of the animal.

I was stunned by the workings of his beautiful mind. At the time he was just ten years old!

In public schools, the textbook likely would have declared T Rex a predator. The test on the topic would have required the child to regurgitate the "fact" learned in the book. A different answer would have been marked "wrong."

Now tell me. Which child truly learned? The public school kid, or my son?

Knowledge is not the parroting of the status quo, or facts commonly accepted by the masses. Real knowledge involves the seeking and finding of truth.

Theories need to by challenged, and discarded when necessary, so humans and societies can grow, evolve and progress. If not, we will continue to brand visionaries as heretics and believe utter foolishness.

Are any of you still true believers that the earth is flat? Don't take that summer cruise! Sail too far, and you just might fall off the planet...