Gubi wrote...
If I may interject, what you were saying about the learning capabilities of youngsters is indeed true. But not at such a young age, and not in front of such a quantity of information.
The enormous amount of learning ability that a child exposes when he is growing up is merely a natural selection process that has come to be normal in almost every living creature on the planet, humans being the slowest in that respect(will come back to this later).
When born, an instinct of survival is spawned by the creature and it harnesses uncounciously the whole power of its brain to devellop the necessary skills to survive in the world as we know it. So yes, it is true, because baby snakes can slither off about 30 seconds after hatching, that it only takes a day and a half for a calf to stand on its feet and walk. Tremendous capalities are spawned when it comes to ensure the survival of oneself.
Now one could note that humans, as well as chimps, differ somewhat from that evolutionary rule. Society has replaced instinct , to a small measure with chimps, who care for their child only for a few months (but some can take years before letting go of their child, preparing him cautiously), but with us it has become decades before a human being can correctly survive in the world in which we live.
Now I'm going off subject, quite sorry about that.
The point here is, the benefits of learning at a young age to speakj many languages is true and recommended. But to my opinion (which is humble, as I have no children and only a rabid ferocity for information), the teaching should at least wait for until the child has walked past his modulating years (can you say that? I'm french, I don't know for sure, read as"years that shape the mind") which expands for some up to the age of three.
Now some would agree that that should be the best time to instruct a child, but we mustn't forget that these few years of indolence are the years in which strong emotional links are formed between parents and their child, and that it must not be interfered with for fear of pertubating the childs mind whereas the role of his parents.
In conclusion to my boring and extenuously long exposé, I would conclude that it would be better to wait until the ages of two or three to start tutoring children in this way(this is not meant as a critic, not sure how it sounds^^').
So, yes, lets teach our children. But not too early, and not too much either.
After all, all we wish for is their happy childhood, and their glorious future.
(This was long, but damn, that felt good, should do some more serious posts)
Good points represented. I have to agree on the time for teaching the child. Young mind is moldable.