In the News - Teaching our Children to Lie

Why do kids lie? Could it be that they are just copying their parents? That’s seems to be the latest thinking. A clear argument as to how the entire process works can be found in a NY Times Magazine Article called “Learning to Lie.”

There are the traditional mainstay sort of beliefs: “Kids lie early, often, and for all sorts of reasons—to avoid punishment, to bond with friends, to gain a sense of control.” But there are also some real gems of insight in the article. First off, in one experiment, some not-so-startling results revealed the following:

“Out of the 36 topics, the average teen was lying to his parents about twelve of them. The teens lied about what they spent their allowances on, and whether they’d started dating, and what clothes they put on away from the house. They lied about what movie they went to, and whom they went with. They lied about alcohol and drug use, and they lied about whether they were hanging out with friends their parents disapproved of. They lied about how they spent their afternoons while their parents were at work. They lied about whether chaperones were in attendance at a party or whether they rode in cars driven by drunken teens.”

Yet another revelation, this one more surprising, is that children who lie at quite young ages actually are demonstrating great intellect. According to Dr. Victoria Talwar, an assistant professor at Montreal’s McGill University and expert on the lying behavior of the young, “Although we think of truthfulness as a young child’s paramount virtue, it turns out that lying is the more advanced skill. A child who is going to lie must recognize the truth, intellectually conceive of an alternate reality, and be able to convincingly sell that new reality to someone else. Therefore, lying demands both advanced cognitive development and social skills that honesty simply doesn’t require.”

Ouch.

As for those child development websites that advise parents just to ignore the small lies when they occur, the article notes: “Many parenting Websites and books advise parents to just let lies go—they’ll grow out of it. The truth, according to Talwar, is that kids grow into it.”

Double ouch.

All those thoughts are revealed on page one - by page four the experts get to why children learn to lie. And at the end, well the author reveals how she was responsible for her child’s first act of verbal dishonesty.

Great Science Fiction
Over at IO9.com, readers will find the site’s “Twenty Science Fiction Novels that Will Change Your Life.” Notes site editor Annalee Newitz, “Whether it’s because they’ve altered the course of science fiction writing, or simply provide a genuinely alien perspective on ordinary life, these are novels that will rearrange how you think.”
As an avid reader of science fiction as a teenager and young teacher, I certainly agree with some of the books on the list. Frankenstein, I,Robot, and The Time Machine are all musts. From there, well I was surprisingly unfamiliar with most. More importantly, how she could leave out the like of Robert Heinlen, Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick and Ray Bradbury was beyond me.
I still that think Arthur C. Clarke’s lesser known “Rendezvous with Rama” (later follow ups were released) is one of the best sci fi novels I have ever read. There is the real hard science, all valid, mixed with the frightening realization that the occupants of an advanced space craft are about as interested in human visitors spending time inside the massive ship as we would be with insects on the back lawn. If you like real science with the best of science fiction concepts, Clarke is the man. But for a pure, unadulterated mix of futuristic science and human commentary, I could never forget Kurt Vonnegut’s “Sirens of Titan.” If you have not read this one, do yourself a favor.

Critical Thinking Web Page
Another web page getting some serious bookmarking is the “Critical Thinking Web” page at Philosphy.hku.hk. The world of higher order thinking is one that simply does not get enough attention during teacher training. A site devoted to developing critical thinking skills is a must bookmark for any teacher and this one provides tutorials on such topics as creative thinking, strategic reasoning, logic and even argument analysis.

Some Interesting Reading
A great article at the Chronicle of Higher Education offers the idea that e-mail is quickly becoming outdated as we move to another world entirely, one that is all a-Twitter. The article does acknowledge that e-mail in fact still is the choice for many as the world of Twitter is “just too noisey.” Yet another article getting a lot play is at WatDawWat.com. Perhaps we should rethink this issue of teacher pay just a bit - the fact, they are not highly-paid babysitters as some often suggest.

Those YouTube Vidoes
And lastly, another must see science-oriented page is at Blogwired.com where they offer the “Top 10 Amazing Chemistry Videos.” The site has a little bit of everything, from those who like flames to the death of a gummy bear set to music with a Celtic feel. We loved the gem below. Talk about creativity! Now you need to listen to the words of the song - and we do mean listen.

A great assignment would be to have students explain the scientific importance of each lyrical line. Just leave out the part about who’s your daddy??