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3 <!-- Mirrored from users.eniinternet.com/bradleym/NoAlt.html by HTTrack Website Copier/3.x [XR&CO'2014], Sun, 06 Nov 2022 06:49:33 GMT -->
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4 <head>
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5 <title></title>
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6 </head>
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7 <body text="#000000" link="#0000ff" vlink="#551a8b" alink="#ff0000" bgcolor="#c0c0c0">
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8 <a name="There Is No Satisfactory Alternative T">
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9 <p><strong><hr>
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10 </strong>
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11 <br wp="br1"><br wp="br2">
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12 <p><strong>There Is No Satisfactory Alternative To Go</strong>
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13
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14 <p><strong>© 2002 Milton N. Bradley</a></strong>
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15
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16 <p>As one of the world's great strategic board games, Chess shares certain important characteristics
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17 with Go that also makes it a valuable pedagogical adjunct to the standard curriculum, and it has
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18 often been used in that role outside the Orient in places where Go was unknown. As Shelby
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19 Lyman noted in his nationally syndicated Chess column in Long Island's premiere newspaper
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20 Newsday on Sept 10, 1991, "Chess works in an educational environment because ......it is a
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21 sport....and it is played for fun." He continued "... children playing Chess engage their full
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22 intellect, will and strength to a remarkable extent. They alertly attend the chessboard: observing,
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23 remembering, generating ideas, testing those ideas, making decisions and mistakes and learning
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24 from those mistakes." He concluded "Chess has an advantage over most school subjects: it
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25 combines both theory and practice. Ideas are honed and tested in the crucible of competitive play.
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26 Poor formulation or poor execution of ideas loses games. Careless, faulty thinking is ruthlessly
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27 refuted on the chessboard."
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28
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29 <p>The validity of Lyman's contention that Chess can improve student performance was recently
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30 abundantly demonstrated in New York City's Mott Hall School, as reported by Brent Staples in
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31 the Sunday New York Times of Dec 15, 2002, and described in considerable detail in the section
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32 of this web page entitled "Teaching The New 'R' Of Reasoning".
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33
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34 <p><em><strong>Go is far superior to Chess as a pedagogical tool because it not only fully shares <u>all</u> of these
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35 considerable assets, but also possesses several others of transcendent importance that <u>Chess
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36 lacks almost completely</u>:</strong></em>
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37
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38 <p><UL type = disc>
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39
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40 <p><LI> Most readily apparent is Go's far greater accessibility, especially by the very young. It is
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41 free of all the artificial complexities (e.g. different piece moves, promotion, castling, en passant
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42 capture, etc.) that beset Chess. The structure of Go is as simple and almost as easy to learn in
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43 rudimentary fashion as Checkers, so it is possible for almost anyone to quickly and effortlessly
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44 begin playing it.
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45
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46 <p><LI> The rigid starting setup of Chess vastly reduces the number of options available, thereby
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47 inhibiting the free flow of the player's imagination. In contrast, <em>the Go board starts empty and
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48 the players create their own unique structure in every game, thus allowing full reign to their
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49 creativity and imagination.</em>
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50
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51 <p><LI> The simplistic objective of Chess of catching the opposing King together with its small 8 x
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52 8 square scale and constricting starting lineup lead to a "quick kill" mentality in which the
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53 capture of some material or a successful "mating attack" on the opposing King can lead to an
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54 instant win. The result is a game that is very strongly biased toward the tactical, with very little
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55 opportunity for the development of much more than elemental strategy. In contrast, the 19 x 19
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56 line Go board has enormous scale. Coupled with the need to trade off short term profits and their
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57 costs against the possibility of later achieving greater long term gain, this leads to incredibly
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58 profound strategy whose realization depends upon the precise execution of tactics every bit as
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59 incisive as those of Chess. <em><strong>This gives Go an entire dimension for intellectual development
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60 almost entirely lacking in Chess.</em></strong>
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61
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62 <p><LI> Perhaps most important of all, the vast scale of the Go board makes it impossible to
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63 precisely calculate anticipated outcomes during the crucial opening stages of the game, and this
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64 requires the players to rely entirely upon general strategic principles and such right brain
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65 functions as pattern recognition and "instinct". <em><strong>This integration of right and left brain function
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66 provided by Go is crucial to the complete development of the brain, and is also almost
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67 completely lacking in Chess (or any other known human activity).</em></strong>
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68
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69 <p>This unique integration of left and right brain function in playing Go was recently directly
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70 demonstrated for the first time by MRI brain scans, in experiments described in the report
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71 referenced in the section of this web page "Comparison Between Chess and Go".
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72
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73 <p></UL>
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74
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75 <p>For these reasons, <em><strong>Go</em> not only provides <em>unlimited scope</em> for even the most brilliant to
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76 exercise their mental capabilities to the fullest, but <em>an effectiveness in improving the brain
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77 function and academic performance of even underachievers unmatched by any other known
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78 pedagogical mechanism.</em></strong>
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79 <a name="Caveats "></a>
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80 <p><u><strong>Caveats</u></strong>
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81
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82 <p>There are some significant caveats that must be addressed in implementing a school Go program,
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83 especially in the US:
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84
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85 <p><UL type = disc>
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86
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87 <p><LI> Most important is the realization that <em>Go is not a form of magic wand</em>, despite the
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88 enormous benefits that its participants ultimately enjoy. Mere brief exposure to the elegant basic
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89 concepts of Go and occasional casual play may be pleasurable, but will <u>not</u> result in substantive
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90 salutary changes in the student's thinking processes or study habits!
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91
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92 <p><em><strong>The benefits Go provides can <u>only</u> be achieved over a period of months and years during
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93 which the student actively studies and plays Go, and progresses well into the advanced stages
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94 of skill.</em> </strong>The reason is that a deep understanding of and ability to appropriately address the
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95 complex interactions between Go's strategy, tactics, and elegant structural concepts are what
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96 actually improve the student's intellectual capabilities. Coupled with Go's subtle development
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97 and inculcation of improved study habits, this then translates into improved academic
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98 performance.
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99
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100 <p><LI> It is this "rewiring" of the brain to enable it to efficiently engage in the kind of <em> advanced
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101 REASONING</em> essential to both playing Go and solving real world problems that is most readily
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102 accomplished at about age 4 or 5. As noted in some detail in the section of this web page
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103 "Teaching The New 'R' Of Reasoning", the ideal learning method for such young children is
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104 largely but not wholly informal, supplemented by a small irreducible minimum of formal
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105 instruction. Unfortunately, the ideal combination of conditions to permit using this preferred
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106 method does not routinely exist anywhere in the US today outside a very few Oriental
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107 communities. Therefore there is no practical alternative to a more formal, intrinsically less
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108 desirable (but still effective) approach.
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109
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110 <p><LI> In Japan, Go is a well established and highly respected cultural/social activity and almost
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111 every child is already aware of its existence long before entering school, so participation in an in-school Go program is fairly readily obtained and accepted. In the US Go is almost completely
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112 unknown to all but a few students of Oriental extraction. Far worse, in our basically anti-intellectual society, activities like playing Go are also often characterized by many students and
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113 parents as "nerdy", and are viewed disapprovingly. Overcoming this erroneous negative
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114 preconception may constitute a formidable challenge, at least until the program is well
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115 established and its value demonstrated beyond question.
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116
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117 <p></UL>
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118
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119 <p><a href="SHUNTGO.html"><Font Color="#0033FF"><strong>Continue</strong></Font></a>
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120
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121 <p>Click Here To Return To<a href="index.html"><Font Color="#0033FF"><strong> Milt's Go
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122 Page</strong></Font></a>
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123
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124 <p><hr>
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125
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126 <br wp="br1"><br wp="br2">
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127 </body>
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128
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129 <!-- Mirrored from users.eniinternet.com/bradleym/NoAlt.html by HTTrack Website Copier/3.x [XR&CO'2014], Sun, 06 Nov 2022 06:49:33 GMT -->
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130 </html>
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