Every Child Can Learn

Every Japanese child can speak Japanese. Every English child can speak English. Every German child can speak German. As a young man pursuing a career as a violinist, Shinichi Suzuki realized this with amazement, and it shifted the focus of his career and his life. Everyone knows that we all learn to speak, that a Japanese child can speak Japanese even though it can be incredibly challenging for an American adult to learn it, but for most of us it seems ordinary. For Suzuki, it was remarkable. He developed a philosophy based on the fact that all children speak their mother tongue and then applied it to teaching music, continuing to refine his method until his death in 1998 at the age of 99.

Rather than accepting speech as an ordinary matter of course for people, he viewed it as evidence that every child can learn. Every child has talent. They are all born with both the natural mechanisms and the motivation to develop the ability to speak. Suzuki believed that if we can understand the way spoken language develops and use this natural process to teach other things, we can assist all children in achieving their full potential. He played the violin and believed in the value of music, so he devoted himself to developing a way to teach children music by replicating the "mother tongue" method.

In a linguistics course in college I learned that humans seem to be hardwired for language. Speaking is a natural skill that all people acquire, and other skills, like math or playing a musical instrument, are not universal. We may not all have the aptitude for other skills as naturally as we have the ability to speak. However, I think Suzuki was right that if we try to replicate the learning of language in our teaching of other skills and subjects, our success will be far greater than by any other method. We can help all children achieve, not just those who seem "gifted." Suzuki teachers generally accept anyone who is willing to try the method and do not preselect for musical ability. As a result, some of their students may seem to have a lack of talent. A few summers ago I heard a piano teacher, Karen Hagberg, speak about this part of her experience. Throughout her years of teaching there were a few students who she privately believed were hopeless cases, but she continued to teach them anyway. Some of them eventually became career musicians, and she became fully convinced that Suzuki was right. Every child can learn.

When I struggle with teaching my children something new, I remind myself of this. I may need to approach it differently, to find the best way for them to learn it, but eventually, if I keep trying, I can teach them and they will learn. It has helped me persist in homeschooling. I'm grateful that I have had many years to think about Suzuki's philosophy. After two years of traditional piano instruction as a child, I began taking Suzuki piano lessons, which was my introduction to the Suzuki method. A love for music became a central part of my life. Since then, I have studied Suzuki's books and his philosophy, applying them to every area of learning, not just music lessons. I currently have six children, ranging in age from fourteen to fourteen months. The four oldest currently take piano lessons, and I homeschool all of them with Shinichi Suzuki's Mother Tongue Method as one of my greatest influences as I strive to rear children with a "beautiful heart."