An Invitation to Educators: Treat your Brain

I received my brochure for the February Learning & the Brain Conference in San Francisco today. The theme this year is Educating the Whole Student, no surprise, that, considering that if you approach learning from the perspective of the brain you quickly find that it is impossible to restrict yourself  to an approach of specific skills for isolated subjects: that's not the way the brain works. All of its functions are interconnected.
There is a clear parallel in pharmaceuticals. Did you ever wonder why one year a drug or supplement may be seen to be 'good for you' and the next not so much? That's because of  variables caused by the intricate interconnectivity of our biological systems.  When we take a drug, it does not act in isolation but instead effects the balance of every part of our systems and the uniqueness of our individual system shapes the effects of that drug in turn. But research is done in a single or double blind process, the drug or substance tested over a span of time in contrast to a placebo, or to one other drug.  Although studies can produce generalities, research can not possibly assume all possible effects derived from the wide variance of individual biology or chronologically induced changes or even natural evolution and adaptation and differing environments. But the brain can…and does.
To optimize learning one needs to imitate the way in which the brain explores the relationship of each newly discovery bit of information to all of its previously stored knowledge. The brain does this overnight during sleep. The educator can facilitate this process by suggesting  meaning for newly introduced material in all phases of the life of the student, not just  math and languages and music, but in her spiritual and social life as well. We do not live life in one isolated subject area at a time, so why do we teach that way?
Speakers at the conference will address play and physical exercise, the importance of which in brain growth and assimilation is just beginning to be understood. Dr. John Ratey has explored the relationship of aerobic exercise and its production of new nutrients in the brain that enhance learning.
Other speakers will talk about how to grow moral and ethical minds. Role modeling is not enough, this capacity must be facilitated. I have presented frameworks for teaching ethical processing to preadolescent students in schools. Frameworks are necessary in the absence of the capacity to understand abstracts in a subject area that develops incrementally, like math or art or music.
There is interconnectivity in all things educational. Teaching the whole child opens the door to teaching all kinds of minds. It leads to broadening our perspectives and opening our craft to differences in cultures. That, in turn, leads to globalization of thought and philosophy in education. And globalization isn't coming…it's here.
I'm struck by the question that always comes to me when a Learning & the Brain Conference brochure arrives or indeed following upon attending the conference. That is, why don't more educators attend them? They are presented annually in Boston, Washington D.C., San Francisco, and New York City, and probably other locations as well. The wealth of educational insights available for teaching the brain is massive, more than I can assimilate in one session. I have attended five over the years and am astounded by the new research results that become available each year. Every educator should attend. I'd love to go again.
Anybody got an extra five hundred bucks?

Let's Listen, America!

The erstwhile silent passengers on this nation's voyage have awakened from their passive sleep, nudged awake by rougher seas, stretching arms and rubbing sleepy eyes to look about and wonder, "Where has the ship of state sailed while I have slept?" 

Beginning then to gather in the city streets and squares, to hold placards and chant mantras, voicing their concerns, they are our fellow countrymen, Americans.

Not an Arab Spring but an American Fall.

The gatherings do not whither away and die, they last, they grow, they reach out to other cities, they catch on globally. Occupy Wall Street! Occupy Columbus! Occupy Washington! Occupy hundreds of cities in the U.S.and the world! Occupy my own back yard! 

What do they protest, our fellow Americans?  Some will say they protest financial greed and corruption, some that they protest corporate influence on government, some say its the economy or unemployment or rising medical costs. No one seems quite sure. But perhaps it isn't just about Wall Street or corporate greed or unemployment or the economy - perhaps layered beneath is a more universal complaint that binds the demonstrators, a deeper discontent. Perhaps it is about being heard.

So let's listen, America.

We see a growing focus on the "ninety-nine percent", that portion of the Americans who struggle to make ends meet while 'one percent' of the population shares most of the wealth. There is the perception of increasingly distinct classes in American society, separated not just by individual wealth but by a different American experience, two classes of citizenry living very different lives within one nation. Neither class able to understand, to comprehend the experience of the other. 

A disconnect evident in an interview on the program '60 Minutes' when President Obama's new Job Czar, Jeffrey Immelt of General Electric, complains to a confounded Lesley Stahl that "You (the American people) should be rooting for us (General Electric)". Hello?

A disconnect evident in the remarks of a Presidential candidate (and former business CEO) who called the demonstrations "unAmerican". But what could be more American? What is more emblematic of America than lawful assembly and the right of American citizens to free speech? Are these demonstrations less American than the behavior of corporations that found their genesis in the advantageous climate of freedom and opportunity here in America and then left these shores to invest in other nations and create jobs for other people because those climates profited them better? 

A disconnect evident in the words of another Presidential candidate calling it class warfare, apparently fearing that the 'lower class' in a supposedly classless American society will rise up out of its place. 

A disconnect evident in remarks by politicians and law makers who decry these protests as "sour grapes", a litany of complaints and jealousies from people who have not realized the same high degree of financial success as the bankers and investors on Wall Street. "Blame yourselves" was the helpful comment of one would-be leader. But is it really as simple as that? Just a whining discontent with their lot? Or is it really about ethical behavior and the American ideal that the same rules should be applied to everyone?

Let's listen, America.

Consider this: Perhaps these demonstrations are not about personal gain or envy of the wealth of others. Perhaps they are about redressing wrongs and re-establishing values and equality and fairness. Perhaps these citizens feel that their voices can no longer be heard through the pathways provided for them by the Constitution, that those pathways no longer serve all of the people, that the influences of money and power are corrupting true representation? 

Perhaps we should view these protests as Americans reminding Americans that it is necessary to revisit the vision of our forefathers from time to time, the vision of a nation of free citizens treated equally under law. And to remember our responsibility as Americans to see that the course our ship of state sails is straight and true.    

Maybe we should listen, America.