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Alison Gopnik Quotes

Siblings are the guarantors that the private childhood world - so unlike the adult world that scientists are only just beginning to understand it - is a fully shared and objective one Picture Quote #1

The science can tell you that the thousands of pseudo-scientific parenting books out there - not to mention the ‘Baby Einstein’ DVDs and the flash cards and the brain-boosting toys - won’t do a thing to make your baby smarter. That’s largely because babies are already as smart as they can be; smarter than we are in some ways Picture Quote #1

In most places and times in human history, babies have had not just one person but lots of people around who were really paying attention to them around, dedicated to them, cared to them, were related to them. I think the big shift in our culture is the isolation in which many children are growing up Picture Quote #1

Imagine if baseball were taught the way science is taught in most inner-city schools. Schoolchildren would get lectures about the history of the World Series. High school students would occasionally reproduce famous plays of the past. Nobody would get in the game themselves until graduate school Picture Quote #1

One of the things I say is, ‘You want to know what it’s like to be a baby? It’s like being in love for the first time in Paris after four double espressos.’ And boy, you are alive and conscious Picture Quote #1

A theory not only explains the world we see, it lets us imagine other worlds, and, even more significantly, lets us act to create those worlds. Developing everyday theories, like scientific theories, has allowed human beings to change the world Picture Quote #1

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We know what makes babies smart and happy and thrive. It’s having human beings who are dedicated to caring for them - human beings who are well supported, not stressed out and not poor Picture Quote #1

I wanted to answer big questions about humanity, about how it is that we understand about the world, how we can know as much as we do, why human nature is the way that it is. And it always seemed to me that you find answers to those questions by looking at children Picture Quote #1

The brain is highly structured, but it is also extremely flexible. It’s not a blank slate, but it isn’t written in stone, either Picture Quote #1

The thing that is most important is having people who are involved and engaged with the kids and also are not stressed and can be involved with them. And that’s actually not boring and banal. That actually takes a lot of work to make that happen, and it’s not something that our society does very well at all Picture Quote #1

What makes knowledge automatic is what gets you to Carnegie Hall - practice, practice, practice Picture Quote #1

Each new generation of children grows up in the new environment its parents have created, and each generation of brains becomes wired in a different way. The human mind can change radically in just a few generations Picture Quote #1

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Historically, absolute IQ scores have risen substantially as we’ve changed our environment so that more people go to school longer Picture Quote #1

Imaginary friends are one of the weirder forms of pretend play in childhood. But the research shows that imaginary friends actually help children understand the other people around them and imagine all the many ways that people could be Picture Quote #1

We have lots of evidence that putting investments in early childhood education, even evidence from very hard-nosed economists, is one of the very best investments that the society can possibly make. And yet we still don’t have public support for things like preschools Picture Quote #1

Childhood is a fundamental part of all human lives, parents or not, since that’s how we all start out. And yet babies and young children are so mysterious and puzzling and even paradoxical Picture Quote #1

We learn differently as children than as adults. For grown-ups, learning a new skill is painful, attention-demanding, and slow. Children learn unconsciously and effortlessly Picture Quote #1

We do nothing for children between the ages of zero and five. And we seem to be quite happy to have children growing up in not just poverty, which wouldn’t be so bad, but isolation, lack of people around them, lack of support, lack of ability to go out and play in the dirt Picture Quote #1

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Scientists and philosophers tend to treat knowledge, imagination and love as if they were all very separate parts of human nature. But when it comes to children, all three are deeply entwined. Children learn the truth by imagining all the ways the world could be, and testing those possibilities Picture Quote #1

Even the very youngest children already are perfectly able to discriminate between the imaginary and the real, whether in books or movies or in their own pretend play. Children with the most elaborate and beloved imaginary friends will gently remind overenthusiastic adults that these companions are, after all, just pretend Picture Quote #1

What, of course, we want in a university is for people to learn the skills they’re going to need outside the classroom. So, having a system that had more emphasis on inquiry and exploration but also on learning and practising specific skills would fit much better with how we know people learn Picture Quote #1

I’ve had three of my own children and spent my professional life thinking about children. And yet I still find my relation to my children deeply puzzling Picture Quote #1

Successful creative adults seem to combine the wide-ranging exploration and openness we see in children with the focus and discipline we see in adults Picture Quote #1

I think universities are trying to figure out how we could use what we know about learning to change our education system, but it is sort of funny that they don’t necessarily seem to be consulting the people who are sitting right there on campus Picture Quote #1

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I’m the oldest of six children and I had my own first baby when I was 23. So I’ve always been interested in babies, and I had lots of opportunities to watch them Picture Quote #1

We don’t measure the quality of our other relationships by how well the other person turns out, for instance whether my husband is a better person after 10 years than he was when I first met him Picture Quote #1

Like most parents, I think, my children have been the source of some of my most intense joys and despairs, my deepest moral dilemmas and greatest moral achievements Picture Quote #1

Samuel Johnson called it the vanity of human wishes, and Buddhists talk about the endless cycle of desire. Social psychologists say we get trapped on a hedonic treadmill. What they all mean is that we wish, plan and work for things that we think will make us happy, but when we finally get them, we aren’t nearly as happy as we thought we’d be Picture Quote #1

The more obsessively we focus on what a particular food is going to do for us, the less healthy we’ve become. Simple pleasures become complicated Picture Quote #1

Ours is an age of pedagogy. Anxious parents instruct their children more and more, at younger and younger ages, until they’re reading books to babies in the womb Picture Quote #1

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Friendship Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

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Text Quotes

Siblings are the guarantors that the private childhood world - so unlike the adult world that scientists are only just beginning to understand it - is a fully shared and objective one. (Alison Gopnik Quotes) The science can tell you that the thousands of pseudo-scientific parenting books out there - not to mention the ‘Baby Einstein’ DVDs and the flash cards and the brain-boosting toys - won’t do a thing to make your baby smarter. That’s largely because babies are already as smart as they can be; smarter than we are in some ways. (Alison Gopnik Quotes) In most places and times in human history, babies have had not just one person but lots of people around who were really paying attention to them around, dedicated to them, cared to them, were related to them. I think the big shift in our culture is the isolation in which many children are growing up. (Alison Gopnik Quotes) Imagine if baseball were taught the way science is taught in most inner-city schools. Schoolchildren would get lectures about the history of the World Series. High school students would occasionally reproduce famous plays of the past. Nobody would get in the game themselves until graduate school. (Alison Gopnik Quotes) One of the things I say is, ‘You want to know what it’s like to be a baby? It’s like being in love for the first time in Paris after four double espressos.’ And boy, you are alive and conscious. (Alison Gopnik Quotes) A theory not only explains the world we see, it lets us imagine other worlds, and, even more significantly, lets us act to create those worlds. Developing everyday theories, like scientific theories, has allowed human beings to change the world. (Alison Gopnik Quotes) We know what makes babies smart and happy and thrive. It’s having human beings who are dedicated to caring for them - human beings who are well supported, not stressed out and not poor. (Alison Gopnik Quotes) I wanted to answer big questions about humanity, about how it is that we understand about the world, how we can know as much as we do, why human nature is the way that it is. And it always seemed to me that you find answers to those questions by looking at children. (Alison Gopnik Quotes) The brain is highly structured, but it is also extremely flexible. It’s not a blank slate, but it isn’t written in stone, either. (Alison Gopnik Quotes) The thing that is most important is having people who are involved and engaged with the kids and also are not stressed and can be involved with them. And that’s actually not boring and banal. That actually takes a lot of work to make that happen, and it’s not something that our society does very well at all. (Alison Gopnik Quotes) What makes knowledge automatic is what gets you to Carnegie Hall - practice, practice, practice (Alison Gopnik Quotes) Each new generation of children grows up in the new environment its parents have created, and each generation of brains becomes wired in a different way. The human mind can change radically in just a few generations. (Alison Gopnik Quotes) Historically, absolute IQ scores have risen substantially as we’ve changed our environment so that more people go to school longer. (Alison Gopnik Quotes) Imaginary friends are one of the weirder forms of pretend play in childhood. But the research shows that imaginary friends actually help children understand the other people around them and imagine all the many ways that people could be. (Alison Gopnik Quotes) We have lots of evidence that putting investments in early childhood education, even evidence from very hard-nosed economists, is one of the very best investments that the society can possibly make. And yet we still don’t have public support for things like preschools. (Alison Gopnik Quotes) Childhood is a fundamental part of all human lives, parents or not, since that’s how we all start out. And yet babies and young children are so mysterious and puzzling and even paradoxical. (Alison Gopnik Quotes) We learn differently as children than as adults. For grown-ups, learning a new skill is painful, attention-demanding, and slow. Children learn unconsciously and effortlessly. (Alison Gopnik Quotes) We do nothing for children between the ages of zero and five. And we seem to be quite happy to have children growing up in not just poverty, which wouldn’t be so bad, but isolation, lack of people around them, lack of support, lack of ability to go out and play in the dirt. (Alison Gopnik Quotes) Scientists and philosophers tend to treat knowledge, imagination and love as if they were all very separate parts of human nature. But when it comes to children, all three are deeply entwined. Children learn the truth by imagining all the ways the world could be, and testing those possibilities. (Alison Gopnik Quotes) Even the very youngest children already are perfectly able to discriminate between the imaginary and the real, whether in books or movies or in their own pretend play. Children with the most elaborate and beloved imaginary friends will gently remind overenthusiastic adults that these companions are, after all, just pretend. (Alison Gopnik Quotes) What, of course, we want in a university is for people to learn the skills they’re going to need outside the classroom. So, having a system that had more emphasis on inquiry and exploration but also on learning and practising specific skills would fit much better with how we know people learn. (Alison Gopnik Quotes) I’ve had three of my own children and spent my professional life thinking about children. And yet I still find my relation to my children deeply puzzling. (Alison Gopnik Quotes) Successful creative adults seem to combine the wide-ranging exploration and openness we see in children with the focus and discipline we see in adults. (Alison Gopnik Quotes) I think universities are trying to figure out how we could use what we know about learning to change our education system, but it is sort of funny that they don’t necessarily seem to be consulting the people who are sitting right there on campus. (Alison Gopnik Quotes) I’m the oldest of six children and I had my own first baby when I was 23. So I’ve always been interested in babies, and I had lots of opportunities to watch them. (Alison Gopnik Quotes) We don’t measure the quality of our other relationships by how well the other person turns out, for instance whether my husband is a better person after 10 years than he was when I first met him. (Alison Gopnik Quotes) Like most parents, I think, my children have been the source of some of my most intense joys and despairs, my deepest moral dilemmas and greatest moral achievements. (Alison Gopnik Quotes) Samuel Johnson called it the vanity of human wishes, and Buddhists talk about the endless cycle of desire. Social psychologists say we get trapped on a hedonic treadmill. What they all mean is that we wish, plan and work for things that we think will make us happy, but when we finally get them, we aren’t nearly as happy as we thought we’d be. (Alison Gopnik Quotes) The more obsessively we focus on what a particular food is going to do for us, the less healthy we’ve become. Simple pleasures become complicated. (Alison Gopnik Quotes) Ours is an age of pedagogy. Anxious parents instruct their children more and more, at younger and younger ages, until they’re reading books to babies in the womb. (Alison Gopnik Quotes)

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