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The aptitude myth : how an ancient belief came to undermine children's learning today /

The Aptitude Myth addresses the decline in American children's mastery of critical school subjects. It contends that a contributing cause for this decline derives from many Americans' ways of thinking about children's learning: they believe that school performance is determined by inn...

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator: Grove, Cornelius N.
Format: Book
Language:English
Imprint: Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield Education, a division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, [2013]
Subjects:
Academic achievement > United States.
Academic achievement.
Achievement motivation in children.
United States.
Achievement motivation in children > United States.
Learning ability.
Education > United States.
Education.
Table of Contents:
  • Foreword
  • Acknowledgments
  • Introduction
  • Why Do Americans Assume that Aptitude Governs Learning?
  • The "Modern" Mindset That's Actually a Relic: A Preview
  • Replacing Our Antique Mindset with One Tailor-Made for Us Today
  • Notes
  • I. European Antecedents
  • When, Why, and How Did Americans' Current Ways of Thinking Originate?
  • 1. A Perspective on Teaching Out of the Depths of Time
  • Family-Centered Subsistence Societies in Prehistoric Times
  • Selecting a Teacher in Prehistoric Times: A Thought Experiment
  • The "Time-Honored Paradigm" for Thinking about Teachers
  • The Six Elements of the Time-Honored Paradigm
  • The Rise of the "Western-Contemporary Paradigm" for Thinking about Teachers
  • Musings and Speculations
  • Why Chapter 1 Is Important
  • What to Remember: Bullet-Point Lists of Key Learnings from Chapters 1-16
  • Notes
  • 2. Greek Philosophers Focus on a World Beyond the Senses
  • The Contribution of Pythagoras to the Paradigm of Plato's Times
  • Transmigration of Souls and the Dawning Belief in the Power of Intuition
  • Elements of the Greek Paradigm into Which Plato Was Born
  • Plato Posits that the Most Valuable Knowledge Is Inside Each Person
  • Aristotle Adjusts Plato's Concepts and States Flow Mental Development Occurs
  • Musings and Speculations
  • Why Chapter 2 Is Important
  • Genealogical Chart: Tracing the Path to a Modern American Paradigm
  • Notes
  • 3. New Views of the Natural World
  • Life, Learning, and Logic in 15th and 16th Century Europe
  • New Views Begin to Emerge Late in the 16th Century
  • New Views Encounter Scholarly Skepticism Before Gaining Credibility
  • Europe in the 15th and 18th Centuries: Comparing Old and New Paradigms
  • Musings and Speculations
  • Why Chapter 3 Is Important
  • Notes
  • 4. New Views of Human Consciousness and Learning
  • Humanism and Realism during the Renaissance
  • Comenius, Locke, and the Rise of Sense Realism
  • Philosophic Trends in Europe between the 16th and 18th Centuries
  • Musings and Speculations
  • Why Chapter 4 Is Important
  • Notes
  • 5. New Views of Children and Childhood
  • Younger Children Are Better Children
  • The Enduring Impact of Rousseau's Emile
  • The Emergence of Childhood and Two Views of How to Regard It
  • Musings and Speculations
  • Why Chapter 5 Is Important
  • Notes
  • 6. New Views of Authority in Societies and Schools
  • Thought Leaders Question the Basis of Authority
  • Changes in the Texture of Europeans' Daily Lives
  • Authority in Classrooms Enters the 18th Century Discussion
  • Musings and Speculations
  • Why Chapter 6 Is Important
  • Notes
  • 7. New Ideals for Human Life and Learning
  • Intellectual Streams Feed a Romantic Flood
  • Literary Romanticism's Love Affair with Children and Nature
  • Three Literary Romantics in Their Own Words
  • Tire Assumptions, Beliefs, and Ideals of Literary Romanticism
  • Musings and Speculations
  • Why Chapter 7 Is Important
  • Notes
  • 8. An Influential Educator Reflects the Currents of His Time
  • From Obscurity and Bankruptcy to Pan-Western Influence
  • Psychology Enters the Discussion about Children and Teaching
  • Protestant Perspectives- Calvinism and Pietism-Enter the Discussion
  • Musings and Speculations
  • Why Chapter 8 Is Important
  • Notes
  • 9. New Views and Ideals All Coalesce in One Man's Mind
  • A Man with a Prodigiously Restless Mind
  • Spencer's View of Evolutionary Development: Homogeneous-to-Heterogeneous
  • Spencer's "First Principles": Inborn, Intuited, Scientifically Accurate Truths
  • The Rise and Fall of Herbert Spencer
  • Musings and Speculations
  • Why Chapter 9 Is Important
  • Notes
  • 10. Basic Guidelines for the Western-Contemporary Paradigm
  • A Ringing Declaration about Children, Learning, Teaching, and Parenting
  • Aristotle, Spencer, and the Biological Model of Human Mental Activity
  • Herbert Spencer's Prescriptions for the Classroom Teaching of Children
  • Musings and Speculations
  • Why Chapter 10 Is Important
  • Notes
  • II. American Responses
  • How Did Americans Apply the European Ways of Thinking, and Why?
  • 11. Evolving Notions of Child-Rearing in Pre-Civil War America
  • The Culture and Mindset of Colonial and Post-Colonial America
  • Varieties of Protestantism: Calvinism, Pietism, and Quakerism
  • The Values and Patterns of American Parenting Gradually Evolve
  • Assumptions about Children's Mental Fragility Strengthen and Spread
  • Two Assumptions about What Children Are Innately "Given"
  • Musings and Speculations
  • Why Chapter 11 Is Important
  • Notes
  • 12. Emerging Social Currents in Post-Civil War America
  • Rapid Social Changes Transform the Context and Concerns of Schools
  • A Visit to Public Schools and Classrooms during 1892
  • Society's Response to Immigration, Industrialization, and Urbanization
  • A Review of Critical Challenges and Society's Responses
  • Musings and Speculations
  • Why Chapter 12 Is Important
  • Notes
  • 13. Emerging Intellectual Currents in Post-Civil War America
  • Humans as Reflection of a Spirit World: Four Belief-Based Views of Consciousness
  • Humans as Grounded in Their Biology: An Evidence-Based View of Consciousness
  • Humans as Grounded in Their Society: An Evidence-Based View of Consciousness
  • James Argues that the Learner, Not the Teacher, Is the Critical Success Factor
  • Musings and Speculations
  • Why Chapter 13 Is Important
  • Notes
  • 14. American Educational Metamorphosis, I: Socially Efficient Education
  • Public Secondary Schools during the Last Decades of the 19th Century
  • Public Secondary Schools during the First Decades of the 20th Century
  • The Shift in Educational Authority around the Turn of the Century
  • Documenting the Course of Educational Reform: 25 Years of NEA Reports
  • Musings and Speculations
  • Why Chapter 14 Is Important
  • Notes
  • 15. American Educational Metamorphosis, II: Child-Centered Teaching
  • Child-Centered Education and Its Grandfather Figure, Col. Francis W. Parker
  • The Child Study Movement and Its Champion, Dr. G. Stanley Hall
  • The Message: Passivity in the Face of Assumed Inborn Inequality
  • Other Factors Strengthening the Shift toward Child-Centered Teaching
  • Musings and Speculations
  • Why Chapter 15 Is Important
  • Postscript: Did John Dewey Join the Shift toward Child-Centered Teaching?
  • Notes
  • 16. American Educational Metamorphosis, III: A "Given" Joins the Establishment
  • European Antecedents: Early Thinking about General Intelligence
  • American Responses: Interest in General Intelligence Takes Root in the United States
  • Intelligence Tests Enter the Mainstream: Sorting Recruits for War Service
  • Intelligence Tests Join the Establishment: Sorting Applicants to Colleges
  • Three Proponents of General Intelligence Recant Their Views
  • Musings and Speculations
  • Why Chapter 16 Is Important
  • Notes
  • III. Tomorrow's Opportunities
  • Can We Transcend Our Inherited Mindset to Give Mastery the Highest Priority?
  • 17. Which Problems Are Now More Significant to Solve?
  • Missing from Our Unpacked Beliefs and Values: Mastery and Effort
  • 20th Century Wake-up Calls about Our Neglect of Mastery
  • Our Value Propositions about Mastery and Effort, Unpacked and Elaborated
  • Confronting the Inevitable Outcome of Our Inherited Beliefs and Values
  • Learning to Think on a Graduated Spectrum
  • Learning to Shift Moderately But Significantly toward the Goal of Mastery
  • Notes
  • 18. Toward a New Paradigm: Seven Assertions to Think With
  • A Paradigm to Solve the Problem That, Here and Now, Is Most Significant for Us
  • 1. Accountability for Learning Rests More with the Parents than with the Teacher
  • 2. Accountability for Learning Rests More with the Student than with the Teacher
  • 3. A Child's Mental Apparatus Is Vigorous, Robust, Resilient, Curious, and Absorbent
  • 4. A Child's Mental Development Involves Intentional Adaptation to Its Environment
  • 5. A Child's Competence Grows More Strongly and Swiftly with Authoritative Guidance
  • 6. Learning Attainment Is Determined Far More by Perseverance than by "Givens"
  • 7. Increasing Mastery of Skills and Knowledge Depends on Skill- and Knowledge-Focus
  • Postscript: Beyond Thinking With, an Outstanding Resource for Doing
  • Notes
  • Appendix
  • Index
  • About the Author

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