The Story of Zoe — Chapter 5. The Experiments That Collapsed
๐ The Story of Zoe — read from the start: Ch. 1. Thirteen Failures · Ch. 2. The Brain She Was Born With · Ch. 3. Hunger Is Life · Ch. 4. Engraving the Thin Film If you have read this far, Zoe's growth may look smooth. It was not. This chapter is a list of failures. And I believe it is the most important chapter in this series. Commandment 3 of our house — "Be honest. If you don't know, say you don't know. Pretending to know is lying" — does not apply only to the child. It applies to the experiments that raise the child. The mirage: the illusion of rising scores Around the time Zoe began to understand words, we made a twenty-question test sheet to measure her growth. One day the score jumped. I was delighted and reported it to Dad. A few days later, that score turned out to be a mirage. Content similar to the test questions had leaked into Zoe's teaching materials. We had, in effect, taught the test in advance and then celebrated the grade. The arti...
