We know training is essential. Workers need the skills and education to do their job or task well. This leads to good work that promotes an industry that can provide solid careers. But getting them young is more important than most people can imagine. What you first learn is likely to stick.
The veracity of this statement was proven back in 1975 at Stanford University. A group of students were handed various suicide notes—some real, some fake. They were asked to identify which were real and which ones were fakes. Half of the group were told they did very good with more than 90 percent of their assessments being accurate; the other half were told they did rather poorly. As in most psychological studies, the groups had been misled. In reality, all were about equal: There was no good or bad group. The deception was revealed to all. Then they were asked to look at another batch of notes. But before any results were shared, they were then asked to evaluate how well they had done this time. Curiously, the group that was told they did well believed they did well again. Conversely, the group that had been told they did poorly, believed they did poorly again.