Although now, years later, it occurs to me that things might well have been going on in the dimly lit recesses of the practice rooms back behind the Little Theater, or in the dim areas high above the stage where only the mixed members of the stage crew could go, and adults never went -- climb that ladder? Are you crazy? More opportunities than I thought of to be alone with the other gender. Not that I'd have known what to do with those opportunities, you understand. There was this general lack of awareness that I think inhibited my emotional growth -- it's one of the reasons that I look askance at full-press boys-only or girls-only school. Isolation on occasion -- say, for the first year or two -- that sounds good to me. But not all four.
But that's not what I wanted to mention.
I read an interesting if all-too-brief article about teenage brains (yeah, I know: isn't that a contradiction?) on the NPR site the other day. Here's the nub of it: teens and twenties act irresponsibly because their brain's not fully wired yet. Or, as they put it: (A) crucial part of the brain — the frontal lobes — are not fully connected. Really."It's the part of the brain that says: 'Is this a good idea? What is the consequence of this action?' " Jensen says. "It's not that they don't have a frontal lobe. And they can use it. But they're going to access it more slowly. So when a kid just doesn't think -- maybe that's literally true.
I also passed this, from there, to my daughter.
There were other advantages to having a neuroscientist mom, Will says. Like when he was tempted to pull an all-nighter.
"She would say, 'read it tonight and then go to sleep,'" he says. "And what she explained to me is that it will take [what you've been reading] from your short-term memory and while you sleep you will consolidate it. And actually you will know it better in the morning than right before you went to sleep."
It worked every time, he says.
4 comments:
I came across that article about teenage brains awhile ago. Kind of nice to know that in some way teenagers are crazy. In some ways I think knowing that some of it can't be helped is comforting. Not that teenagers should be let off the hook we just know they should be be dealt with in different way perhaps.
Also I've read some evidence on how all-nighters actually don't help you and you are better off sleeping. Even with the evidence that all-nighters don't help you'd be surprised how many people won't act on it. I think there is a name for knowing something to be true but, acting as if it isn't. Anyway enough rambling.
Not sure about the name, but I guess it falls under 'hey, it MIGHT help, my cousin's uncles's brother's third nephew says thats how he aced the MCAT...or LSAT...or something...'
I think that schools can and usually do kill it. They're not grind mills, but they're not havens of intellectual curiousity, either. Then again, most kids wouldn't be able to handle them if they were.
I though you would like that talk since it nails pretty much what you have been saying.
The knowing something to be true that isn't is a form of cognitive dissonance. I know...its a bit of a catch all term, but it explains so much of what is inexplicable.
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