HERESTHEGOODNEWS

Argerey Stapakis
February 4, 2015
Honors 394 C
Heres the Good News
Recent research suggests that the brain is malleable even after the developmental years.
This is a significant breakthrough mostly because the old saying use it or lose it, in reference to
being able to perform a task or conversely simply forgetting how to do it as well, has finally been
proven to be true. This is because the pathways in our brains, that are created when learning
something new, only become stronger and more distinct when used over and over again.
Receptors that respond to specific neurotransmitters not only duplicate in number, but also in
size along with overall dendritic growth of the neuron. Essentially, these recent studies confirm
that an old dog can in fact learn new tricks. This at first comes as a surprise to most, especially to
students. A recent study performed in 2007 suggests that knowing just this fact of cells that fire
together, wire together, in reference to learning and neuroanatomy in the brain, increases
intelligence, memory, and habits (Dweck). Lisa Blackwell (Columbia University), Kali
Trzesniewski (Stanford University) and Carol Dweck (Stanford University) found that both
morale and grade points took a leap when students understood the idea that intelligence is
malleable (Bernard). So, just by telling students that they are not born into their predestined
intelligence level instantly gives them more confidence and drive. But, this should not be
surprising at all. The learning process is extremely psychologically reflective which is why being
told that you are smart or that a test is particularly difficult has profound impacts on how you
perform.
Alternatively, even in the case of lack of motivation to perform, neurobiological evidence
is still apparent. Thus, on each end of the spectrum, at the highly motivated portion as well as at
the poorly motivated portion, neural cognition due to the neuroplasticity of our brains is to

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blame. As shown in Toughs example in How Children Succeed, the circumstances and context
of how ones academia is being examined are psychologically crucial to the end results. In
particular, during the M&M example of the Florida students, Tough uses this experiment as
evidence to emphasize that the low IQ scoring students from Florida were able to score 18%
higher on an IQ test when the stakes were raised with M&Ms. The only reason why the students
with low scores changed was due to the independent variable, the presence of the M&Ms. As
discussed though, the lower IQ score was more representative of the students actual score and
assumed future success than the significantly higher one observed with the M&Ms due to the
fact that whatever quality it is that makes a person try hard on an IQ test without any obvious
incentive is what indicates how they will ultimately do in life (Tough 69). Essentially, life will
not always present M&Ms. So as also seen in the consciousness of malleability example by
Dweck, making someone aware of the stakes directly influences how they perform, assuming
that they care about the stakes at hand.
This should thus be viewed as great and promising news because it shows that one simple
shift in perspective has the ability to change how people think and achieve. If students believe
they can improve, then science suggests that they neurobiologically can. The game of
intelligence has taken a mental turn. How do we foster such strong beliefs in self-confidence in
the current education system in order to produce these results and convince underperforming
students that the stakes do matter? Educational support both at home and in the classroom is the
key to helping develop such self-assurance that exposes to students that regardless of where you
are from or your socioeconomic status, you can achieve what you want to set out to do.
The malleability of intelligence is a topic both quantitatively and qualitatively interesting
to investigate. How intelligence can be evaluated though, has to consider all factors of a student

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including their upbringing. It is academic dishonestly to believe we live in a classless world as

well as one where what happens outside of the classroom has no effect on performance inside
(Freire 13). Understanding that these differences exist can aid in the realization that their effects
can be reversed through the guidance and opportunities that education provides. Trusting that the
education one receives is enough to lift them past a particularly negative childhood he or she
underwent illuminates that adverse affects can indeed is combatted with a holistic educational
experience. In other words, believing that education can open other, bigger doors should be the
biggest priority for educators to convey to their students.
One way to measure the strength in the belief of educations ability to affect ones
ultimate socioeconomic well being is by measuring day-to-day grit as Tough defines the term.
Grit involves the motivation and perseverance centers of our brain, which are controlled in part
by a tiny neurotransmitter named dopamine. Dopamine is released in reaction to positive
behavior reinforcement and the ding, ding, ding jackpot feeling when you accomplish a goal
(Bergland). Recently, it has been found to be central in the creation of good and bad habits as
done in a study in 2011 by Joe Z. Tsien of the Georgia Health Sciences University (Bergland).
But, if this neurotransmitter is the key to academic and education success as it is defined today,
then where does it go wrong in the case of the Florida M&M students from Tough previously
mentioned? Why did they not have the confidence to believe that they had a chance if they
worked hard in school? Essentially, why was it that they did not try hard when there was no
M&M present?
Harriss studies featured by Tough in How Children Succeed suggest that behavior and
performance as seen above are due to neurochemical circumstances that affect the habits of most
people in early childhood. A reliable way to measure such external circumstances is through an

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ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) test that Tough suggests is a contributing factor that
influences overall levels of grit. These adverse childhood experiences have the power to change
neurochemical factors established in early childhood through adolescence that affect the
prefrontal cortex of our brain in ways we previously were unaware of being so closely correlated
to educational understanding. The ACE scoring is based on ten separate traumas ranging from
physical abuse, emotional neglect, presence of an alcoholic parent, divorce in the family, and
death or abandonment as shown by the organization ACES Too High which helps spread the
awareness of high ACE scores in children in the United States. All of these stressors, although
they differ in scope and severity, all have the ability to physically alter the way children are able
to think and learn both inside and outside the classroom.
How do we attempt to repair this damage children are experiencing due to outside
stressors? A numeric representation shown by Tough of the extent of this damage, and ACE
(Adverse Childhood Experiences) score, is the main tool used to measure exposure to both child
abuse and/or neglect. A high ACE score traditionally equates to a high level of damage. High
levels of damage are assumed to be correlated with and responsible for low levels of
achievement, but why is it that we sometimes see otherwise? Resiliency, the answer to this
question, in the face of such circumstances is a way to combat the damage done by external
sources. Resiliency is bred from high ideals of character, which is why motivation and volition
are traits that are currently being attempting to being integrated into curriculums across the
nation. After all, if resiliency can be bred, then so can an improved outlook on education and thus
an improved sense in self-confidence in todays underperforming students.
Making the simple assumption that motivation due to high ACE scores accounts for a
large portion of the population of underperforming students means that there is hope that the

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success of this portion can be radically changed. If we can change the way this portion thinks and
ultimately feels in school, then we can change how they achieve. By fostering character traits in
the classroom, the education system can also teach children the right definition of the end goal of
success. Of course success has a different definition from person to person, but making sure that
at the core of all of these definitions lays attributes of a respectable and morally upright citizens
should be the ultimate goal of the current education system.
What form of success is driving, or not driving, todays students? Where can this
resiliency be found and why do some students have it while others do not? The answer lies in the
cognitive hypothesis which states that the success today depends primarily on cognitive
skills-the kind of intelligence that gets measured on IQ tests, including abilities to recognize
letters and words, to calculate, [and] to detect patterns (Tough xiii). Students who believe that
success in school elicits success in their lives contain a combination of skills that the cognitive
hypothesis implies as well as character traits of high morals and self-standards. Success has been
made into an equation due to the simplistic assumption that everything in this world must be
correlational; that x must always elicit y. We must change this perception, especially for the
students who do not believe they have the tools to compete with their socioeconomically
differing classmates. Achieving success should be synonymous with achieving to be the best
version of one, not just how much money one makes or what job one has. If we can change how
students view success, we can most definitely change how they view its attainability as well as
companionship with education.
Both highly motivated and under motivated students of today view a similar criterion of
success. Finding productive work and financial stability is historically connected to the classic
definition of success. For those who do reach this form of idealism, what purpose are they

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serving as educated persons? As Tough interestingly points out, 36% of new Princeton
graduates of 2010 took jobs in the finance industry, and another 26% took jobs in a category that
Princeton labels services, which features, prominently, management and consulting (Tough
184). If this is supposedly a numeric representation of what it means to be educated, why
should we then simply teach students a certain skill from a young age assuming that over time
they will become educated in their applicable life field? This would support the fact that
neurons wired together over a lifetime will be stronger than ones wired for shorter, less
significant amounts of time. After all, efficiency seems to be the main goal for education systems
worldwide. Regardless of level of motivation as well as background, the stigma that success
comes in the form of just money needs to change.
For this we have to consider if education can be specified or merely all encompassing. Is
being educated in art or music the same as being educated in math or science? If education
truly is quantifiable, we assume that knowledge is too. We assume that there is a certain capacity,
a certain number of wired neurons in the brain, that are being used to produce these results, even
if the true outcome of what they actually mean is quite unknown.
If the Princeton example of what most of the educated population ended up pursuing is
revisited, the question of humankind must also be brought into context. What, as humans, are we
trying to accomplish by being educated and how do we pull up the underperforming section of
the population up to this standard? As Freire points out, in contrast, human beings emerge from
the world, objectify it, and in so doing can understand it and transform it with their labor (Freire
125). Humans have the power to truly choose not to be what is being controlled and instead to
be the controller. Our neurobiological advantages allow us to learn from our mistakes, change
our behavior, and recognize when the problem presents itself again. Education should reflect

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these basic principles of problem solving and creativity, critical thinking as well as innovation,
and higher level processing that elicits responses in ways better than the current system is
attempting to do so. These connections, or simple wirings within the brain, are not the only side
to what education stands for in a neurobiological sense. Instead, the connections to other
connections to more connections should be promoted through learning that is both sensory
encompassed, reflective of reality and above all, accessible to everyone. We want to be able to
create a population of knowledgeable people, not just ones who possess a certain level of
education. We should strive for an education system that can foster these high ideals of wisdom
even with students who do come from a variety of backgrounds and situations. The students in
the bottom portion of the spectrum should be given the same amount of educational motivation
to do well, instead of being discounted and labeled as pointless cases.
Knowledge should have no levels or numeric representations; it should symbolize a way
of thinking about our world both in a metacognitive way and with clever intentions. After all
knowledge emerges only through invention and reinvtervention and a system that has worked
for decades cannot be expected to dismiss change or reform (Friere 72). A refusal towards
reform, as what is being debated currently in the United States, is simply ignorant, especially
with emerging neurobiological findings. It is ignorant because it neglects to acknowledge the
primal fact of human nature, which is that change is always apparent and adaptation is an
imperative response. We have to be able to find a way to fix these assumptions students have
about their success seen amidst this system. And while it will most definitely be difficult, if
approached in the right way, it will be a slow progression towards discovering not only what
educating really is, but if it can be defined, and what form of educating is the most effective.

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A lot can be said about the value of education in a particular country. But, even more can
be said about what types of populations are being produced as a result of their education systems.
Because, after all, an education system that produces over achievers with low educational worth
is just as bad as one that produces underachievers with low levels of motivation. As predicted,
the current approaches are partly to blame for the large gap between socioeconomic levels of
students. It will be interesting to see in what ways the national and international education
systems will change in the future, as they should be evolutionarily expected to do so. Will they
use new neurobiological findings to their advantage and in doing so manage to close the gap
between high ACE scorers and low ACE scorers? After all, adaptation is in our human nature and
refusing to acknowledge it is both a denial of our true intelligence as human beings biologically
and disrespectful to the three pound magical mass inside of our skulls.

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9
References

Bergland, Christopher. "The Neuroscience of Perseverance." Psychology Today. The

Athlete's Way, 36 Dec. 2011. Web. 04 Feb. 2015.
Bernard, Sara. "Neuroplasticity: Learning Physically Changes the Brain." Edutopia.
Edutopia, 1 Dec. 2010. Web. 04 Feb. 2015.
Freire, P. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York, NY: Continuum Group, 2005. Print.
Ripley, Amanda. The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way. New York, NY:
Simon & Schuster, 2013. Print.
Tough, Paul. How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character. New
York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourty, 2013. Print.