Repetition Is Vital

Children are innocent.  They mimic what they see around them.  It can become difficult to tell where the line needs to be drawn by adults on what to tell and not to tell children.

In Billy Collin's poem "The History Teacher," the teacher blatantly lies to the young children.  He evades telling these children the full truth about historical events.  I believe this is utterly wrong.  These children will start with the notion of the Stone Age being the "Gravel Age," because of the many "long driveways of [that] time."  In reality, the Stone Age is a point in human history where stone tools are introduced to the world.

The children should be told the full truth from the start.  It is known that the more repetition a student has of an idea/concept, the better this student will remember the information in the long run.  Learning information is the reason the world needs teachers in the first place is it not.  Children must be corrected if they do not reciprocate the truth/correct answers for tests.  When the children have the opportunity to learn from their mistakes, they will truly be forced to learn the information.

Elementary school teachers should tell children half-truths before telling them lies.  Even though these children are young, they will need to be told the truth someday in their lives.  It will be easier for these children to take in little by little pieces of truths rather than pieces of lies continually.  School is meant to build on the information a student knows.understands as the years go on.  Each year a student moves further on, the student is told a little more about the truth of the matter.  Until soon this student knows/understands the full truth by the time he/she graduates, because his/her history teacher decided to begin the student's education by telling the truth.