How People Learn: Part 2

Our society has always had theories on how to bring up children, but children have always been mysterious. They don't study themselves, so the information about children always comes from those of us who have passed through that stage.

Part of moving through a stage is losing contact with it. We have, though, learned to respect children and the fact that they need to be given stimulation, playtime and interactions with each other children in order to mature. We are learning that the maturation process of the brain is longer than previously thought when we designated 16 as the driving age and 18 as the official age of adulthood. We thought we were being conservative because we were mandating education until the same age. We thought marrying in our twenties was conservative - developmentally speaking. New research tells us that the brain relies on "mistakes" made between 14 and 24 years old in order to develop mature common sense and logical thinking.

Education will soon catch up to this brain research. It seems as though we are on the verge of rediscovering education again, and refining our goals. We have been in "exploratory" mode for a number of decades, as we test various theories of development and learning in the public schools. This includes variations in math, different spelling and reading theories, behavior norms and assessments.

It is difficult to say that any one theory on learning and development is absolutely correct. There seems to be truth in all theories, and some work better than others in our culture. For example, the theory that we learn by associations and conditioning sounds fine, and it can be the basis for "fixing" an irrational fear or phobia, but it is not a very flattering picture of human beings. Conditioning theories in and of themselves leave us with a very dull existence.

On the other hand, theories that delve into the cognitive processes and give us credit for being rational beings that can affect our environment, act out of free will, and make decisions unique to our experience and understanding, give us a wealth of possibilities for our lives. Conditioning can work, but it seems to be only a tiny part of the human experience. Our technological advances alone teach us we have untapped potential for creative thinking. But, we can also, in the western world swing too far into the realm of the rational, and forget that we are also emotional beings.