The Hardest Thing They Ever Learned

One of the biggest problems with K-12 education, and undergrad, is that we treat kids as novices who need to be told everything first.

Ignoring that by age 2 or 3, they've already mastered the most complex thing humans learn: language. And they do it without direct instruction, just by being immersed in the right conditions.

This is not specific to language. Research on early math reasoning, free play, and science thinking shows kids construct real understanding when given space and the right environment. Tell them what to think, and they don't.