A little examination of two behaviors, which are learned almost universally by all Americans, reveals some shocking information about the effectiveness of some of the teaching techniques that we choose to use to educate our children.
In the last six months we have been conducting a little informal survey as we travel across America, and it has yielded some very interesting and very thought provoking data. We hope that sharing this information with you might stimulate some serious thought about what you choose to teach your children and especially some thought about some of the techniques that we all use in teaching life’s important lessons to the next generation.
During this six month time period we have asked literally tens of thousands of Americans if they know how to ride a bicycle and we have found only two women and one man whom cannot! We have also asked that same large sample of Americans if they wrapped presents at Christmas and gave them to loved ones, and we have found only thirteen men and seven women whom did not perform that loving task! (And it was not because they did not know how, but rather because they had decided not to for moral or...