Posted July 12, 2016

How to raise brilliant children

Temple Psychologist Kathryn Hirsh-Pasek’s new book calls for a rethink of American education.

Kathy Hirsh-Pasek sitting down and smiling.
Photography By: 
Courtesy of Kathy Hirsh-Pasek
Kathy Hirsh-Pasek is the Stanley and Debra Lefkowitz faculty fellow at Temple University.

If we want to raise and educate successful children, says Kathryn Hirsh-Pasek, the Stanley and Debra Lefkowitz Distinguished Faculty Fellow in the Department of Psychology at Temple, we may need to overhaul the American system of K–12 education.

“We're training kids to do what computers do, which is spit back facts,” Hirsh-Pasek told National Public Radio. “Computers are always going to be better than human beings at that. But what they're not going to be better at is being social, navigating relationships, being citizens in a community. So we need to change the whole definition of what success in school, and out of school, means.”

Hirsh-Pasek and the University of Delaware’s Roberta Golinkoff, co-authors of a new book called Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells Us About Raising Successful Children, joined nprEd for a conversation about raising children and the future of American education. Hirsh-Pasek outlined a “21st century report card,” a guideline for educators for parents that’s informed by the latest research on child development.

“What we do with little kids today will matter in 20 years," she said. "If you don't get it right, you will have an unlivable environment. That's the crisis I see."

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