
Kids should learn to think - nielssj
http://blog.codeso.me/
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jseliger
Everyone should learn to think. But the basic problem is that critical
thinking can't be divorced from specific content areas—in other words, you
_have_ to teach it through drawing, or coding, or Sonnets, or whatever. It is
also, quite simply, hard to teach. That's Daniel Wilingham's research
speaking; he describes more here:
[http://www.aft.org/pdfs/americaneducator/summer2007/Crit_Thi...](http://www.aft.org/pdfs/americaneducator/summer2007/Crit_Thinking.pdf)
. His book _Why Don't Students Like School?_ is also very good.

I wrote about it here: [http://jseliger.wordpress.com/2011/01/24/why-dont-
students-l...](http://jseliger.wordpress.com/2011/01/24/why-dont-students-
like-school-daniel-t-willingham/) .

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rikacomet
After reading 3 articles:

\- Kids should learn to Code \- Kids should learn to Farm not Code \- And now,
Kids should learn to think

I want to say, yes they are very noble causes, each with its benefit, but what
really matters is:

Adults should learn to let Kids Live.

What I say does not mean that kids should go uneducated, but its rather, Kids
should have choices, and we should not impose them to take 'X' no of choices.
The stress is growing on kids, and true, they are becoming smarter, and the
planet is growing faster, it does have a terrible cost: Childhood.

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Tzunamitom
More importantly, kids should learn to learn from everything. Too often I work
with kids or young adults that hate school, but after a little discussion,
discover that they actually really love learning. If the education system is
not meeting their needs, they should be empowered to take education into their
own hands.

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demian
"Right Brain" people stil believe in the dichotomy of "creative" people and
"non-creative" people (they still use the outdate terms "Right Brain" and
"Left Brain"), probably because they associate technical work with mental
computations and algebraic manipulation ("doing math").

It's true that technical people will are already less burdened by the heavy
lifting of "doing math" or organizing complex technical systems, but that
doesn't mean that they are going to be "replaced" by the "artists". It only
means that the "soft-technical" aspect of, for example, engineering, is going
to be more present (less time focusing on technical details and more on the
design and articulation of the mathematical models themselves).

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tlrobinson
In my mind, in addition to teaching fundamental skills like reading and
writing, the purpose of K-12 school is to expose kids to a bunch of different
subjects so that hopefully they'll find something they're passionate about.

So yeah, every kid should ( _try to_ ) learn to draw and code and everything
else we can reasonably expose them to.

~~~
InclinedPlane
If only it worked that way. I think in practice it works by exposing kids to a
significant amount of drudgery and pain associated with a bunch of different
subjects to cause kids to pretty much hate learning in general. It's a wonder
that anyone manages to survive K-12 education with any degree of passion for
learning intact.

P.S. [http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2112](http://www.smbc-
comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2112)

P.P.S. From a lot of different people I've heard the same story of having a
hard time re-engaging in learning and especially reading after coming out of
formal education. A lot of people have an aversion to the books and authors
they studied in school, and often to reading in general. It seems to typically
take several years for people to (re)develop an individual passion for reading
and to be open to reading those authors again, though some people seem to
never get past that aversion.

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tiger10guy
Related thoughts on education... from CGP Grey:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_830833...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_830833&feature=iv&src_vid=AqwJXTyfNqU&v=7vsCAM17O-M)

Also watch Greys favorites vol 4 (playlist on CGP Grey channel). These
thoughts from Salman Khan are most relevant here:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiKrFcgVSIU&list=PLgE-9Sx...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiKrFcgVSIU&list=PLgE-9Sxs2IBVEoz0MkIzcUmFkXWpmw2zo)

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kdazzle
Kids should learn to swear in 32 different languages.

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vanderZwan
"Machines should work, People should think."

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IZw2CoYztk>

