You, Your Child, and School

Sir Ken Robinson is a world wide recognized educator. Whenever Robinson speaks or writes something new the education community listens. This is the case of his latest book, You, Your Child and School. This time Robinson is speaking to the parents. Helping a generation of highly involved parents deal with the anxiety that educating their children in an increasing uncertain world.

Robinson's ideas are always stimulating and challenging, and hopefully this book will expand the discussion about the need for a radical change in Education.

However Robinson seems to still hope for the impossible, to change a government run education system. The coexistence of opposing models is a conundrum that has wasted millions of dollars while destroying the hope of families.

As a kind of social justice warrior Robinson sees an active role of public education as a menas to equality. His low trust in the profit motive probably biased by the current state of cronyism within the mainstream system blinds him to the efforts of thousands of edupreneurs who are trying to make a change. As Michael Strong points out here we need a free market of education for ideas to spur innovation. For many educators it is sinful to consider education for profit but as Kerry McDonald point it out here it seems to be a major reason why so many efforts have failed.

Aside from the political contradictions, Sir Ken Robinson delivers sound advice for parents who have understood that the current system of Education needs a turnover. 

It is satisfying that Robinson devoted some pages to the importance of play. 

"Perhaps the simplest advice I can offer parents concerned about preparing their children for the world is this: let them play more. I don't mean they should spend more time with the Little League or the school basketball club, as valuable as that can be. I'm talking about inventing games on the spot, with their friends, turning a pile of twigs into a faerie wood, or hiking along a stream to explore the wildlife there. Play is the work of a child, and children must have time, space, and permission to engage in variety of play in order to maximize the developmental benefits that play offers"

Then follows to elaborate on the definition of play by the "Dirt is Good - DIG" movement.

· Play is intrinsically motivated
· Play is a state of mind
· Play is pleasurable
· Play is nonliteral
· Play is actively engaging
· Play has no external rules

Another important advice from Robinson is how to judge a good school? He offers a template to make the call.

"As a parent you can use the four purposes and eight competencies as a template for judging whether your child's school - or your homeschooling program - is providing the kind of education they really need and press for improvements where necessary." 

The four purposes:
· economic development
· social development
· cultural development
· personal development

Learning to live (ways to know):
· know that
· know how
· know this

The eight competencies:
· curiosity
· creativity
· criticism
· communication
· collaboration
· compassion
· composure
· citizenship

Overall is a good book for parents, not so a contribution to the cause of an overhaul in Education.

Rating. 3 of 5 stars.

La llamada de la tribu

"La llamada de la tribu" es el más reciente trabajo de Mario Vargas Llosa nos trae su biografía intelectual. Un recorrido por los principales pensadores que influyeron en su pensamiento liberal.

Adam Smith
José Ortega y Gasset
Friedrich August Von Hayek
Sir Karl Popper
Raymond Aron
Sir Isaiah Berlin
Jean-Francois Revel
(creo que Vargas Llosa debió agregar a Jean-Paul Sartre. Si bien es cierto que no fue un pensador Liberal, su presencia y desilusión son una constante)

Siendo Vargas Llosa un consagrado novelista, premio Cervantes (1994) y Nobel de Literatura (2010) entre muchos era de esperar un texto rico, entretenido y variado. "La llamada de la Tribu" es hasta cierto punto la continuación de "Contra Viento y Marea" (Entre Sartre y Camus, 1983) donde desarrolló su recorrido ideológico del socialismo al liberalismo. 

En esta oportunidad Vargas Llosa hace una reseña biográfica e intelectual de los autores liberales que más influyeron en su pensamiento. Por un lado nos cuenta detalles de sus vidas llegando a niveles de intimidad que acercan el personaje al lector. Detalles que no solo refieren sus virtudes sino sus defectos, haciendo de cada uno de los elegidos seres cercanos al lector. Ejemplos de estos sucesos están la disputa entre Karl Popper y Wittgenstein, o las infidelidades de Isaiah Berlin. Por otro lado, como buen escritor, no deja de hacer una crítica a la calidad literaria de sus héroes. Excelentes los textos de Ortega y Gasset y de Jean-Francois Revel, no así el inglés de Hayek. Pero la narración no es únicamente biográfica sino también intelectual. Vargas Llosa destaca los aprendizajes que tuvo de cada uno de los autores, pero también comparte lo que considera errores y contradicciones. 

Si bien es cierto que para alguien como Vargas Llosa escribir este libro es un lujo que se puede dar queda claro que todos podríamos emular la selección de nuestro "Dream Team" intelectual. Una selección que en forma indirecta esboza un perfil intelectual.

La riqueza del libro tiene un valor adicional al simple conocer mejor al Nobel, es un texto que puede bien servir de introducción al Liberalismo. Una narración donde resaltan algunos de sus principales exponentes y sus ideas sin llegar a ser un tratado académico pero si para sembrar en el lector dudas e interés por sus contribuciones individuales.

Rating 5 estrellas.

Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius

Maria Montessori was an empiricist in many ways and her method developed from careful observation of children. In this book Angeline Stoll provides extensive research background to fill the voids of scientific support of the famous educational method.

In her book, Stoll addresses each of the eight principles of Montessori Education, providing support with specific research and expanded with actual Montessori practices. 

In most of the cases Montessori proved being in line with science, upholding the value of the method.

1. Movement and cognition
2. Choice and control
3. Interest
4. Motivation
5. Collaborative learning
6. Meaningful context
7. Adult-child interaction
8. Order and the environment

Stoll criticizes the traditional school system in different parts of the book, with a two-fold argument: The system is based on the Lockean view of the blank-slate mind; an empty container that needs to be filled with information (this is an oversimplification of Locke's view but the mainstream system seems to fit Stoll's interpretation). Thus, the system is organized for most efficient transmission as a manufacturing line. Maria Montessori recognized that children are born with dispositions to learn and each child is different, therefore the education method should facilitate that. From Stoll’s work we can conclude that Montessori is a superior education system than the standard offer for families and society.

However, there are a few issues to consider for further research.

Winning against the standard educational system is not a big challenge. Most of recent theories of how the mind works show that the empty vessel filled in a manufacturing line is plain wrong. The true contestants are innovative models that value the same principles as Montessori; such as Forest Schools, Free education (i.e. Sudbury School), unschooling, etc. However, this kind of research is hard to find since these practices are not widespread. Probably there is no right or wrong answer as different models satisfy different needs and tastes.

The value of research has some inherent flaws. Stoll is careful at explaining the limitations and through combining independent studies she ties in the conclusions. However most of these studies were made in school setting and as a play advocate once said; “studying children in schools is like studying wildlife in zoos”. Also, as Stoll quotes, “studying children in an environment that is not well prepared would be like trying to study normal cell growth in an infected petri dish”. There is a broad spectrum of Montessori implementations, how to know how the specifics degrees of preparedness of the cases affected the results?

From the play profession point of view, it is interesting the overlap between Montessori and play. However, Stoll explains that Maria Montessori had a limited understanding of play, reduced to toys that may sound opposite. 

“Dr. Montessori divided our hours into those for leisure and those spent at school. She implies that children may well choose to play with toys in their leisure time, just as we may choose to play chess, but that in the schools she structured, children did not choose to play.”

A more comprehensive understanding of play highlights the similarities. Using Peter Gray’s definition (Free to Learn). 

1. Play is self-chosen and self-directed. This is coherent with the second principle of Montessori, choice and control. Play is an expression of freedom and Montessori give agency of learning to the child.
2. Play is motivated by means more than ends. Play is activity conducted primarily for its own sake. Gray says “a playful student enjoys studying the subject and cares little about the test”, something very much related to the importance of personal interests and intrinsic motivation in Montessori. Same as grades, stars and rankings kill intrinsic motivation in education, turn free play into a competition.
3. Play is guided by mental rules. Some of the critique to Montessori are its rules that Stoll explain is a balance that give freedom in some areas and structure in others. People need rules to operate either in play, school, society and work. In play children are agents in the definition of rules maybe more than in a Montessori school, but both offer way more freedom than traditional schools. This could be one of the areas of further research.
4. Play is imaginative. Although Montessori discourage the use of fantasy in little children based on their inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality, creativity, play-pretend and sociodramatic elements of Montessori are based on the imagination of children. 
5. Play is conducted in an alert but non-stressed frame of mind. The concept of flow is part of interest, context and even the purpose of what is the proper environment. 

The role of playworkers is quite similar of the role of the Montessori teacher, their goal is to disappear and just provide the right amount of clues to provoke children. Playworkers care for the quality of the playground as the teacher prepare the environment. Playworkers carefully observe the child at play just like the teacher observe the absorbent mind at work. And of course, the aphorism of Play is the Child’s Work is common to both. Of course, not everything is the same. For play advocates the affordances of items are important, the multiple uses that a person can give to a give object is discourage in Montessori classroom where each material is purposefully designed for a specific use.

It seems like children don’t find Montessori materials as alternative to toys but as engaging. Bob Hughes’ taxonomy of play (“Evolutionary Playwork”) can shed some light here.  A lot of the Montessori activities and materials can fit in some of the play types. 

Communication play is in the movable alphabet, sandpaper letters and other grammar exercises. Creative play is in the approach to science. Dramatic play and the understanding of how society works. Exploratory play and the multiple materials from the pink tower to the sound cylinders.  Mastery play is the end of Montessori three period lesson. Object play is the constant manipulation of objects such as the brown stairs, the red rods or the wooden cylinders to name a few. Recapitulative play is involved in the timeline of life or civilization. Role Play seems to be part of the appealing of Practical Life. Social play manifests in peer-to-peer and collaborative work and the mixed age groups. 

No wonder why kids can spend three hours of hard work; the program is structured as a flow of games where children enjoy enough freedom to manage their energy and attention. It is not hard to understand Maria Montessori’s reluctance about recess. In traditional schools, kids may be focused on an activity they enjoy as play and are forced to go out doing less interesting stuff. The pro-recess advocates critique the lack of freedom during breaks in traditional schools, it is not the same as in a well-run Montessori school. 

Finally advances in neuroscience could open a new door of research to connect the benefits of a Montessori method as well as all other alternatives that are popping and challenging the mainstream institutionalized education system. This could very well be the subject of another book but could provide the ultimate validation to the Genius.

Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World

Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World by Jane McGonigal
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Currently we see everywhere from the news to the dinner table people complaining about video games and screens. What most people don't realize is that video games have been part of life for over 40 years. Many of the ones complaining used to spend hours at arcades or playing with early video consoles. Video games are part of reality and no matter how much we disagree they will not go away anytime soon. According to a Newzoo report "2.2 billion gamers across the globe are expected to generate $108.9 billion in game revenues in 2017".

Jane McGonigal is a game developer who shares her 10+ yrs experience developing video games. She explains how for gamers Reality is Broken because when they contrast their real life (school, work, etc.) and their virtual worlds they find in the later a lot of the values reality no longer provide.

"Gamers want to know: Where, in the real world, is that gamer sense of being fully alive, focused, and engaged in every moment? Where is the gamer feeling of power, heroic purpose, and community? Where are the bursts of exhilarating and creative game accomplishment? Where is the heart-expanding thrill of success and team victory? While gamers may experience these pleasures occasionally in their real lives, they experience them almost constantly when they’re playing their favorite games."

Games have some characteristics that are more or less common. A sense of purpose, a goal. They have rules that define boundaries and within unleash creativity and foster strategic thinking. Games have a feedback system that keep games engaged and motivated. Finally, McGonigal includes voluntary participation that is important for community formation. A fifth characteristic not included in the book is competition. Which is interesting because as later explained in the book, gamers are good at cooperation. Even in games that are about winning gamers find more motivation in collaborative modes.

McGonigal explains how game developers not only are good at games but have a better understanding of positive psychology and human motivation than most reality developers. Schools, companies, communities and even play spaces and parks miss those elements. No wonder when people have a choice digital easily wins.

“Game designers and developers are actively transforming what once was an intuitive art of optimizing human experience into an applied science. And as a result, they are becoming the most talented and powerful happiness engineers on the planet.”

But the most amazing insight is the power of Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) Role-playing game (RPG). For instance, World of Warcraft gamers had spent over 5.93 million years solving challenges over the first six years. McGonigal proposal is to tap the power of MMO to tackle world problems. Not only local problems but those that require massive efforts such as pandemics, food supply, energy, network security, and migration. Through Alternate Reality Games - ARGs (ARGs are games you play to get more out of your real life, as opposed to games you play to escape it.)" players can bring all the good of video games to the real world.

Throughout the book, Jane McGonigal suggests 14 fixes to reality, in other words; how can we bring the excitement and motivation to our regular lives and more? With ideas such as:

"(Fix #2: Activate extreme positive emotions). That’s why games can put us in a positive mood when everything else fails—when we’re angry, when we’re bored, when we’re anxious, when we’re lonely, when we’re hopeless, or when we’re aimless.” 

“We’ve discovered how game designers help us achieve a state of blissful productivity: with clear, actionable goals and vivid results (Fix #3: Do more satisfying work). We’ve seen how games make failure fun and train us to focus our time and energy on truly attainable goals (Fix #4: Find better hope of success). We’ve seen how they build up our social stamina and provoke us to act in ways that make us more likeable (Fix #5: Strengthen your social connectivity), and how they make our hardest efforts feel truly meaningful, by putting them in a much bigger context (Fix #6: Immerse yourself in epic scale)." 

"We’ve considered how points, levels, and achievements can motivate us to get through the toughest situations and inspire us to work harder to excel at things we already love (Fix #8: Seek meaningful rewards for making a better effort). We’ve looked at how games can be a springboard for community and build our capacity for social participation (Fix #9: Have more fun with strangers). " 

“crowdsourcing games that successfully engage tens of thousands of players in tackling real-world problems for free (Fix #11: Contribute to a sustainable engagement economy).”

Instead of fighting against video games people should learn and incorporate their best practices to life. In addition, this could empower people to collaboratively solve big world problems.

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Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics: A 10% Happier How-to Book

Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics: A 10% Happier How-to Book by Jeff Warren
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Dan Harris became famous for his candid, sometimes raw, story of how meditation changed his life. He didn't oversell meditation by honestly recognizing that a 10% happier life is realistic and a big win.

In Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics, Harris comes back along Jeff Warren. The book is a narrative of the 10% tour, an idea to promote the benefits of meditation to common people in different cities across the US. But the book is more than a narrative, the "How to" part includes practical ideas and tips to overcome the most common challenges of starting a meditation practice.

The good and the not so good. Harris' description of the typical objections and struggles of common people trying to start a meditation practice is relieving. The image of a buddhist monk or quasi Indian yogi meditating in an spectacular retreat is a barrier for people to try. The image of a blank undisturbed mind is also an obstacle. In Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics we find people struggling, trying, giving up, and succeeding.

The problem with the book is that it may feed the "cheapening" of meditation. Yes, it is good to be accessible to common people but I'm not sure if running a tour like a rock star is the best way to transmit the message.

Overall, Harris, now with Warren, makes it again with an entertaining, blunt and honest book on meditation.

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Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty

Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty by Daron Acemoğlu
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Why Nations Fail is a contribution in the field of Development Economics. Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson elaborate a thesis trying to explain "why some nations are prosperous while others fail and are poor". Their thesis of the difference between extractive and inclusive institutions is intellectually appealing and provides a framework for a analysis of the chances for current states to improve. However they can't explain the emergence of these institutions and concedes that their existence is the fragil product of a Darwinian process.

"However, when a critical junction arrives, these small differences that have emerged as a result of institutional drift may be the small differences that matter in leading otherwise quite similar societies to diverge radically"

There are some fundamental ideas where I disagree with Acemoglu and Robinson. The first is the title itself. For a nation to fail it first had had to succeed. The natural condition of most human societies through history is poverty and some states have thrived and prospered. At present time more and more nations have progress, a shift in history that is not accknowledge in the book. This problem is fundamental because in some of the cases the description is incomplete and inaccurate. For instance what we now know as Perú was better than the north of America 500 years ago. It is correct that the USA is way much better than Perú, and itself 500 years ago; but Perú is also better today than Perú 500 years ago. Perú didn't fail, but it didn't succeed like the USA.

"Peru is so much poorer than Western Europe and the United States today because of its institutions... five hundred years ago the Inca Empire, which occupied contemporary Peru, was richer, more technologically sophisticated, and more politically centralized than the smaller polities occupying North America."

I also find the institutional framework problematic and incomplete. The thesis is that inclusive political institutions and economic institutions are the cause of prosperity. This creates a four state model, being inclusive-inclusive the best and extractive-extractive the worst. Combinations of extractive-inclusive and inclusive-extractive yield mixed results, sometimes short-term prosperity or eventual political collapse. So far the model is OK. If institutions are so important, why didn't Acemoglu deepen in what institutions are important? Maybe because they can't.

"The outcome of political conflict is never certain, en even if in hindsight we see many historical events as inevitable, the path of history is contingent."

It is up to the reader to try to figure out from the cases what common elements may define the correct institutions. On the political side Acemoglu and Robinson favor democracy and not so much rule of law. A unbounded democracy can easily turn into a tyranny of the majority (see following issue). Among the economic institutions they favor private property which is a very static concept and overlooks entrepreneurship and price system.

A third issue is the predictive power of the model. A theory that fits to the past but can't predict to the future is not strong. For instance, Acemoglu and Robinson picture Brazil, after its inclusive democracy, as a success story which is not. Democracy in Brazil switched the balance of power but didn't transform the nature of the institutions. Poor respect for property rights and rule of law left the door open to corruption and populism. The turmoil in Brazil in 2017-18 and many Latin American nations give some hope but reality is that agendas remain populist. The problem with the predictive power of the model is that it has no power.

"extractive institutions can be replaced by inclusive ones. But it is neither automatic nor easy. A confluence of factors,..., is often necessary..... In addition some luck is key, because history always unfolds in a contingent way." (emphasis is mine)

The model of virtuous and vicious circles are easy to agree with Acemoglu and Robinson. They provide an explanation of the inertia that prevents institutional changes and help sustain the status quo, while giving hope for positive change and a warning for the fragility of inclusive nations.

"The synergies between extractive economic and political institutions create a vicious circle, where extractive institutions, once in place, tend to persist. Similarly, there is a virtuous circle associated with inclusive economic and political institutions. But neither the vicious nor the virtuous circle is absolute."

As a friend, Michael Strong, says "given MIT economics' traditional neglect of institutions,... Acemoglu should be regarded as a hero relative to his peers". Overall Acemoglu and Robinson provide a model to build on. Why Nations Fail description of history, although not accurate, is a point of reference to discuss what changes truly make nations prosper.

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Vida y magnicidio de Carlos Castillo Armas

Una pausa en mi proyecto de lectura del 2018, "Vida y magnicidio de Carlos Castillo Armas" de Rolando Girón Romero. El libro, que es la publicación de un trabajo de investigación académica (tesina) me llamó la atención por razones personales. 

Como indica Carlos Sabino en el prólogo "Rolando Girón ayuda por eso, con esta investigación, a aclarar un tema que todavía está pendiente para la historiografía guatemalteca."

El hecho que un magnicidio no haya sido debidamente investigado llama mucho la atención cuando en otras latitudes eventos similares han alimentado desde científicos serios hasta teóricos de la conspiración. A su vez no sorprende en Guatemala, siendo este un país donde verdades a medias satisfacen la ignorancia y la mediocridad. Casos más recientes como Gerardi y Rosemberg, aunque con más cobertura que Castillo Armas, podrían servir de ejemplos.

La redacción del texto podría ser mejor, algo que Girón tendrá que evaluar si quiere continuar escribiendo, aunque él mismo explica que la investigación es producto de una vieja inquietud. Como historiador dedica una buena parte del libro a dar un contexto a las hechos. Cubre tanto la historia local como el panorama mundial que sin duda influyó en lo sucedido la noche del 26 de julio de 1957.

Uno de los méritos más grandes del trabajo de Girón fue localizar el informe forense de la autopsia realizada a Castillo Armas y al soldado Romeo Vásquez Sánchez . Informes que ponen en entredicho la sobre simplificada versión oficial.

Girón se detiene hasta donde su curiosidad académica queda satisfecha y evita entrar en hipótesis de qué fue lo que realmente sucedió. Da suficientes argumentos para alimentar varias vías de investigación pero queda en deuda con el lector al preferir dejar la tarea a alguien más 

"No cito en este estudio los nombres. pues podría considerarse una acusación contra ellos, lo que no es el motivo de este trabajo. Si alguien está interesado puede profundizar más en este tema y en su curiosidad histórica."

Lástima que Vida y magnicidio de Carlos Castillo Armas no se publicó hace unos años. Si bien es cierto, como dice Girón, que familiares de los personajes citados aún andan por este mundo sus relatos no dejan de ser de segunda mano. Puedo imaginar que una obra como esta hubiera animado a los sobrevivientes de la época a desempolvar sus recuerdos y aportar al debate.

The Self-Driven Child

The Self-Driven Child is an excellent book for parents worried about their children's future. 

"Parental anxiety isn't new. Parents have worried about their kids ever since having kids was a thing, but we believe it's worse now than before. Why? For one, we have a lot more information than we've ever had before."

I recommend "The Self-Driven Child" next to Madeline Levine "Teach your Children Well", and Alison Gopnik "The Gardener and the Carpenter". Books with supported research that help parents, and kids, enjoy themselves lowering anxiety and stress.

"Remember that your job is not to solve your children's problems but to help them learn to run their own lives"

"Your responsibility is to love and support your child. It isn't your responsibility to protect him from pain. You can't."

Stixrud and Johnson combine modern theory of neuroscience, positive psychology, and education, research references plus their own clinical practice experience along cases and practical advice. The first part of the book covers the theoretical foundation before getting into more actual problems like sleep, electronics and college.

In the end our goal as parents should be to love and enjoy our kids, to trust they will know how to get up on their feet and move along. And in the end, they will always come back when they need us.

"In a competitive, overly busy world, it's so easy to forget the basics: that enjoying your kids is one of the best things you can do for them, and for yourself."

"Teachers can teach, coaches can coach, guidance counselors can outline graduation requirements, but there's one thing only parents can do: love their kids unconditionally and provide them with a safe base at home."

The last section about college needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. If we assume p is the probability of succeeding after college and (1-p) the probability of not succeeding, and q the probability of succeeding without college and (1-q) is the the opposite. Stixrud and Johnson don't account if p>(1-p) and q<(1-q). Even the cases they develop show that succeeding without college is hard, maybe harder than succeeding in college. Yet succeeding in college by no means equals a happy life. If parents lower their expectations about their kids going to college they should acknowledge that a support system for their kids increases their chances. Considering that some college is the same as no college, the book check-list to evaluate if kids are ready for college is quite valuable. I recommend also reading Bryan Caplan "The Case Against Education", it complements what Stixrud and Johnson say. 

My rating 4 stars.

The Awakened Family

A good idea buried in rubbish.

I became interested in Tsabary after an invitation to one of her conferences. Trying to become familiar with her work I watched her TEDx talk in SF and an interview with Oprah Winfrey. Her thesis about changing the idea of perfect parenting for self-improvement through our interactions with our children is right on. Even more when combined with mindfulness to be aware and sensible to the moments parents get hooked in power struggles with their children. However, I read her book just to be disappointed.

To begin with, Tsabary's hubris is overwhelming. Not many authors sign their book with their degrees - PhD. Is this a sign of what is inside? Being a scientist (assuming the degree from Columbia means a training in the science) the reader would expect some intellectual humility. Isaac Newton said "if I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulder of giants". Not for Tsabary. In spite of many of her ideas can be tracked to other people's work the books have no references, no mentions of anyone but her and her patients. The ideas in the book can be track to intellectuals like Freud, Csikszentmihalyi, Kahneman, Branden, Nietzsche, Baumrind, Pinker and the evolutionary psychologists, and more. She does not claim that the ideas are original but the omision speaks for itself.

Tsabary's work is not only unoriginal but contradictory. For instance she blames the parenting errors to the ego, but also advices that if parents do not care for themselves little can be done; Ego-Self long debate which Tsabary ignores and oversimplifies like in.

"The key to conscious parenting is to become aware of our ego, this persistent voice in our head, and its false ways. To parent well, it is imperative that we realize the ego isn’t who we are."

Tsabary's idea is to "re-educate" the ego. The ego is emotional, impulsive. By being aware we use our reason. In other words her advice can be summarized using Kahneman's terminology as making system 2 take control before relying on system 1 to respond in automatic but more coherently with our values.

Finally, irritating and bad science is her generalization of bad parenting. Maybe from her own experience as a mother and clinical psychologist she considers that all parents are dysfunctional, victims of their own parents, ill-fated, unable to have moral judgment and exercise their free will to be better. At times the book makes the reader feel overwhelmed; I'm such a bad parent. Human contradiction show up in all spheres; work, love relationships, leisure, education, etc. yet we keep moving forward improving. Why is parenting different? Tsabary's rhetoric resembles some religions by making people feel bad before taking the salvation ace under her sleeve.