
School Stunts Development - barry-cotter
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/school-stunts-development
======
Justsignedup
Hold up. There seems to be a non-sarcastic statement that schooling too early
stunts development and the author references a The Onion article.

To those not familiar TO is a parody newspaper printing fake news that is
comedic in nature. They are known to make comedic fake news for decades.

I think this shows that the author had terrible research.

~~~
nerpderp83
Satire.

And while the linked article was probably fictional, it contained more
Truthiness than any other news source.

> "I don't want to go to school," Bolduc told his parents, the crushing
> reality of his situation having yet to fully dawn on his naïve
> consciousness. "I want to play outside with my friends."

~~~
mmmpop
>> it contained more Truthiness than any other news source

You got an Oatmeal comic to back this statement up?

~~~
andrei_says_
Ironically many Oatmeal comics seem very well researched.

~~~
mmmpop
True but I need my research with a giant dose of WIN and exploding diarrhea
cats, else I'm bored.

------
bittercynic
The article, and the parts of the study I skimmed, are appealing if you
already agree with the conclusion, and they're full of holes if you don't.

The value or(/and?) harm of school is such an emotional topic for almost
everyone, so it would be useful to be much more rigorous when writing an
article like this. The authors might have gained by hiring a statistician to
poke holes in the research, and then scale back conclusions or plug the holes.

~~~
bittercynic
Replying to my naive self: Seems the point of this article was to point out
some absurd abuses of statistics. Faith in humanity restored!

------
nerpderp83
I think the corollary to this is manifested in the extended adolescence we see
with millennials. Well meaning parents have delayed maturation by limiting
those activities which cause emotional and metacognitive growth, free play.

By over focusing on academics and structured activities, the amount of time
dedicated to just being is reduced. I would like to see a world where we focus
on making self-actualized present individuals.

~~~
LyndsySimon
That's an interesting hypothesis you have there. It would be a shame if
someone validated it.

Seriously, though, if anyone is aware of a paper that deals with this or a
closely related idea, I'd love to read it.

------
ameister14
This isn't that strange - the concept he's touching on is part of why
Montessori schools exist and are effective.

~~~
mmmpop
I like the concept too--until a certain age anyways. There is something to be
said for academic rigor, but perhaps places like America force it a bit too
early in the education process. My girlfriend works in enrollment at our
public school district and when a local Montessori shutdown, the reaction was
pretty... visceral. "How ever will my 16 year old learn to study for an
exam!?"

Edit: looked it up and secondary education in Montessori schools is more
uncommon, ostensibly for this reason?

~~~
ameister14
Yeah, if I remember correctly it's great up until about 3rd grade.

