“Quintilian [educational writer in Rome around A.D. 100] thought that the earliest years of the child's life were crucial. Education should start earlier than age seven, within the family. It should not be so hard as to give the child an aversion to learning. Rather, these early lessons would take the form of play--that embryonic notion of kindergarten.” GivingShouldYearsChildrenHardPlayAgeFormChildhoodLessonsSevenNotionEducationalCrucialRomeAversionKindergartenEarly ChildhoodEarly Childhood Education Author:C. Sommerville
“The person who designed a robot that could act and think as well as your four-year-old would deserve a Nobel Prize. But there is no public recognition for bringing up several truly human beings.” ThinkingYearsHumansWellsPersonsHuman BeingsFourDeserveRecognitionPrizeFour YearsRobotsNobelNobel Prize Author:C. Sommerville
“Could it be that those who were reared in the postwar years really were spoiled, as we used to hear? Did a child-centered generation, raised in depression and war, produce a self-centered generation that resents children and parenthood?” YearsChildrenWarSelfUsedGenerationsProduceRaisedParenthoodSelf CenteredSpoiledResent Author:C. Sommerville
“In the years of the Roman Republic, before the Christian era, Roman education was meant to produce those character traits that would make the ideal family man. Children were taught primarily to be good to their families. To revere gods, one's parents, and the laws of the state were the primary lessons for Roman boys. Cicero described the goal of their child rearing as "self- control, combined with dutiful affection to parents, and kindliness to kindred.” MenYearsChildrenSelfStatesCharacterChristianLawParentGoalBoysProduceTaughtLessonsIdealsAffectionBe GoodPrimariesErasRepublicTraitsSelf ControlKindredChild RearingFamily ManCharacter TraitKindliness Author:C. Sommerville