Piano, to learn or not to learn?(5) What to learn without learning the piano?——STEM + sports

原创 Chairman Rabbit tuzhuxi 2024-04-10 08:45 广东

Chairman Rabbit 20240410

The answer is that I am a father who attaches great importance to the education of my children, and I also think about whether I can provide my children with an education that is suitable for the future era, not only about myself, but also about the country. It is said that there are 20 million children learning piano in China, and one in every few primary school students is learning piano, which is the largest in the world in terms of coverage and penetration. A lingering question is: In the era of entering a new round of scientific and technological revolution led by artificial intelligence, the whole society is seeking a new quality of productive transformation, and the new generation of young people is facing an unprecedented fierce competition for talents in the future, is it reasonable for Chinese families to invest extracurricular education resources in European middle-class families one or two hundred years ago? Is our education advancing with the times? Are we preparing our children? Will we let our children be eliminated by the times? In this article, we will discuss what kind of education should be provided for children if they do not learn the piano (or other instruments with a long learning cycle).

1. Why do ordinary families want to learn piano? From 18th to 19th century Europe to contemporary society

2. Why piano education is so popular among contemporary Chinese families

3. Some problems in piano education

4. Which families and children are more suitable for piano learning?

5. If you don't learn piano, what will you learn?

1) Music education

(4) What do you learn without learning the piano?—— music

2) Non-music education (other subjects and hobbies other than music)

Part I: Framework

From a national point of view, if China wants to compete with the United States and other world powers in the future, it must have a future-oriented talent pool, and in order to have such a talent pool, it must be supported by a relevant education system

From the perspective of parents (and children themselves), children will face fierce competition in the future era when they grow up, and in the process of nurturing children, we must not carve a boat for a sword, but consider the picture of the future era, so that children can prepare for the future in terms of capacity building. Here, you can refer to the author's article "Three Capabilities (and Educational Goals) in the AI Era: Questions and Answers on AI and Education". The article argues that on the basis of the existing ability training, for the leading era, talents still need to increase and enhance the core competencies of "two categories" and "three fields":

"Two categories", namely "hard skills" and "soft skills";

The "three areas" are "using AI", "using AI well", and psychosocial/emotional, and emotional intelligence skills.

The details are as follows:

When choosing extracurricular learning and curriculum for children, it is recommended to consider: first, whether the content learned, the skills cultivated, first, can help achieve the above ability goals, and second, whether the help is not only limited, but also contradictory? When there is a contradiction, it is to devote a lot of time to the learning content that cannot form the above ability.

Part II: Specific Courses/Areas

The following mainly refers to the extracurricular learning courses that children need to carry out systematically and focused extracurricular learning for a period of time. The hobby part is not included.

a) STEM/"Science and Technology Education"/Robotics/Artificial Intelligence

The so-called "STEM", that is, science, technology, engineering, mathematics, from the content point of view, is roughly equivalent to the "science and engineering" in China; from the form point of view, the core of STEM is to break the traditional classroom subject teaching, and carry out integration, to achieve interdisciplinary integration of education, in order to truly increase children's understanding of related disciplines, cultivate comprehensive ability and quality. This concept has been in China for more than a decade. There are many initiatives from the national to the local education authorities, and some curricula have made their way into primary and secondary school classrooms in the country (albeit of varying quality).

Harnessing AI is a core skill of the future, and children's exposure to AI often starts with robotics/programming. Here, we have grouped the robotics/programming courses for children into the STEM category.

This article is not intended to introduce STEM further, but it is only pointed out that more than ten or twenty years ago, most families probably thought that musical instruments were compulsory for their children's success, and today, STEM and artificial intelligence are compulsory subjects. Now, unless a child shows an amazing musical talent (refer to "Piano, To Learn or Not to Learn?" (3) Who is suitable for learning the piano), most children should not devote a lot of precious growth time to learning traditional musical instruments, but should study a wide range of STEM courses, so that children can cultivate an interest in science, increase their understanding of scientific knowledge, improve their comprehension of scientific knowledge, and cultivate certain hands-on ability.

Most parents can easily understand the above concepts, and how to translate them into extracurricular courses depends on the educational resources that can be provided in various places.

My child has taken several STEM classes. When choosing a course, I look at the following factors:

——At a younger age (e.g. 4~6 years old), hands-on contact with the physical world is the mainstay. STEM requires children to have a certain level of cognition and understanding, and they are too young to learn. For younger children, it may be hands-on (DIY) things, which range from Lego building block games to others, from playing with plasticine to baking - anything that requires children to get hands-on, get in touch with the physical world, create or change physical forms. From this point of view, painting can also be classified in this category (more on painting later). More broadly, all kinds of outdoor activities, such as hiking, picking, and cycling, are all processes in which children explore the physical world and form cognitions. The problem is that most of these activities fall under the category of leisure activities or interest classes and cannot be translated into systematic "courses". At this time, some parents will mistakenly think that hobbies or interest classes are of little significance, a waste of time, and should let children enter a "track" as soon as possible.

- The child is a little older and can participate in various science experiment classes. This type of course is mainly for young elementary school students, depending on the availability of relevant resources in the locality. The characteristics of the course are: 1) Introduce basic science and engineering principles to help children build basic cognition and interests; 2) Must include do-it-yourself science experiments and DIY content, rather than listening to blackboard lectures or even online classes; 3) Multiple children participate together, with team and social skills; This type of curriculum is actually embedded in the teaching of the basic curriculum in some primary schools. According to the teaching resources in various places, children can be enrolled in such classes outside the classroom.

- When the child is older, he or she can take robotics and programming classes. In robotics class, children build a variety of complex tools ("robots") and need to be familiar with the various components and the physics behind them. Further to the higher level, the attributes of engineering and DIY are weakened, and the programming attributes are enhanced, which is a programming class. Robotics and programming are "big tracks" and "obvious learning" in China, and their importance does not need to be said. Most children will be interested in entry/low-level courses, but when it comes to advanced courses, they need to have a certain amount of talent, and not all children have the endowment to adapt to higher-level learning, so you must decide the learning plan according to the specific situation of the child.

- The integration of STEM/robotics/programming courses with "artificial intelligence":

First, robotics/programming classes: As early as 2017, the State Council triggered the "New Generation of Artificial Intelligence Development Plan" (Guo Fa [2017] No. 35), proposing: "Set up artificial intelligence-related courses in primary and secondary schools, gradually promote programming education, and encourage social forces to participate in the development and promotion of programming teaching software and games that are entertaining." This mentions that, first, in primary and secondary schools, we should start learning artificial intelligence courses, second, the implementation of artificial intelligence teaching is mainly programming, and third, teaching software and puzzle games are very important teaching carriers. Therefore, "artificial intelligence starts from the baby" is basically learning STEM/robotics/programming courses.

Second, the discussion of "generative AI". At its core, generative AI allows children to change their output by adjusting their inputs to AI, which can exercise creativity. Sora has run a number of contests for kids to make their own videos. Here's the thing: generative AI comes in many forms, text, images, video, and audio. Humans can only control input, and the rest is basically AI-packed. When a child is still very young, should he be exposed to generative AI, when is it "too early" to be exposed? Also, like GPT text AI, if you ask AI any question, isn't the child a fool? This question is controversial. My personal opinion is that when children are young, they can have limited exposure to simple picture or video generation AI, and as for systematic use, especially text AI, it should wait until the child is older. But in the foreseeable future, generative AI will be "implanted" in all of our lives, from mobile phones, TVs, electric cars to any electrical appliance, generative AI will be ubiquitous, children will definitely be able to access it, parents can't control it at all. These are part of the future of human life, and one might as well take it as a certainty that will happen and then face it calmly.

A little discussion – about the Olympiad:

The "M" in STEM refers to math, so should children take the math Olympiad? Here are some of my thoughts. The Olympiad has many advantages, such as its education/training is systematic, has a competition mechanism, and can be directly linked to children's further education. But there are also many problems with the Olympiad. In fact, many of us have tried the Olympiad when they were young, and many children give up after a few classes or a year, and feel "not smart", "not this material", "no brain". The truth is: Olympiad is more suitable for people with higher IQs, but not for everyone. The natural component of the Olympiad cannot be improved simply through acquired training. On the surface, Olympiad is a curriculum area, but in essence it is more like a selection mechanism that can screen the people with the highest IQ as quickly as possible. For high-IQ children, you can get a sense of accomplishment from the Olympiad right away, because you can do problems that others can't. For people with ordinary talents, not only is there a lack of fun, but also "frustration" will be immediately reaped, and children will doubt themselves: they are "stupid", "not smart", and "not material for learning". At this time, the child went to learn the Olympiad only as the "denominator", and the achievement was the numerator - a small number of high-IQ people.

Here, I think I should see three articles.

First, the purpose of children's learning is to acquire knowledge and skills on the one hand, and to gain mental health on the other. Children should learn with a sense of accomplishment, not frustration. Therefore, first of all, you must choose the field/track that the child is interested in, shows a certain talent endowment, and is really suitable for the child. Otherwise, the child will be very miserable in learning, and will continue to destroy self-confidence in the process ("everyone else learns well, but I can't learn well, is I too stupid"). This applies to the Olympiad as well as to piano and other subjects.

Second, the task of parents is to help their children make progress bit by bit, little by little, small steps on the track/field that suits them, develop skills, gain a sense of accomplishment, and build self-confidence. At this time, the goal of education is actually to help children achieve in life. This requires careful observation and long-term companionship from parents, as well as mature minds and great patience. Parents must not be short-sighted and impatient, let alone pull out seedlings to help them grow.

Third, the Olympiad is a great test of IQ, which is basically an IQ screening mechanism. However, it should be noted that in the future era dominated by AI, human IQ is not the only ability to create success, or even the greatest ability - emotion and "reverse quotient" are important. If the Olympiad can help select IQ, then what is the selection of EQ? What is the selection of adverse quotient? Regardless of the selection mechanism, at least there must be a set of ability training system. Even if you don't have a competency-building system, at least you need to have such an educational awareness. Therefore, parents should look at the Olympiad Mathematics rationally, and children with talent can let him read Olympiad mathematics, and for children who lack talent, they do not need to force him to learn Olympiad mathematics, let alone judge children through Olympiad mathematics.

b)体育运动、身体练习（physical exercise, PE）等

This includes all activities that involve physical movement (e.g. dancing).

Exercise has many benefits for children:

- Fitness: including cardiopulmonary fitness, musculoskeletal fitness, healthy weight, etc. The body is the capital of the revolution;

- Improve physical flexibility, balance, flexibility, and coordination: Because the piano involves playing with both hands, some parents let their children learn the piano in order to improve their left and right coordination, believing that it can develop intelligence. In fact, it is enough to do more exercise. The issue of left-right coordination will be discussed separately later;

- Enhance physical attractiveness: Body, body shape, and posture are all important for people's self-knowledge and self-confidence. Sports can help shape the body. Exercises like dance can also help children get good body posture;

- Protect eyesight: bury your head in learning the piano, nine out of ten people are short-sighted. To protect their eyesight, children need to be outdoors;

- Improve concentration: Physical activities can improve children's concentration/concentration, and ultimately help with desk learning;

- Provide relaxation and emotional stability: Adults who are stressed at work will also run and run for fitness. Physical activity can help stabilize mood (there is a physiological basis behind it, such as serotonin, endorphins, etc.). If children fall in love with sports and are good at sports, they will benefit for life;

- Good for sleep: Physical exercise is good for sleep, and children need healthy sleep very much for growth;

- Cultivating self-discipline and willpower: Sports can help cultivate children's self-discipline, perseverance, patience and willpower. Some parents let their children learn the piano to practice this, saying that they can cultivate self-discipline and discipline. If you think about it this way, then why not let your child exercise more? And the difference with learning the piano is: children enjoy sports, can get a lot of happiness and benefits from sports, while learning the piano, if not the child spontaneously, but by the parents watching, it is just the parents forcing the child to endure and accept, the child is not happy, and may even affect the parent-child relationship;

- Cultivating "Reverse Quotient": Many sports are game-oriented and confrontational, with one-on-one competitions and team competitions. These sports can help children accept challenges, adapt to challenges, get used to challenges, accept successes and failures, and grow from them. "Reverse quotient" is an important quality for children to cope with future challenges:

- Social attributes: Unlike the "solo households" who learn the piano, many sports have strong social attributes, where children learn together, and then there are one-on-one competitions, or many-to-many competitions, which can help children make friends and improve their social skills. Social skills are extremely important for children to master in the future.

- Teamwork and leadership: If you play team sports – such as a variety of big ball games – you can help your child develop team skills: establishing common goals with teammates, working towards common goals, and ultimately achieving results. The process is just as important as the outcome. Through sports, children can develop social skills, teamwork skills, and leadership skills, which are extremely important in the AI-dominated world of the future.

Let's take a look at some of the core competencies that will be needed in the coming era:

Self-awareness, self-emotion management, drive, communication, cooperation, leadership in psychosocial competencies...... These qualities and abilities are highly correlated with sports and should be cultivated at the child's level.

There are a few principles that can be used to introduce children to sports:

The first is to expose children to as many sports activities as possible, develop children's interests, and find children's interests;

The second is to start from the child's own interests, and at the same time consider his personality. Fencing, for example, is a great sport that improves flexibility, balance, and is safer. But it is a one-on-one confrontation, winning or losing, and extremely confrontational sports. Some children are naturally conflict-avoidant and may not be suitable for this sport. Here is just an example.

The third is to see the comprehensive benefits that sports and physical sports can bring to children, therefore, physical fitness is the foundation, when choosing specific sports, we should also consider whether sports can expand children's comprehensive abilities, such as self-discipline, tenacity, willpower, social skills, team ability, etc. Engaging in sports is to continue learning in the process of training, not only for your own body, but also to gain more skills and better integrate into society.

The fourth is that you can combine your child's interests and choose some "track-type" sports, track-type sports, that is, you can achieve promotion through exams or competitions, and constantly obtain higher honors. This is the same as learning the piano and taking the grading. However, in the process, it is also necessary to combine the child's own interests, subjective ideas and other objective conditions to be able to enter and exit, so as to avoid falling into path dependence due to precipitation costs and not being able to "get out of the pit".

In addition to the above, of course, there are many other considerations, such as the growth and development of the child's body, the safety of sports, the economic situation, and so on.

Discussion of some specific movements:

Swimming: In addition to strengthening the body and helping to shape the body, swimming also has a strong practicality, so it is recommended to familiarize children with water and learn various swimming styles at an early age.

Ice skating: Ice skating improves coordination, balance, "physical intelligence", and is a very enjoyable sport that helps children relax and brings emotional value. Skating can be learned at a young age, and it can be mastered quickly. Among them, roller skating is a good choice: as long as you have a pair of roller skates, you can skate, the requirements for the venue are low, and therefore the cost is also low. Skating can also be learned, which is safer than skiing, but the disadvantage is that there are requirements for the venue and the cost is higher. Once you've learned to skate, you can pick up other ice sports, from figure skating (close to dance) to ice hockey (a team sport with ball), but these also require physical conditions and are more expensive.

Dance: Dance can exercise the body, shape the body, and bring good physical posture to children, helping children build self-confidence. Compared with general body movements, dance also has a special benefit, that is, it often has a higher degree of integration with music, and dancing to music can increase children's feelings and understanding of music. Finally, dance also has a strong social aspect in general.

Martial arts (fighting): Most sports can strengthen the body and help children orient themselves. It would be more helpful if I could get in touch with it and learn a little more martial arts. It can be learned by both men and women, and probably especially boys, who are more likely to be physically bullied at school than girls. Learning a little bit of martial arts can protect yourself and boost your self-confidence.

This article is a summary:

In China, children enter junior high school with a lot of schoolwork, and it is generally difficult to maintain extracurricular learning, so primary school and preschool are very valuable extracurricular learning stages for most children, and they must be used well.

There are a few things you may want to consider when choosing an extracurricular program for your child in a limited amount of time:

First, whether it can help children develop a healthy body;

the second is whether the knowledge obtained in learning can be retained (whether children can obtain specific and retained knowledge gains in each class time);

third, whether it can help children develop and establish knowledge and skills that are suitable for the future era;

fourth, whether it can help cultivate children's continuous learning ability and self-motivation;

Fifth, whether they can have social functions, including leadership, teamwork skills and social skills;

Sixth, based on the above, which courses can better provide a package of solutions.

In summary, in today's future-oriented era, except for a few children with extraordinary musical endowments and born into musical families, who can spend more time learning musical instruments, most children should focus their main extracurricular learning energy on two major types of activities: one is STEM and the other is sports.

Some of the other extracurricular learning activities will be introduced in the next article.

(To be continued)

Piano, to learn or not to learn?(1) From 19th-century European families to today's society

(2) Why is the piano so popular in China, and the problem of piano education

Piano, to learn or not to learn?(3) Who is suitable for learning piano?

Piano, to learn or not to learn?(4) What to learn without learning the piano?—— music