Why Do I Need a Teacher When I’ve Got Google

sometimes who are in despair about the damage that parents do to their children, especially when they feel that so much of this damage in the early years of the child’s life is irreparable and permanent. I do my best to reassure them that they must believe, as teachers, that they can make a difference because if not, we could all throw our hands up in despair. The debunking of this neuromyth should bring hope to all those teachers who wonder if they really can change children’s brains for the better. According to the OECD, the idea of a ‘critical period’ of development has been replaced with what they call a ‘sensitive period’, where we make connections more easily but if we miss out there is still hope. As they go on to point out:
    While there might be sensitive periods for some stimuli, the capacity to form synapses, i.e. plasticity, is not limited to the first three years of life. Thus it can not be generalized that there is a sole sensitive period (up to 3 years) for every possible stimuli. Any kind of specific environmental stimulation causes the brain to form new connections. This ability is conserved throughout life.
    ( www.oecd.org/document/4/0,3343,en_2649_35845581_33829892_1_1_1_1,00.html )
    What it does boil down to is the adage ‘use it or lose it’. The brain will last a long lifetime and new connections can be made right through to old age, but you do have to keep on using it. Read a brain book inches thick and it still seems to boil down to those five words. This is particularly relevant when, with the increase in age-related brain diseases such asdementia and Alzheimer’s disease, we look at the controversial topic of ‘neural reserve’. This suggests that using our brains well during our lives doesn’t protect us from these diseases but means that we have built enough richness in terms of brain connectivity that, as we start to lose these connections, we can last for much longer before the symptoms start to appear. In the words of Dr. David A. Bennett, director of the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center in Chicago:
    We think that education and factors related to education may affect the way the brain responds to the abnormal proteins that accumulate in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease. In other words, in people with similar amounts of these abnormal Alzheimer’s disease protein deposits, those with more educational experiences will be less likely to have memory loss than those with less education.
    ( www.scienceblog.com/community/older/2002/D/20024932.html )
    I heard the story on the radio of a man who was a very good chess player who went to his doctor to complain that the number of moves ahead he could work out had reduced slightly and it was impairing his game. After an intensive course of neural investigation, doctors concluded there was nothing wrong with his brain. He died shortly afterwards ‘riddled’ with Alzheimer’s, something that can only be positively identified by looking at brain tissue after death. It would appear that his university-level education and his intellectually active lifestyle had delayed the onset not of the disease but of the outward appearance of its symptoms. Again, to quote Dr David A. Bennett:
    it is possible that education and related factors could increase neural reserve and allow the brain to tolerate pathology without manifesting memory loss and other clinical signs.
    Or, in the words of
New Scientist
:
    Study after study has shown that intelligence, good education, literacy and high status jobs all seem to protect people from the mental ravages of old age and provide some resistance to the symptoms, if not the brain shrinkage, of dementia.
    (
New Scientist
, 03/06/06)
    As we live longer in the West, we are increasing our likelihood of having a range of awful neurodiseases. In fact, studies show that once you reach 65,your life expectancy increases by five hours a day, which also means that your risk of Alzheimer’s increases exponentially. 9 We need to educate our children not only to take their place in the twenty-first century, but also to keep healthy into the longer old age they will experience. This is where you come in.
    We need to immerse babies and children in multisensory enriched environments to enhance their ability to learn
    Not true according to the OECD 10 citing the article mentioned above by John T. Bruer, especially when matched with the idea that if the baby’s nursery doesn’t have enough stimulation