Underestimation

....
Alright, one's childhood definitely and directly affects how one behaves as an adult.

It's sad because most parents underestimate the potential worth and ability of children, setting the bar very low and not expecting much, due to the fact that they are young, naive, and unwise.

But this is the reason junior high and high school kids struggle to keep up. Things suddenly shift from an easygoing, no-expectations lifestyle to one where you're expected to run when you can't even walk.

A child actually, is much smarter than an adult. Just not as knowledgeable.
Conversely, an adult should be much more knowledgeable than a child, but is not as smart. Children MUST have a high capacity for learning because they constantly need to learn about the environment around them, basic physical and chemical properties of matter along with space and time, basic language, and just how to socialize. Children are also great specimens for learning because they naturally think open-mindedly. It is only until adults corrupt them or until another child who has been corrupted by adults communicates to an open-minded child otherwise, thus narrowing the child's mind and weakening his scholastic ability. Open-mindedness is a highly important attribute of young children, as this allows to adapt to any environment. Theoretically speaking, had a child from earth been born on some other planet with livable conditions and somehow different physics, the child would view his alien home as normal, and would behave normally in this planet, adapted to whatever the planet entails.

This large template for learning allows most small children to be extremely smart, and perhaps even, extremely knowledgeable as adults if the rate of learning does not decrease too rapidly into adulthood.
The iron must be struck while it is hot! At every opportunity, small children must be taught everything required to pass elementary school from infancy. They must be introduced to reading and basic computation, and they must be allowed to experiment with various objects, under supervision of course.

Parents often will not cease the opportunity to educate their children as infants. I believe underestimation is the main reason, but much time is also taken away from work and personal things. There is also usually a strong urge in parents to engage in recreational activities with their children; parents naturally want to see their children happy.
But this is strange because parents will suddenly expect their children to do well in school and work independently after elementary school. Quite absurd.

Henceforth, this causes the mediocrity seen in the average American, who will also underestimate small children and continue the cycle.

The reason this personally affects me, and I'm sure it affects several other teenagers, is because average adults will treat us as though we are children, assuming we're unwise, uneducated, and unwilling to learn.
Perhaps because the same adult possessed these qualities at our age? Hmmmmm.

But, it is gratifying to contradict their shallow beliefs if possible. Hehe.

That concludes my thoughts for now.
Man this is good literary exercise