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The dull science lecture approach may be suited to a mature teenage who is just about to sit their physics, maths and computer science exams. However, it is im

The dull science lecture approach may be suited to a mature teenage who is just about to sit their physics, maths and computer science exams. However, it is important to give younger children stories such as Father Christmas, the Tooth Fairy and the like to stimulate their creativity and play. Not one single book in a primary school library is fact based. Children do not seem to be damaged by this. Nobody grows up mentally scarred because they learn that Santa is not real, with chips on their shoulders because they have been betrayed by their lying parents. Fun is allowed and it does not have to be boring, mandatory, tedious lectures that daddy thinks are more 'educational'. Some people don't move on from playing games, some people will instinctively want to hack games and write their own. Furby style toys are okay, bags of resistors with instructions to build your own are not for all age groups.

icebraining 8y ago
I have no problem with telling fictional stories to kids, but I also disagree with your portrayal of fictional wonder vs dull lecture. Reality doesn't have to be dull. Carl Sagan's Cosmos has been seen by 500M people and many people who were kids then still remember being glued to the TV, fascinated by the science.
- StavrosK 8y ago
  As someone who was fascinated much more by how circuits work than "it's magic", I agree with you.
kwhitefoot 8y ago
> Not one single book in a primary school library is fact based. What a strange idea. Didn't your primary school have an encyclopaedia? Didn't you study any science or history then? Or do we have a different idea of the age of children at primary school? Where I come from (southern England, born 1955) I was dissecting buttercups and sketching them at the age of nine or ten, demonstrating that pondweed generated some sort of gas by putting an upturned test tube above it, etc. We studied history with reference to Roman roads and neolithic hill forts. And of course we played loads of competitive sports. Lots and lots of facts.
arm 8y ago
No one said it had to be a “dull science lecture approach”. Example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17015661 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17015661
pbhjpbhj 8y ago
Couldn't disagree more. The sun being a super-heated ball of plasma firing neutrinos right through you is no less enchanting or imagination provoking than magical explanations. Describing radio to pre-schoolers is challenging though. Father Christmas is anathema to me. It doesn't appear to have had any deleterious effects at all with the creativity of our kids, we play make believe, we dress up, draw pictures, act and make fun. Why lie? People give our kids presents with "from Santa" on, and we're happy to say who really gave it -- that there are people who think about you, care about you, spent money they worked hard for, that's a hugely awesome thing. Knowing you are part of such a community, and that they (the kids) can do positive things in their lives too - demonstrating care of, love for, or even just charity towards others - that's transformative IMO.
DanBC 8y ago
> Not one single book in a primary school library is fact based. That would be a terrible library. Libraries for children are full of a wide range of books, including some that are pure fact.

icebraining 8y ago

I have no problem with telling fictional stories to kids, but I also disagree with your portrayal of fictional wonder vs dull lecture. Reality doesn't have to be dull. Carl Sagan's Cosmos has been seen by 500M people and many people who were kids then still remember being glued to the TV, fascinated by the science.

StavrosK 8y ago
As someone who was fascinated much more by how circuits work than "it's magic", I agree with you.

kwhitefoot 8y ago

> Not one single book in a primary school library is fact based. What a strange idea. Didn't your primary school have an encyclopaedia? Didn't you study any science or history then? Or do we have a different idea of the age of children at primary school? Where I come from (southern England, born 1955) I was dissecting buttercups and sketching them at the age of nine or ten, demonstrating that pondweed generated some sort of gas by putting an upturned test tube above it, etc. We studied history with reference to Roman roads and neolithic hill forts. And of course we played loads of competitive sports. Lots and lots of facts.

arm 8y ago

No one said it had to be a “dull science lecture approach”. Example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17015661 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17015661

pbhjpbhj 8y ago

Couldn't disagree more. The sun being a super-heated ball of plasma firing neutrinos right through you is no less enchanting or imagination provoking than magical explanations. Describing radio to pre-schoolers is challenging though. Father Christmas is anathema to me. It doesn't appear to have had any deleterious effects at all with the creativity of our kids, we play make believe, we dress up, draw pictures, act and make fun. Why lie? People give our kids presents with "from Santa" on, and we're happy to say who really gave it -- that there are people who think about you, care about you, spent money they worked hard for, that's a hugely awesome thing. Knowing you are part of such a community, and that they (the kids) can do positive things in their lives too - demonstrating care of, love for, or even just charity towards others - that's transformative IMO.

DanBC 8y ago

> Not one single book in a primary school library is fact based. That would be a terrible library. Libraries for children are full of a wide range of books, including some that are pure fact.