The Aptitude Myth: How an Ancient Belief Came to Undermine Children’s Learning Today

Product description Review "What are our goals in educating children, and what is the nature of human learning? Americans typically answer these questions in ways that differ from the answers given in other nations. In The Aptitude Myth, Cornelius Grove reveals that ancient Greece was the source of key underlying themes in American education, and traces these down through European and American history into the early 20th century. He then proposes alternative ways of thinking about children and learning. Addressed to parents and educators, The Aptitude Myth offers a fascinating panorama, and will challenge the thinking of all who are interested in education." --Daniel Willingham, professor, department of psychology, University of Virginia, author of "Why Don't Students Like School?", "When Can You Trust the Experts?", and "Raising Kids Who Read" "Cornelius Grove makes an important contribution in The Aptitude Myth, filling in the historical path that led to our current conceptions of ability, learning, and education. Anyone who wants to dig a little deeper into the origin of these beliefs will be rewarded here." --James W. Stigler, psychologist, University of California, Los Angeles, co-author, "The Learning Gap" "I want you to know how impressed I am with The Aptitude Myth. The review of the history which led to the current state of American education was comprehensive in scope and extremely well written. The assertions in the concluding chapter present a clear challenge for both educators and parents to rethink the way children learn and to restructure learning environments to ensure children achieve the "mastery" of critical skills and knowledge which this book articulates so well. Cornelius Grove has authored an important book that all educators should read, and I have highly recommended it to many of those I worked with before my retirement. I congratulate Grove on writing such a valuable book for all who are interested in making real change in education today." --Lois Wygoda Klezmer, professor and early childhood coordinator (retired), Miami-Dade College About the Author Cornelius Grove, a former teacher and university lecturer, completed a doctoral dissertation on international classroom cultures in 1979. Since then, he has remained determined to contribute new historical and cross-cultural insights to that topic. Since 1990, he has served as managing partner of the business consultancy he founded, all the while continuing to explore his passion as an independent scholar, yielding The Aptitude Myth.