John sent this:
Ben,
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal about what is called the “executive function” supports what we are trying to do in TPRS, and how important these skills are for kids’ success in life. It is called “learning how to focus on focus.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904716604576542593019231326.html
Here’s a passage which really seems to speak to the core of what our collective project is about:
“Though in kindergarten we often attempt to track aspects of executive function—the report card of a 5-year-old is filled with ratings about the ability to focus and stay on task—these categories vanish for the rest of a student’s academic career, replaced by an obsession with academic subject matter. We worry about the periodic table instead of persistence, spelling instead of self-control.
“That’s almost certainly a mistake. Given the age in which we live, it makes no sense to obsess over the memorization of facts that can be looked up on a smartphone. It’s not enough to drill kids in arithmetic and hope that they develop delayed gratification by accident. We need to teach the skills of executive function directly and creatively.”
John