Neowhat?

March 20, 2010

This looks like a "tip of the iceberg" type of article: Smart pill that helps children through puberty.

To summarize,

  1. During adolescence, a specific brain development makes it harder for you to learn. I remember going from being able to absorb just about anything to having to work to learn stuff, around 13-15, and I've heard that my grandfather Bill made a similar observation.
  2. Someone is advocating use of a drug to block this development (which seems kind of crazy without much more investigation)
  3. But there's another way to improve learning: experience mild stress: "Dr Smith said until a pill was developed, students could increase their learning by enduring mild stress." What does that mean -- adolescents should be challenged? Could there be a sound basis to some cultures' ritualized coming-of-age stress experiences?

What is going on here, and what does it imply for adolescent education? Is "send them to a farm" correct after all? What kind of farm? Should it include camels, or are they too stressful?


Posted by Billy at March 20, 2010 07:34 AM
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