22.04, Thursday 4 May 2000

Talking with Es* about the teaching article from earlier today: We both weren't taught like that, obviously, but still we're both fairly bright people good at analysis, &c. - why is that? What was different in our upbringings?
 
This made me remember an incident from when I was young, probably about seven. I'd sent a note down via my sister to my parents. It included the word 'centre' which I'd spelt incorrectly, and so instead of replying to the note (it was a question) they sent the note back up again telling me there was a spelling mistake and that I should try again. And that happened again, and again. No corrections, no hints: Just letting me find out for myself and not making being wrong anything to be ashamed of.
 
There's other stuff I remember too, from being really young, like seeing a normal calculator and being confused because I'd been taught to use an RPN one (I was only five or six) or being taught long division on a Sunday morning (age eight). Just things. The older I get the more impressed I am by how well I was brought up.
 
I'll be off now, to email home and say so.