Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Life Statistics

People compete and chart against each other even BEFORE you are born. That ultrasound... is the fetus of normal size? After the baby is born... how many percentile in circumference, length, weight? (How come no one is interested in the radius).
After a few months you get this survey: can your baby do this or that by certain time, such as lift head, turn over, crawl, sit, etc. We are bench marked since the beginning of life!

If the baby looks healthy, looks happy and intelligent, there is little to worry about. So what if some other baby can do other tasks earlier.

Your little survey say my kid has little problem solving skills? I beg to disagree. He may not be able to do it now, he may be able to do it better than that person writing the survey later.

I've heard some parents claim their kid can do fractions at 2. That's Amazing. Ok, I'll quiz that kid on the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus a month from now. Folks, there is no difference if you know the fractions or the Fundamental Theorem at 2.1 years old and when you are in 18, unless you can bring something MORE to the world, like Eistein breaking though classical Newtonian physics.

I try not to let fantastic kids stories or percentile statistics to bother me... until a few years from now. I will not strive to make his score high. But to HELP him understand things.

For those people can't help but look at the statistics. Let me tell you this: a certain percent will fail school, a certain percent will DIE because they drink-and-drive. A certain will DIE because of bad illness. A certain percent will make you a grandparent when they are in teenage.

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