CURRICULUM GUIDE FOR S.C. TEACHER CADET COURSE | EXPERIENCING EDUCATION, TENTH EDITION
Some Questions Critics Have Raised about Piaget
1. Piaget’s theories are based on case studies of a small population of white,
middle-class children. Are the same stages true for other cultures, atypical living
arrangements, and other populations? What influences do environmental
factors have on these stages?
2. The sequences and chronology of Piaget are rigid. Some “normal” children are
far behind these stages while others are far ahead. Can stages be skipped?
What about precocious seven-year-old chess players? Shouldn’t adults be
capable of formal operational thinking (e.g., If adults know that drinking and
driving is dangerous, why do they do it?)
3. Piaget does not adequately describe adolescents. Should they have their own
egocentric stage? They appear to understand rules, as in the formal operations
stage, yet many feel that rules apply to everyone else but themselves.
(e.g. Teenagers believe in using birth control, yet many do not use birth control
themselves.)
4. What are the implications that Piaget’s theories have for classroom educators?
For example, if most children do not reach the formal operations stage until age
twelve, should algebra be taught in middle schools? If children cannot
understand the hypothesis and cannot do inductive reasoning before the formal
operational st