<table><tr><th>From:</th><th>Noam Chomsky</th></tr><tr><td>Sent:</td><td>Thursday, December 7, 2017 6:53 AM</td></tr><tr><td>To:</td><td>Jeffrey E.; Valeria Chomsky</td></tr><tr><td>Subject:</td><td>Re:</td></tr></table>

If done properly, like offering free and creative opportun=ties for kids, I think it can be good for the individual.

And with your immense help, for which I can't express enough gratitu=e, we're working our way through it I think

<=>r

On=Wed, Dec 6, 2017 at 9:09 PM, jeffrey E. <jeevacation@gmail.com>= wrote:

no quest=on in my mind that it is a huge benefit for the group. b=t my conjecture is that it is not necessarily good for the individual. =A0. like being a hero ( throwing yourself on a gr=nade ) . good for the group not so good for the hero. =A0. as writing forces a linear slow pace. =C2 I wonder if in a large population, handwriting will be =correlated with G. anyway, I n=ed to get my mind off the way you have been getting screwed. d=ives me crazy.

On=Wed, Dec 6, 2017 at 10:51PM, Noam Chomsky wrote:

Good to=have a fun note.

I suspect that forcing children to do =nything is probably harmful. But it's possible to introduce writ=ng and (secondarily) reading in a way that seems to enhance thinking.40=A0 That's the idea behind "invented spelling" (here's a =ink to some of the work: https://pages.wustl.edu/files/pages/imce/treiman/Re=d%20%26%20Treiman_Childrens_Invented_Spellingfinal.pdf chttps://pages.wustl.edu/files/pag=s/imce/treiman/Read%20%26%20TreimanChildrens Invented_Spellingfinal.pdf> two-year ).44=A0 old Back son had in the written early things=that '50s, a philosopher he thought friend were of mine gibberish, (Israel wondering Scheff=er) if brought I could make me some something pages on of which it.=C2* his It was immediately obvious that the kind had learned the names of th= letters and was spontaneously stringing them together to express himself =n writing. And making interesting generalizations. Thus the le=ter "A", pronounced /ey/, he used for the words "came,"= "pet", "pat"; the letter "i " , pronounced /a=/, he used for "pie", "pot," "butt" . And so=on. It all made sense. Our kids did the same thing. Caro= wrote some papers about it, Charles Read and others carried it forward.=C24> Turns out to be a great way to teach reading too. Kids spontaneously=express themselves, often in creative way, and the transition to official =rthography is not that difficult now that they have the general idea.

There's a debate about it in educational circles, =nd though I haven't followed it, my impression is that old-fashioned f=rcing into a mold probably wins out, undermining the joy of self-expressio= and possibly reading.

As you may know, Galileo regarded inv=ntion of the alphabet as among the greatest of all human inventions. Can d= no better than quote his own words. He regarded the invention of th= alphabet as "surpassing all stupendous inventions," asking =E2404>what sublimity of mind was his who dreamed of finding means to communicate his deepest though=s to any other person, though distant by mighty intervals of place and time! =f talking with those who are in India; of speaking to those who are not yet b=rn and will not be born for a thousand or ten thousand years; and with what facility, by the different arrangements of twenty characters upon a page1=E244

Shortly after, the same observati=n was made about the more fundamental matter of sounds (Port Royal Grammar= 1660). I discovered all of this about 50 years ago and wrote about =t. Unknown then, still unknown, in my view some of the most profound=insights in the human sciences.

Smart guys, the f=unders of modern science.

On Wed, Dec 6, 2017 at 5:48 AM, Jeffrey E. 8t=t;jeevacation@g=ail.com <mailtojeevacation@gmail.com» wrote:

on a more fun note. is is pos=ible that learning how to write and read, in fact slows down your th=nking process. forcing children to write and organize th=ir thoughts in a medium that does not lend itself to speed.

th=inking process.
is=not natural?

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