Children's Intelligence

Argument

“Children`s Intelligence” is a topic chosen considering aspects like the level of interest and the amplitude of the subject. Children indeed have a great potential for anything because they are just as an open box or an empty virtual memry of a machine. It is well known that inside of a kid dwells a special potential of absorbing information and, later then, processing it, due to his free imagination that has known no boundaries of reality.

I am very interested in this ability that children own, because through educating it, more and more genius kids could develop. Kids are our future. Kids are this world`s hope. Nowadays, I consider that society owns a big handicap that affects morality, concepts and prejudice and spiritual issues. We, as a global nation, need to change, to open up our minds, to discover, analize and, most important, to understand.

Wherever we would look, wherever we open our eyes to see, there is a more hate than love, more judging without real arguments and full information, more sadness than joy and more desiring to cheat than tendency toward justice. Maybe, somehow and somewhen, this kind of children will make a better world, no matter how utopic this may sound. I sincerely believe in a world`s change, otherwise I should probably stop seeking for answers and aims in my life. Where there is no hope, there is no reason to move on.

CHAPTER 1. Brain Development - Myth or Fact?

Do you know that early childhood experiences are critical to the emotional and intellectual development of a child? During these early years, 75% of brain growth is completed. The brain of a child is often compared with a sponge. This is why childhood means a lot for a human being, the foundation of one’s personality being formed in that period. As scientists learn more about how the human brain develops, many of our ideas about the brain are being challenged. We are learning that some old ideas actually were myths that are being replaced with new facts and understanding. Consider the following examples:

Myth At birth the brain is fully developed, just like one's heart or stomach.

Fact - Most of the brain's cells are formed before birth, but most of the connections among cells are made during infancy and early childhood.

Myth The brain's development depends entirely on the genes with which you are born.

Fact - Early experience and interaction with the environment are most critical in a child's brain development.

Myth A toddler's brain is less active than the brain of a college student.

Fact - A 3-year-old toddler's brain is twice as active as an adult's brain.

Myth Talking to a baby is not important because he or she can't understand what you are saying.

Fact - Talking to young children establishes foundations for learning language during early critical periods when learning is easiest for a child.

Myth Children need special help and specific educational toys to develop their brainpower.

Fact - What children need most is loving care and new experiences, not special attention or costly toys. Talking, singing, playing and reading are some of the key activities that build a child's brain.