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From: elt@astrovax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.kids
Subject: Re: teaching and learning
Message-ID: <131@astrovax.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 18-Nov-83 11:42:42 EST
Article-I.D.: astrovax.131
Posted: Fri Nov 18 11:42:42 1983
Date-Received: Sat, 19-Nov-83 23:12:20 EST
Organization: Princeton Univ. Astrophysics
Lines: 26

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>  Please folks, not all people are the same.  What works for one,
>  may not work at all for another.  Flash cards may be great fun
>  for one kid, terrifying to another (or great fun presented by
>  one parent, terrifying when presented by another).  People are
>  too complex to direct by such simplistic schemes - the danger
>  of forcing individuals into a dogmatic program is the real harm
>  that can be inflicted on the kid either by the technique itself,
>  or the telegraphed disappointment of the teacher/parent.  Please
>  try everything in small doses, observe, correct, modify, play it
>  by ear and good sense - if it isn't working, try something else.
>  Keep the ideas flowing here, but let us temper the discussions
>  with the knowledge that we as kids outsmarted them all, and our
>  kids will do the same to us.    Mel Haas  ,  hocsk!mel

Bravo!  This is worth reading twice.  Such clear thinking and good
sense are as rare on the net as elsewhere.

To add my two cents worth:
Formulas or recipies for teaching (or just generally raising) children
are likely to work about as well as they do for having a successful
marriage, making friends, falling in love, getting rich, etc.
Life is not so simple that it can be reduced to algorithms.

Ed Turner
astrovax!elt