This is actually Gorgon, because I'm a sneaky wench.
Here's the deal. Those are all great skills, they are great things to learn. It is a fact, so much so that I wouldn't have to cite it in a paper about brain development, that sciences make you a better problem solver in all aspects of life. It is not the skill, in itself, that is important.
I don't particularly like math, in fact, that's one of the reasons I went into psychology in the first place. No math except basic statistics. These are NOT the subjects I like the most, these are the subjects that are the most important to specific types of brain development. You're right, trades require puzzle solving, so do most aspects of life. That's WHY it is important to stimulate the areas of the brain that will be useful in ALL of these situations. Yeah, creative writing and puzzle games are a great way to stimulate the brain. They do not stimulate that right area of the brain. It is not what you learn, but how your build the brain, that makes these classes important, which is why math is more important that, say, creative writing for future authors. It is not for the kids who become mathematicians, it is because of the changes in the brain we can see from these subjects.
Teaching kids in school to learn a trade wasn't really ever advocated, Chestknight, but encouraging kids to pick up a trade was. I was NEVER saying, by the way, college education is the right path for everybody (I have almost dropped several times, and did not come to my college right away after high school) or advocate that college-educated people are better in some way. All I said is it makes sense for kids to be encouraged into this life because it raises their standard of living ON AVERAGE (it's not that a carpenter can't live a great life and be very happy...) and I think it is a good objective to have as much of our population as educated as possible.
I agree with readermom entirely. Great parents will take the time to encourage their kids' growth and development. They will also provide the kids with whatever they need to learn hobbies outside of school.
I never said everybody can succeed if they try, you can ask the nice young man I'm with (as I believe it annoys him) on my stances about being locked into poverty. I'm possibly one of the biggest advocates of the fact that the system holds some individuals down from birth. Does that mean that we should from a young age not give them the chance to try and make whatever life they wish, rather than training them for a job before they're old enough to really make a choice?
As a final note, my strengths are in the arts. I excel in music, I always have, and it is my goal to work in the field of music because I love it so deeply that I pour quite literally almost every moment of spare time I have into it. I usually spend more than forty hours a week in music related jobs in addition to my schooling. I don't date, a large part because I feel it would interrupt my focus on music. I often put my schoolwork second to my bands. I spend all of my spare money on musical instruments. So, if my subconscious was pushing a subject, it would be music almost certainly. I happen to do decently in school without effort, but the courses I do the worst in, since youth, are math and science (because of the amount of homework for points in courses like this, which I have never done). Also, when I was younger I was a good artist and an award-winning photographer, in addition to a decent writer. I love the arts. A lot. I understand the importance of the sciences to substantiate the potential of the brain.
It is not what you learn, it is the final effect, which makes math and science important. Psychology is not the only way to look at this point, but is a VERY valuable viewpoint a lot of people do not know or understand, and one often alienated rather that embraced.
