Education and our Malnourished Brains

Are we getting smarter? A bunch of smart people got together and found that, no, we’re not.

For a very specific and compelling definition of “we,” that is. The gap between the academic performances of haves and have nots is growing, at least in the US. And while certainly we, as a nation, like to point at the outliers, evoke the notion of rugged individualism, and then, ironically, say “look how great we are,” the truth is that the majority of people in this country are not performing at their full potential.

A report by Jonathan Plucker, Jacob Hardesty, and Nathan Burroughs, called “Talent on the Sidelines,” says that we are losing the minds of our school children. They studied a variety of education assessments, and found that while there has been an increase in the scores of white and well-off students, minority and poor students are, at best, performing at the same levels as 15 years ago, in in some states, their doing worse.

Plucker et. al say that this means we have a “permanent talent underclass.” And it is difficult, in the face of this, not to consider the political environment that has led to this condition. Underfunding of education. The downsizing and removal of school nutrition programs. Even something like the cost of healthcare can keep parents out of the home, working over time to pay for a meager lifestyle, instead of being able to spend time in the home, participating in their children’s education.

And it’s a viscous cycle—underperforming school children become underpaid adult workers, who have children that enter the same broken education environment.

What can we do? According to Plucker et al, one thing we can do is start making excellence a focus. Rather than spend billions on assessing and cultivating achievement minimums, forcing educators to teach to an arbitrary standardized test, we should start working on ways to move underachievers ahead of the curve.

BUT GREAT BRAIN ROBBERY, WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH BRAINS?

Uh… well, one of the things we champion here at TGBR is brain training. You can strive for excellence by making your own brain excellent. Contribute to the culture!