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Children in Ender's game


Why is there such a big focus on children in Ender's game and why are only children trained in the battle academy? Why can't teenagers or adults start training also if they have whatever skills the academy is looking for.



Answer



While the accepted answer was somewhat correct (one of the 2 reasons was indeed the fact that you could "fool" a child into thinking they had been playing a game, so that they would be able to make the necessary tactical sacrifices without worrying about losing men they command; and not carry around the psychological burden of "what if we lose"), that was not the only reason, and possibly not even the main one.


The reason was articulated by Graff even before Ender was born, in First Meetings collection, in The Polish Boy, when he explained why he did not care that he wasn't getting John Paul Wieczorek (who we later would know as John Wiggin, Ender's father) into Battle School: it was because their research suggested that pre-adult kids were better commanders than grown ups.



"There is a definite fall-off in outcomes after the trainees reach adulthood," said Graff. "That's a fact, however much we may not like the implications."


"They know more, but do worse?" said Chamrajnagar. "It sounds wrong. It is hard to believe, and even if we believe it, it is hard to interpret."



... and further on, Graff expands on it:




"You're forgetting the research we've been conducting. It may not be final in some technical scientific sense, but it's already conclusive. People reach their peak ability as military commanders much earlier than we thought. Most of them in their late teens. The same age when poets do their most passionate and revolutionary work. And mathematicians. They peak, and then it falls off. They coast on what they learned back when they were still young enough to learn. We know within a window of about five years when we have to have our commander. John Paul Wieczorek will already be too old when that window opens. Past his peak."



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