Giving Away Science

Kathy Hirsh-Pasek argues that there is a great deal of reliable science and facts in the Psychology field that could positively and significantly impact our society if such facts were common knowledge. If certain aspects of child development and childcare were more widely distributed to the population, it is possible that we could teach, learn, and foster children’s growth more effectively. As a society, we have become so fixated on the idea of success that we have even let it affect the way we school our children. Increasingly more schools are doing away with recess and unstructured playtime to allow for more time to work towards academic achievement. Montessori schools that are more capable of instilling children with practical life skills and catering to each child’s individual development as opposed to focusing on the achievement of the masses such as other schools may be true. Schools that give kids more time to develop socially and experiment with their environment are not always more effective in furthering a child’s developmental process than traditional schooling, however it would be beneficial to make society aware of the importance of encouraging all aspects of a child’s development in school, a large part of which comes from interacting with people and places.

Parents and teachers alike take an approach to learning that they believe is marginally better for the child’s future academic endeavors, when in fact this is not entirely the case. Although children who attend Montessori schools often perform just as well as children who attended standard public or private educational facilities, attending to a child’s well roundedness through both academics and social interaction is crucial in their developmental process. I think it’s important for society to take note to the overwhelming, and increasing amount of pressure that is being put on children to succeed and perform at a higher level. Parents and teachers are so eager to create extraordinarily talented children that their approach actually results in diminishing their child’s desire to learn at a later age. This information may not be received as well by society due to the fact that this educational outlook stems from a parent’s concern with their child’s future, which is only natural. Parents want to prepare their kids for a world they have not yet experienced and armoring them with an excellent education is an important part to this process. However, sharing this material is beneficial to preparing today’s youth for a more enjoyable, stress-reduced educational experience during their school years.

A child’s development begins flourishing at infancy, and for this reason it is understandable as to why parents go to great lengths to try to provide their baby with the most comfortable environment as possible. However, I believe more parents should be aware of what an infant likes to see, hear, and smell in order to adjust their approach to their baby’s everyday life. Many parents fall victim to the pastels and plush animals that companies market to expecting parents. While these items may be adorable and aesthetically pleasing to a nursery, parents should know that what truly stimulates an infant’s environment is extremely different from plush, light blue, zoo creatures. Because vision is the least developed of the senses at birth, infants respond best to high contrast colors, mainly black and white, in a checkerboard layout. Babies have very poor vision up until they are a few months old, making things such as checkerboards that don’t require much interpretation preferable. Making sure a child’s living space is reflective of the their developmental state is necessary to elicit a child’s full interest. Black and white play mobiles, toys, and stuffed animals with simple patterns on them are most appealing to babies. I believe it is important for parents to be conscious of their child’s abilities and interests at each age to know how to best construct the environment around them. Ensuring adults don’t become susceptible to marketers false advertising and get distracted by cute toys would perhaps allow more babies to be more comfortable and content with the things around them. Society would benefit from the knowledge that the products that companies who’s key demographic is new parents, aren’t always best suited for providing for the needs of the child.

            By equipping society with scientific findings, we are able to counteract the many lies and myths that are present surrounding aspects of development. Spreading knowledge that could potentially impact the way a child is raised or how to educate a population is extremely important. Not all of what we are led to believe is truly beneficial to our lives. I think it is important to acknowledge that the traditions of many practices are not always conducive to effectively carrying out various processes. Things such as infant care or the education system are critical in shaping the people we are and how we live our lives. We are neglecting the opportunity to better our community and ourselves in ways that are supported by scientific data. Society’s focus on arguably trivial things such as good test scores, or cute baby toys drive our lifestyles when in fact it should be driven by scientific fact and reasoning. There are many aspects of our lives that could be positively, and dramatically altered by basing our actions off of science rather than cultural norms or personal agendas.