Re: virus:Logic

Sodom (sodom@ma.ultranet.com)
Wed, 15 Oct 1997 16:21:10 -0400


Paul Prestopnik wrote:

> > On Fri, 10 Oct 1997, Sodom wrote:
> >
> > > I believe it was sceintific American, -no wait- it was a
> special on
> > > the brain i saw on PBS. I'll get the tape. Anyway, the idea was
> that
> > > almost all of your neural connections are made by the age of 10.
> This
> > > means that the things you learn at these ages get hard wired into
> the
> > > brain.
> >
> > IThis is counter to many things I've read. Are you sure its's not
> talking
> > about /structure/ and not /content/?
> >
> > -Prof. Tim
>
> In _Palaces of the Mind_ research is quoted which implied that the
> learning process creates connections between neurons, whether it is
> before
> the age of 10 or any time later in life. They showed this by slicing
> up
> mouse brains, before and after they had learned a task, and comparing
> them.
> I don't remember the specifics, but if it is important I can find it.
>
> -paul prestopnik

This sounds right, and "10" is not a concrete number, it is an
average. Also, building does not stop at 10, it just slows down
dramatically. Albert Einstein for instance had many more connections
than the average person. This is why, in my ever changing belief
structure, that stressing teaching essential and complex "tools" to
children is pretty much all that should be tought. I would never tell a
child that there was a god. I would never tell them something
Christopher Columbus was a great guy. I would teach them music, math,
language and history - plus a lot of creative style play. I would teach
independence over social acceptability.

What do the people here think about what children, forming their neural
networks, should be educated with? What should be the areas of intense
education efforts?

Sodom
Bill Roh
I SAW THE LIGHT, BUT I WAS YOUNG AND THOUGHT IT WAS SANTA