Prime Time for Education: Early Childhood or Adolescence?

Abstract

The author suggests that the present goals of early childhood education programs may be ill-advised. Further investment in such programs should be tempered by two major possibilities: (I) that existing school objectives should be redefined in terms of relevance for extra-school tasks and skill proficiency; and (2) that early childhood may simply be an inefficient period in which to try to teach skills that can be relatively quickly learned in adolescence. The author discusses a variety of research findings in light of these two considerations and advocates further and more intensive study of intellectual development during the late childhood and early adolescent years. The author concludes that current forms of schooling should not be imposed at early ages. Postponing such learning experiences would probably reduce the degree of alienation from schooling which many students experience,while at the same time producing equal or better results in terms of extra-school achievement.

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