Geoff Dawe
The reality of a lot of high school education is that children are pushed to use the reasoning part of the brain when the relevant neural pathways for reason are still not fully developed.
The educational philosophy of a technocratic society is that it is this push that stimulates the joining of these neural pathways. It is the civilised conception that nature is inadequate or incomplete and it is thanks to modern education that this insufficiency of nature can be overcome.
An alternative to the technocratic view is that, provided humans have had a reasonable human upbringing, the neural pathways concerned with reason will automatically complete at adulthood. This point of view, following the work of neuropsychotherapist Allan Schore, accepts that, if children are exceptionally stressed, there is less likelihood of their neural pathways connecting to the prefrontal cortex where reason is accessed. Instead the brain will put greater energy into connecting neural pathways to the older, reptilian part, the part associated with fight and flight.
It is possible to see here that NAPLAN testing or indeed any testing that adds to a child’s stress is not facilitating an educated (as in reasoning) humankind, but one more inclined to fear. Conveniently for capitalism, a fearful society consumes exceptionally.
The technocratic society currently is engaged in redoubling effort towards maths and science because these stimulate the production of technologies. Ironically, this is done without science being able to rule that the side effects of all technologies are not killing the planet.
Part of the questions asked in regard to maths, according to the Newcastle Herald (6/12/16), are ‘When will I ever use this stuff?’ or ‘How will maths help me later in life?’
Lecturer in mathematics education at Griffith University, Kevin Larkin, answers these questions in the Herald mostly in terms of maths aiding in the prediction of future events. As an example Kevin suggests maths can assist in solving ‘puzzles to assist the heroine unlock the next level in the latest video game’.
However, it is doubtful that children should be encouraged to play with video games rather than go outside and play, or relate personally, rather than technologically, to someone else.
Moreover, enquiring children need to know that most of them are walked through the comparative uselessness of secondary-school maths in order to find the relatively few mathematical prodigies who will further the work of Lockheed Martin, NASA or what is oxymoronically called technological progress.
Kevin reasonably points out that most occupations use maths. Nevertheless, most occupations only require primary school maths.
The above argument is not maths nihilism. Mathematics, like science, will always be of use to humans.
However, like everything on the planet, it presents a darker side when in excess, when devoid of balance. Currently, Australian society is out of balance in insisting maths needs to be the interest of every child. This way, in line with a machine-dependent culture, is toward homogenising children’s talents and abilities to make them more conveniently a cog. It is the opposite of educating children by acting as midwife to what they bring to the world, the opposite of the Latin root of the word education, educere, which means ‘to lead out’.
Not facilitating each child’s abilities, talents and yearnings is a complete waste of talent, a complete waste of an emerging resource, a complete waste of time. The waste of time can be seen in some high schools offering a Higher School Certificate alongside barista, Responsible Service of Alcohol and Responsible Gambling Services courses.
This is the contradiction of high school and the requirements of a technocratic society. Children are exceptionally stimulated to the reasoning part of the brain, and are then expected to be content with comparatively brainless occupations as though they should be machines rather than human.
• There is an interesting interview with Dr Allan Schore at letsgrowkids.org/blog/dr-allan-schore-early-relationships-lifelong-health. Some scientists dispute the notion of a ‘left brain’ and ‘right brain’: yourbrainhealth.com.au/left-brain-right-brain-myth.
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