www.lesswrong.com/posts/bhTCSdxF4gCuzzTRa/drawing-less-wrong-should-you-learn-to...
1 correction found
Most kids who like drawing have probably put in close to 10,000 hours in when they reach high school.
This greatly overstates how much time children typically spend on drawing or art. Reaching 10,000 hours by the start of high school would require roughly 17–20 hours every week for about a decade, but time-use surveys put children’s art activity far below that.
Full reasoning
To accumulate 10,000 hours by the time a child reaches high school, a child would need to average about 19.2 hours per week for 10 years (or about 17.5 hours per week for 11 years).
Representative time-use data do not support that as something "most" drawing-interested kids are doing:
- The Australian Bureau of Statistics reports that for children aged 5–14, those participating in creative activities generally spent two hours or less per week on their selected activity. For art and craft activities, only 2.6% were in the 20 hours or more per week category.
- A nationally representative University of Michigan time-use study reported American children spent only 0:50 per week in art activities on average.
These figures are nowhere near the sustained ~17–20 hours per week needed to get to 10,000 hours before high school. Even allowing that children who especially like drawing may spend more than the overall average, the available survey data contradict the claim that most of them are already near 10,000 hours by that age.
2 sources
- Cultural and creative activities, 2021-22 financial year | Australian Bureau of Statistics
Children participating in creative activities generally spent two hours or less per week on their selected activity... Art and craft activities: 51.1% spent 2 or less hours per week ... 2.6% spent 20 hours or more.
- How American Children Spend Their Time Changes | Newswise
A University of Michigan study ... based on a nationally representative sample ... estimated mean weekly hours:minutes spent in major activities ... Art activities ... Total 0:50.