Notes on Education

T he first ten years of a human life are the most influential ones in shaping character. Utmost care is therefore required in providing the best possible education to a child at the youngest age. One may wonder what the best age is to begin in an elementary school for an average child. Although, there is no uniform consensus on this, my own experience suggests that an age between five and six is the right age to begin education at grade 1 level. Thereby a child will be about eighteen years old when he has finished twelve years of primary, middle and high school education. He or she would then be an adult and ready to enter university. That appears to be the right practice because then a person is ready to move out of a closely supervised school education as a minor to a university where greater freedom is available and necessary for intellectual development as an adult. It is appropriate that a child be provided at the most one year of preschool education beginning at an age bet...

The picture posted at the top and bottom of this post is due to the kind courtesy of the Japanese website putiya-en.com Friedrich Wilhelm August Frobel, 1782 -1852, (or Froebel since the 'o' is with an umlaut) invented the concept of the kindergarten and laid the foundation for modern education based on the recognition that children have unique needs and capabilities. The singing of Nursery Rhymes is often a part of Kinder Garten curiculum. Some modern psychologists are unsure of the effect of some hidden violence that exists in some of the classical English Nursery Rhymes. The present author has composed new versions to eliminate this violence. These new versions along with an excellent introduction to the English Alphabet for preschoolers can be found in the book - Magical Alphabet. This book is the basis of the first recorded video episodes of the Reading Lady that has been aired widely on Public Access TV in more than twenty five states of the US. For more ...