For so many beginnings in life- baby steps are advised. Both of my granddaughters Clio and Margie were exceptional crawlers. A few weeks ago Clio began to take a few unsteady steps and this week Margie is hot on her trail. The competition is great to watch and although Margie is still balanced by some wild arm gyrations, both have taken a giant leap into new adventures. At the pool last night, Clio made it clear that walking into the water was not a problem in her mind. Indeed, those first tentative upright efforts are a source of pride and trepidation for the adults. Scholars say walking for humans is an innate ability. What is innate, according to Webster it can mean “not acquired after birth, it applies to qualities or characteristics that are part of one’s inner essential nature. Eventually, human babies will walk aside from physical obstacles. This prompted me to look into the brain development of a child. I think a reasoning person would believe those formative years are critical to the eventual academic outcomes. Optimal times to learn are in those early formative years. There are over 10,000 specific types of brain neurons each connected to over 40,000 synapses. The rough estimate is that our brain contains 86 billion brain cells. “The best time to learn is during the period when the necessary brain cells are hungry to be programmed with new connections. “Developmental graphs depict significant early learning curves for numbers, social skills, language, vision, hearing and emotional control. Fortunate children like my granddaughters have parents to provide resources, stimulation, love and guidance in those earliest years and throughout school. I have mentioned before that Idaho does not do much to make certain each child has a chance to excel in life by providing early learning opportunities for all children.
If you have not seen Genius Junior. I suggest you take 30 minutes and see what kids can learn. The show is hosted by Neil Patrick Harris and pits two teams of three against each other to earn the right to go to the cortex. The cortex as I am sure you recall is the very forward part of the frontal lobe, it is believed a lot of really complex stuff happens there including executive functions and personality. In one segment the kids are given time to study a randomly shuffled deck of cards, each of them in the same order must recall the next card until they successfully name all 52 or 60 seconds expire. They make it look easy. How about 90 seconds to spell as many words backwards as they can, words like crescendo, grammatical, outrageous, delicatessen-not easy to spell forward- no problem for these kids. A geography quiz asked if you are in Idaho what county is north of Idaho county, really I live here and did not know it was Adams. And a final example, the kids are asked to solve complex math problems as they are read to them. It is remarkable the brain power of these young students, I know they did not start their learning in Kindergarten or First grade.
This is not a fable, Aesop said, “little by little does the trick.” Shakespeare felt “to climb steep hills requires slow pace at First”. For those of us who are a bit past the formative years I am encouraged to know “baby steps can be taken at any age.” I close with wisdom from Henry David Thoreau, “an early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.”
Education in Idaho is moving forward to meet the needs of a changing world. It is slow progress and there is still a lot of arm waving for balance. I hope you will get involved.
Join me in thanking our Veterans who have given up so much to safeguard the freedom we cherish.
Mike