David Elkind

David Elkind (born March 11, 1931) is an American child psychologist and author.

A longtime professor at Tufts University, his groundbreaking books — The Hurried Child, The Power of Play and Miseducation informed early childhood education professionals of the possible dangers of "pushing down" the elementary school curriculum into the very early years of a child's life. By doing so, he argued, teachers and parents alike could lapse into developmentally inappropriate instructional and learning practices that may distort the smooth development of learning. He is associated with the belief of decline of social markers.

Read more about David Elkind:  Professional Positions, Publications, Personal

Famous quotes by david elkind:

    Today’s pressures on middle-class children to grow up fast begin in early childhood. Chief among them is the pressure for early intellectual attainment, deriving from a changed perception of precocity. Several decades ago precocity was looked upon with great suspicion. The child prodigy, it was thought, turned out to be a neurotic adult; thus the phrase ‘early ripe, early rot!’
    David Elkind (20th century)