This post is coming from the plane. I am in Houston on my way to Corpus Christi for the 2006 Magnet Schools of Texas and National Association for Educational Equity Conference. I am one of the keynote speakers and I will have a chance to speak to hundreds of teachers, principals and superintendents about the benefits of chess for children. Then I will head to Brownsville to attend the Texas State All-Girls Championship.
If you can say one positive thing about chess for children to these educators, what would it be? 🙂
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
The benefits of chess are many to children. The clock teaches them there are deadlines in life etc. It also teaches them the value of work and the results you will get from applying yourself.
I think the greatest thing it teaches children is that there are consequences to your decisions (good or bad!) and we can’t take back what we’ve done on the board, or in life – so choose wisely and plan ahead!
I would say this: chess is one of the clearest and simplest demonstrations of the power of knowledge.
You can take a beginner, whose friends are pounding him at the chess board, and with just a little instruction, send him back to the board a much better player.
As a former teacher and teacher union executive, I would say this…
The recent education reforms centered around accountability have stifled creativity among students. Many teachers complain that because they have to stick so ardently to a rigid curriculum, that there is no time to teach them to really think for themselves. Nothing teaches kids to thinks more independently than chess.
It is also a great way for kids to discover the rewards of practice.
Just one thing……now that’s tricky.
More than chess itself Playing chess can teach you valuable lessons about life. How to cope with defeat, lose with good grace, and use it to inspire further effort. And perhaps more importantly how to behave in victory. Perhaps even learning that in life, winning the game isn’t always the most important thing!
G Lehany
Scotland
My favorite related chess quote is from David Norwood’s old monograph “Chess and Education” (though I no longer have my own copy):
“Chess … cuts across all social barriers. It is cheap and accessible.”
-ron (Albuquerque, NM)
I won’t say much. I’ll just teach them to play.
I recently attended a scholastic tournament for the first time, and saw something that was beautiful to behold: over 100 children, sitting quietly and still, concentrating intently on a purely mental activity, for hours at a time … and enjoying it! In today’s hyperactive, loud, overstimulated world, that picture struck me as a near-miracle. I cannot imagine that any modern educator would fail to appreciate an activity that can achieve something like that in today’s youth.
Chess teaches:
* logic and problem solving
* develop intellect and academic readiness
* ability to recognize complex patterns and consequently excel in math and science
* higher order thinking skills, discipline, and creative resolution methods
* motivation
* better results in math
* memory improvement, logic, observation and analysis, and operant conditioning
* effective vehicle for saving troubled youth
* rescues kids from drugs and gangs
* the young generation the forgotten art of nurturing an attention span
* ability to socialize
* develops intellectual, esthetic, sporting, decision making, concentration, and perseverance skills
Chess Blog
I’d point them to this web site:
Benefits Of Chess
Chess Blog