Yes, indeed, so what?! I will tell you what.
Now that we know that children have such a huge capacity for learning, now that we know that the brain has an essentially unlimited capacity until it atrophies from disuse or misuse, and now that we know that younger children learn so much faster than older children and that they can do so with joy and not anguish, what are we going to do about it?!

1) Read, speak, and show--the earlier the better. Your child should be raised in a sense-stimulating environment. The more words the better, in whatever language--talk and read to them from birth. The more images the better -- have colorful homes full of things on the walls and in the rooms for the children to see. Have objects and toys of different textures and sizes. Read and play with the children, not to keep them quiet or put them to sleep, but to inspire their curiosity and connections with the world.

2) Never use physical or psychological violence with children. The brain's main adaptive function is survival. All stimuli initially go through the amygdala, the seat of fear. Fear inspires the production of chemicals which interfere with the learning process in support of fight/flight. They become automatic reactions to violence. If you cannot help but be violent and cannot stop it on your own, go to a counselor until you can and do stop it. If you know your violent tendencies with children, please do not have any more of them until or unless you overcome the problem.

3) Children need to walk before they can run. If they play the game tetrus, for example, initially a tremendous amount of glucose is used, but as the child becomes expert at it, less and less is used. Phonics can hardwire the decoding process, so that the children can concentrate on the meaning. Hiragana, as a purely phonetic "alphabet," is so simple that a two year old can learn it from an electronic hiragana set, of which there are many -- probably one for every popular character -- anpanman, ultraman, pokemon, hello kitty, etc.." To do so they need only to be interested and they will be if you have read to them from an early age.

In sum, an incredibly good case, with a scientific base, can now be made for early childhood education. Given the results of current research, it is suddenly understandable why Maria Montessori working from her own inspiration, could teach retarded children how to read, write and spell, multiply and divide, from an incredibly early age. So why don't the schools teach perfectly "normal" children to do the same? Why can't our children be taught two or three languages instead of just one?! Whose inane idea was it to begin the study of a foreign language from junior high school?

The above points are hardly original or new. I learned most of them from a workshop given by Pat Wolfe on the results of the current brain research, and there are numerous Japanese and English books repeating the same thing. The only original part, perhaps, is my own particular synthesis and what we at UMJ would like to do based on it: namely, to inspire the development of educational alternatives and internal change in educational institutions on behalf of the children. Help us help you help your children.

I may be reached by e-mail at johnsdavis@hotmail.com or by snail mail c/o Head Office, United for a Multicultural Japan.