Kindergarten Vs. 12th Grade

This post was adapted from something that I had previously written.

I have argued before that schools destroy thought. If that’s true, kindergarteners should be able to outthink 12th graders. As strange as it seems, this is a comparison that I had overlooked in the past.

I have already stated that our schooling system is producing mindless drones. I don’t have to think very hard about how weak 12th graders are in terms of thinking ability. I have also been critical of college graduates for similar reasons, although college graduates seem to be even worse. What I need to evaluate is how well children in kindergarten can think.

In kindergarten, children have solid imaginations. They can essentially create worlds in their heads. While this may not be viewed as the most practical form of thought, it is clearly a form of thought. Without 12th graders establishing a clear ability to think in any form, one thing is certain. Kindergarteners are more advanced mentally than 12th graders.

Some people might come up with a quick defense of this argument. Among them could be intelligence testing. Since intelligence is a matter of opinion and what it takes to establish someone as an intellect varies depending on who is providing the evaluation, intelligence testing has no practical value. Additionally, testing can pick specific components of intelligence while ignoring others. Just the idea that 12th graders are more experienced in taking tests could ultimately skew results in any attempt to compare the intelligence of these two groups.

Another flawed argument against kindergarteners being stronger thinkers could be mindless trivia. There are a lot of trivia games out there that have been improperly assumed to indicate brilliance. To me, thought consists of more than remembering what someone else said. 12th graders have had more time to absorb facts that are worthless outside of trivia games. It should be obvious that there is a logical explanation for mindless 12th graders being able to remember more than a mentally active kindergarteners.

Another thing to look at is the practical knowledge that we have absorbed over the years. Since kindergarteners haven’t had as much time to absorb this information, they can’t apply it. Their thought process is primarily restricted to actual thought. 12th graders have a lot more beyond actual thought to fall back on.

I’m not writing all of this to claim that kindergarteners are better suited to lead this world than a 12th grader. The ability to think is not the only thing that matters in this world. Most of what truly matters is developed over our lifetimes separately from schooling. If we can develop ourselves while maintaining the raw mental ability that we possess when we enter the schools, we can exceed what we can accomplish in our over-schooled society.

Looking at what I have just said, I didn’t offer much explanation in how kindergarteners are more advanced than 12th graders. It seems so obvious to me that I actually struggle to explain it. I know that a lot of people would disagree with me, but that disagreement would generally be out of an obligation to defend the schools. Everything that I have seen seems to indicate that mental ability declines as more schooling is received. And yes, kindergarteners are more intelligent than 12th graders.