ABC's

I'm a believer in knowing the basics. Having a good foundation in anything is so important to growth.

When you are in an English class it is important to know that "a" makes an "ah" sound like in "apple" but it also can make an "ae" sound like in "cake" or "aw" like in "awesome"

In math you need to know that 13 - 2 = 11 to solve the equation x+2 = 13

But there is a reason why those lessons come at the beginning of your education. Why they are reinforced in practice over and over again, but not necessarily retaught year after year.

It's because after a certain point you are trusted by those who taught you to know the basics. To refer back to those basics and use them when necessary. Those basics are important to your understanding of bigger things like analysis of text and complex equations in calculus and what not.

Understanding those basics leads to understanding bigger and more incredibly difficult things.

But. If you have a teacher who looks at you and deems you lacking of that knowledge and they reteach that to you, and continue to reteach it to you without really testing you in it, then what happens is half of the time that could have been spent in teaching you new things is spent in teaching you old things.

And the only things you'll end up being knowledgeable in those basics and nothing else.

You'll know how to read and you'll know your addition and subtraction. But that's as far as you'll ever go. You'll be a kindergartner forever.