These Kids Are Smart

I've got a rant, I'm sure, about Miss Caroline's educational philosophy, but I'm also sure there's not much point since most everyone would agree with me. More important in my eyes than the fact that Atticus taught his kids to read is the way he did so. He never talks down to them or treats them like kids. He doesn't simplify his vocabulary or give them simplified reading material. He talks to them the way he would any other person, and as a result they are bright and articulate. People don't give kids enough credit. They think and feel much the same way adults do, they just haven't always learned to express it like those who've had more time to work on it. But they will rise to the level of your (consistent) expectations. If you use sophisticated language and complex thought processes with them they will pick it up. If they spend the majority of their time with adults who talk down to them and other kids who have only been talked down to, they will develop that articulation more slowly. I am obviously in favor of early reading instruction, but we mustn't forget the verbal.

(And even with all that, they are still kids--thus the fear/obsession with Boo Radley, silly games, self-centeredness, fixation on obvious legends, etc.)