When they get interested in something, however random, I encourage them to go preposterously, bus ticket collectorly, deep
...
I want them to feel the joy of learning, and they're never going to feel that about something I'm making them learn. It has to be something they're interested in. I'm just following the path of least resistance; depth is a byproduct. But if in trying to show them the joy of learning I also end up training them to go deep, so much the better.
Will it have any effect? I have no idea.
Yes! This will have an effect. Encouraging kids will have a strong, positive effect: It will create life-long learners and independent thinkers.
This may be especially important now, in the current educational climate, with the censorship imposed by common core and nationalized curriculum prescribing/favoring specific classroom lessons, and lesson providers.
Without this encouragement, curiosity and the will to quench one's thirst for knowledge will wither and die on the vine. Acknowledging that other information exists, and ferreting other sources will become a lost art... and with it, much of the discoveries, knowledge, and wisdom of past centuries.
Kudos to parents who encourage their children to learn beyond the limitations of the classroom.
