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Are we teaching children before they are ready to learn? In Revisiting Foundational Skills in Early Education, August Mariner challenges prevailing educational models, proposing a structured approach that prioritizes memorization in early grades—laying the groundwork for logical reasoning at the precise moment when cognitive development allows it. Drawing on developmental psychology, neuroscience, and classical pedagogy, this essay explores why students are struggling with foundational skills and how restoring structured fluency before age 9 can reshape education. Through incisive analysis and a bold curriculum proposal, Mariner offers educators and parents a compelling framework that ensures mastery before complexity—creating thinkers, not spectators.
About the Author: Born in Ohio, August embarked on his journey of self-discovery by joining the United States Air Force as an Aerospace Ground Equipment (A.G.E.) mechanic immediately after high school—an experience he regards as an honor and a privilege. However, rather than defining him, it illuminated who he was not, sparking a lifelong pursuit of identity and intellectual exploration.
His academic path led him through Missouri State University, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and Louisiana State University at Shreveport, where he earned degrees at various levels, each expanding his perspective and interdisciplinary expertise. August’s diverse talents bridge the practical and the philosophical: a skilled mechanic, carpenter, design engineer, artist, and elementary school educator. Yet at his core, he is a philosopher and poet, deeply influenced by Greek thinkers, Camus, Jung, Erich Neumann, and Nietzsche. His poetry—raw, evocative, and unapologetically authentic—examines love, loss, and the contradictions of human nature, rejecting dogma in pursuit of truth.
A solitary thinker, August thrives in quiet contemplation, yet he equally relishes an impassioned, data-driven philosophical debate. Now residing in Louisiana, he continues to refine his craft, weaving together creativity, inquiry, and an ever-evolving search for meaning.
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