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Michelle Nitka: What most of us grew up with, at least us old-timers like me, was the traditional
academic philosophy. What the traditional academic philosophy focuses on is the cognitive
development of children. It's a very teacher-focused, teacher-directed approach where the children
are seen as being dependent on the teachers for their learning and information. In the
traditional academic approach they are going to teach academic concepts but in a developmentally
appropriate manner. Certainly, if you see a bunch of a 3 year olds sitting at desks
and tracing letters you should run because that's not developmentally appropriate for
a 3 year old. That's not going to be meaningful for them.