The Washington Post

To prepare for the discussion, read this short opinion piece from The Washington Post:

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-03-02/opinions/35449203_1_helicopter-parents-tiger-mother-american-mothers

In this article, the author describes parents that €À¦Ã¢‚¬Å“worry that their child isn€â€žÂ¢t zooming through Piaget€â€žÂ¢s stages of development.€ Interestingly, Piaget referred to the question €À¦Ã¢‚¬Å“How can we speed up development?€ as €À¦Ã¢‚¬Å“the American question.€ Among the many countries he visited, psychologists and educators in the United States seemed most interested in what techniques could be used to accelerate children€â€žÂ¢s progress through the stages. In fact, Americans spend millions every year on books titled Baby Geniuses, How to Have a Smarter Baby, and How to Grow Gifted Kids. Keeping this in mind, address the following discussion prompts:

Here are the three parts to your initial discussion posting:

First, what would Piaget say about accelerating children€â€žÂ¢s development through training, education, or €À¦Ã¢‚¬Å“special techniques€ ? Use Piagetian theory/vocabulary in your response.

Next, why do you think American parents are so obsessed with the idea of accelerating their children€â€žÂ¢s development?

Finally, what do you think? Can we accelerate children€â€žÂ¢s development? Why or why not?

Please address all three parts of the question in your initial posting.