They aren't stupid, and they'll say whatever you want them to say. Indeed. When I was merely nine I had a teacher who got mad at the class for some reason and

They aren't stupid, and they'll say whatever you want them to say. Indeed. When I was merely nine I had a teacher who got mad at the class for some reason and decided to punish us all by making us memorize a list of all the prepositions in English, to be regurgitated -- in alphabetical order -- on a quiz. So I did. I still remember them all, in alphabetical order, several decades later. [1] Of course kids can learn things. Those who aren't inclined to just blow school off may well be better at memorizing arbitrary rules than adults are. For one thing, they aren't always experienced enough to tell the difference between a useful educational exercise and a complete waste of time. --- [1] Actually, I believe my mental list may be missing some prepositions. And that really makes me angry.