看到有人提到皮亚杰“是美国著名的儿童心理学家”, 想忍 可很难忍住不莞尔一笑。老皮先生若九泉有知，恐怕也会对自己被人戴上一顶 “美国佬” 的帽子啼笑皆非。
皮亚杰是著名的瑞士儿童心理学家，在认知发展理论上独开先河，提出过认知发展四阶段理论。生前曾经出访美国讲学。因为名气很大，听众趋之若鹜。在讲座上老有人提问，问如何使孩子快速掌握知识，跳级越过那些个认知发展一二三阶段直接奔第四级。提这种问题的人次之多，使老皮颇感惊讶。老美们这是干吗？争先恐后急着赶场救火？要那么快地完成成长过程干什么？於是老皮将此类问题称为“美国问题”。[其实，也满可以称之为“老中问题”。哈哈。----补充一下，时至今日，老美们已经全面接受老皮的慢进原则，“美国问题”得到解决，不再成为问题。反之，这种揠苗助长操之过急的“美国问题”应该名符其实就叫“老中问题”了。]
如果皮亚杰死而复生，转世化身为一个子女坛上的爱心妈妈，那她一定不是“推妈”, 而是一个放羊的妈妈。给孩子充足的时间，让他放慢脚步，允许他自己探索发现，甚至允许孩子犯错误；而不是由大人把新知识像灌米汤一样朝孩子喉咙里咕嘟咕嘟灌将下去，几分钟搞定，让他食而不化。总之，“慢慢来”在皮亚杰的成长理论里是一个非常重要的概念。孩子在自己的步伐和速度里自己琢磨自己领悟出来的习得很容易地使他可以举一反三，在学习上反而学到更多，反而更加有效，甚至反而节约了时间。还有一点，就是通过让孩子慢慢来，放手让他钻研琢磨，培养了孩子的自主能动性。要想学什么，都是自己决定的，所以往往可以持之以恒，错了坏了重新再来。而习惯被推被灌的孩子，也许开始会显得先有一些技能，但没有自主性，成了不倒翁，推一推才动一动。不推就不动。这样，先前的优势慢慢消失。所以，快与慢孰优孰劣，皮亚杰早就给出了答案。
并且，什么“输在起跑线上”的担忧，在皮氏字典 中大概找不着位置。
Jean Piaget and The American Question
A Conversation with Jean Piaget and Barbel Inhelder
By Elizabeth Hall
Psychology Today, 1970, 3, pp 25-56
Page 30
Hall: Now that we've mentioned an American educator, may I ask what you have called "the American question"? Is it possible to speed up the learning of conservation concepts?
Page 31
Piaget: In turn may I ask the counter-question? Is it a good thing to accelerate the learning of these concepts? Acceleration is certainly possible but first we must find out whether it is desirable or harmful. Take the concept of object permanency - the realization that a ball, a rattle or a person continues to exist when it no longer can be seen. A kitten develops this concept at four months, a human baby at nine months; but the kitten stops right there while the baby goes on to learn more advanced concepts. Perhaps a certain slowness is useful in developing the capacity to assimilate new concepts.
We also know that the ease of learning varies with the developmental level of the child. In the same number of learning sessions children who have reached an advanced stage make marked progress over younger children. It apperars that there is an optimum speed of development. If you write a book too slowly it won't be a good book; if you write it too fast it won't be a good book either. No one has made studies to determine the optimum speed.
Hall: But wouldn't the optimum speed vary with the person? Some people naturally write faster than others - and write just as well.
Piaget: That's highly possible. We know the average speed of the children we have studied in our Swiss culture but there is nothing that says that the average speed is the optimum. But blindly to accelerate the learning of conservation concepts could be even worse than doing nothing.
Hall: I think we ask the American question because the ever-increasing length of education troubles us. Many of us would like to find some way to shorten those years that go into professional preparation.
Piaget: It is difficult to decide just how to shorten studies. If you spend one year studying something verbally that requires two years of active study, then you have actually lost a year. If we were willing to lose a bit more time and let the children be active, let them use trial and error on different things, then the time we seem to have lost we may have actually gained. Children may develop a general method that they can use on other subjects.
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