An entry on 10-18-2008

I don’t remember how but, while watching the debate between McCain and Obama, suddenly I thought of the cute little Shadiah. She has been taught all the stuffs, including many things about American presidents from the beginning. But one day when I randomly asked her, “Shadiah, who is the current president of America?” .She hesitantly answered, “Abraham Lincoln?” I laughed, so she turned a bit shy and answered me again really softly, “Is it ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt?”

Well, it’s a bit surprising when she didn’t know who the current president was, while she probably knew many other presidential facts than I did (tales, maybe). She was a little girl anyway. This leads to a more interesting thing: what would a little girl likely to remember would be the things which are significant (like A. Lincoln), and things which are somehow related to her (such as a teddy bear). Things should be similar to little boys also, and if parents and teachers can take advantage of this, well, they can somewhat control what they want the children to learn and believe – useful though scary.

It’s Chelsea birthday yesterday, so, happy birthday to you, my dearest sister! (maybe she doesn’t even know about this blog, how amusing… ^^)