Just saw this Blog post on Popular Science about a company that claims can teach babies to read by 9 months old: No, You Can’t Teach Your Baby To Read.

Amazing this escalation of “false” impression of making smarter children by enrolling them in tons of structure learning and courses. Young children learn by playing, and “free-form” playing is, in my mind, what’s best in building their creative thinking.

Creative peoples are those that imagine a different world. They come up with innovative technologies, push us to new scientific boundaries, create arts, musics and great screen play.

Do not get me wrong, knowledge is important and is acquired through out the school years. However, creativity is rarely taught in a classroom. In fact, a student that asks to much questions and does not conform to school “directive” tends to be seen as a problem in our system.

However, creativity start with children playing with the kitchen pots, the wooden blocks, the Lego (the generic ones, not the model-specific version), playing in the dirt, falling and get up again. If you miss those early years, their difficult to come back.

I even think that elementary school is getting too much performance oriented nowadays.

In the end, your children will learn to write and read he/she reaches school. Guest what? At the university level, it won’t make any difference if those skills were acquired at 4 or 5 or 6 years old! However, graduate school performance (where you get to ask – and answer – questions yourself!) will be strongly dictated by the numerous hours thinking, creating and building by yourself those Lego/Blocks and others …