When Should We Teach Kids How to Read?
The Alternative Community's Education Blind Spot - Part 2
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Preface
The following short piece is a reply I spat out at fellow Substacker Eric Hoel (The Intrinsic Perspective), whose material I generally like a lot and tend to agree with. His piece was about teaching young children to read using his own custom method. The keyword there is “young”…
I didn’t make it far in before the red flags compelled me to comment—and that comment is the post you find below. No disrespect is intended towards Eric, he’s a smart and well-intentioned fellow who has a lot of very worthy things to say. Alas, the realm of education—even among independently-minded home-schooling intellectual types—is rife with boobytraps and unsuspected shades that lurch at us from dark corners at every turn.
And just to clarify: I am NOT a fan of mainstream (Rockefeller) education at all. It was absolutely NOT designed based on what a human being actually is and might become.
The intention behind homeschooling and other approaches is great, but unless it is well-informed it can potentially be even worse than sending your kid to a state indoctrination camp. (And no, I don’t homeschool my kid because we found a better way to go.)
Should We or Shouldn’t We?
My reply to Eric:
As the father of a 3-year-old who is fluent in English and Spanish and utterly brilliant, it looks like I'll be the guy (as usual) with the unpopular opinion that addresses the blind spot/s.
I want to start by saying I enjoy your stuff immensely in general, Eric. Typically we're on the same page, but this time not so much—in the following respects...
Let me start with this comment from you:
"This [teaching reading] can be done before kindergarten and it opens up their world (not to mention providing a much-needed alternative to screentime)"
Firstly, I take it you aren't overly familiar with Steiner's Waldorf model...
Rudolf Steiner was a polymath, visionary and genius, far ahead of his time. He had a unique insight into what a human being (and child) fundamentally is, and he therefore catered to that in his *profound* approach to education.
Without writing an essay about it, he grasped that learning to read prior to the age of seven is not only unnecessary for a child, but largely unhelpful. It has to do with the developmental stage they (young children) are in.
Their bodily organs are being built, for one thing, and this takes a truly massive amount of energy.
Overly intellectual/mental stimulation can draw too much energy away from those organic processes, resulting in nothing good, even potentially later forming the basis for "mysterious illnesses" that no one will ever think to connect back to childhood and having to learn to read.
People seem to forget: a child in a healthy environment (such as a well run Waldorf school) is CONSTANTLY learning and adapting, without any effort. Everyone knows kids are "sponges" after all.
I'm keeping this short and simple, but I can suggest Waldorf books if you're keen to get up to speed. (I recently wrote an article about Waldorf education on my Substack too, something of a basic intro for newbies - drop in and find THE ALTERNATIVE COMMUNITY'S EDUCATION BLIND SPOT).
Consider: just because we CAN do something does that mean we should? Is it necessarily healthy or beneficial just because it COULD be done?
In this instance (reading early), Steiner's insights provide a clear "no," for reasons he outlined in detail.
Note: Children from 7 onwards can and will learn to read EASILY (among other things) given the chance, and it's at that point that their whole-body energetic system—including the brain—is ready and primed for it. Prior to that it can be "forced," yes, but it actually shouldn't be.
My daughter is a genius but I won't be teaching her to read until it's time. I'm grateful she's in a tailor-made educational environment where the teachers understand and are on the same page, allowing her biological and mental development to work on nature's schedule with minimal interference. (And yes, premature mental activity can constitute interference—with nature’s pathways to optimal development.)
Re: "opening up their worlds."
This can (and should) be done both without screens (ideally), as you suggest, and ALSO without reading (forcing intellectual/mental development before their system is actually designed to accommodate and flourish with it).
One thing we recently discovered is Waldorf stories on Spotify.
It's best that their fertile little imaginations can hear the words and then generate their own internal movie, as opposed to seeing someone else's ready-made movie/visuals on a screen. It's also better suited to them than reading.
HERE is a perfect alternative to "screen time"—one that is suited to their particular pre-intellectual/mental stage of development. Children this young don't even need a plot line/story—that comes in the years 7 and onwards. Story books need only focus primarily on objects/items, since children this young are not yet wired for narratives—let alone narratives featuring danger, death, and other more “adult” themes.
Note: The basic take-home message of whatever media you let them consume, as small children needs to be THIS: "The world is good."
That must be the (subconscious) takeaway for small children. If the content of the story does not convey that, ditch it.
Belated disclaimer: I didn't read the whole piece, I stopped after the first couple of red flags that jumped out at me.
My point here is that while your approach to teaching reading is probably great (I might look at it properly later), it's the TIMING that I'm suggesting you reconsider.
I'll leave it there for now, gotta run.
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Reading does not need to be taught, it is an experience that leads to self teaching. I read to my son nearly every night from about 1 year old onwards. Starting out with the typical baby books. By the time he was 4, I was reading 2-3 three years beyond his age for content, not so much about learning. By 5th grade he was reading at a 12th grade level when tested. Today he researches anything he wants to know about. Reading allows the ultimate freedom of creating self and opportunities. It's not taught, it's experienced. The rest comes because of enticing experiences!