24
S E S S I O N 10 Weeds in Intellectual Formation
S E S S I O N 10Weeds in Intellectual
Formation
Weeds in the Field• “While men were sleeping, his enemy came
and sowed weeds among the wheat” (Matthew 13:25).
• “It is legitimate and even necessary to ask whether [the socioeconomic system of the West] is not the work of another ideology of evil, more subtle and hidden, perhaps, intent upon exploiting human rights themselves against man and against the family” (St. John Paul II, Memory and Identity, p. 11).
The Four Types of Formation
Human FormationThe material body is now
subject to decay and death.
Intellectual FormationDarkened intellect struggles
to perceive the truth.
Pastoral FormationRelationships are wounded by tension and domination.
Moral FormationWeakened will struggles to
embrace its true good.
Formationof the
Human Person
• “Except for a few cognitive instincts, newborns pretty much just perceive and react … Cognitive development is the product of two interacting influences – brain growth and experience.”
• “The brain continues to change in response to experience throughout the lifespan. We are in lifelong development, as reflected in the ever-changing structure of the brain throughout our lives … attachment relationships are the major environmental factors that shape brain development during its period of maximal growth.”
The Basis of Intellectual Formation
Source: Eliot, E., “What’s Going on in There? How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life,” Bantam Books, New York, 1999, p. 392 and pp. 412-414.Siegel, D., “The Developing Mind: How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are,” 2nd Edition, The Guilford Press, New York, 2012, pp, 35 and 112.
Intellectual formation is called to be founded upon the experience of another person.
We are struggling with intellectual formation in the United States.
A Picture of International Education
US #29 #36 #28 #24 #4
1 Shanghai Shanghai ShanghaiShanghai Luxembourg
9 Liechtenstein SwitzerlandPoland Ireland Sweden10 Macau, China NetherlandsLiechtenstein Poland Netherlands
Overall
2 Singapore Singapore Hong KongHong Kong Switzerland3 Hong Kong Hong Kong SingaporeSingapore Norway4 South Korea TaiwanJapan Japan United States5 Japan South KoreaFinland South Korea Austria6 Taiwan Macau, ChinaEstonia Finland Denmark7 Finland JapanSouth Korea Taiwan Iceland8 Estonia LiechtensteinVietnam Canada Belgium
Source: OECD, “PISA 2012 Results in Focus: What 15-year-olds know and what they can do with what they know,” 2013, p.5.OECD, “Education at a Glance,” 2011, Table B1.1a, p. 218.
Math Science Reading Expend/Cap
Solution: Longer, Harder, Smarter
• Increase school year: Push to increase length of school year by up to 300 hours per year (daily 7am-5pm, every other Saturday, shortened summer).
• Earlier start: Push to begin formal education earlier (PreK-4 and PreK-3).
• Testing and Homework: Push to increase rigor of testing and increase amount of homework.
• Smarter: Continued commitment to have the latest and best technology at all levels (iPad in PreK).
Is the fundamental issue with education in the United States simply that our children are not
working hard enough?
Let’s look at some data.
200
600
800
Shanghai
JapanKoreaHong Kong
Singapore
0
Len
gth
of
Sch
ool
Year
K-1
2(H
ou
rs p
er
Year)
Finland
Source: OECD, “PISA 2012 Results: What Makes Schools Successful? Resources, Policies and Practices, IV,” 2013, Revised February 2014, Table IV.3.20, p. 343.Bush, M., et al., “School Calendar: Length of the School Year,” Number of Instructional Days/Hours in the School Year, August 2011.United States Census Bureau, “Population Estimates,” State Totals: Vintage 2013.
400
Liechenstein
Estonia Macau
China
1000
USA
Issue: Work Longer?Average – 753 hours/year. Students in the USA will spend 4.7 additional “Top Ten average years” during their K-12 education in the United States.
720
Sta
rt –
1st G
rade
761
Sta
rt –
1st G
rade
626
Sta
rt –
1st G
rade
770
Sta
rt –
1st G
rade
810
Sta
rt –
1st G
rade
772
Sta
rt –
2nd
Gra
de
704
Sta
rt –
2nd
Gra
de
908
Sta
rt –
1st G
rade
708
Sta
rt –
1st G
rade
957
Sta
rt –
Kin
derg
arte
n
3
9
12
Shanghai
JapanKoreaHong Kong
Singapore
0
Am
ou
nt
of
Hom
ew
ork
(Hou
rs p
er
Week)
Finland
Source: OECD, “PISA 2012 Results: What Makes Schools Successful? Resources, Policies and Practices, IV,” 2013, Revised February 2014, Table IV.3.27, p. 356.
6
Liechenstein
Estonia Macau
China
15
USA
Issue: Work Harder?13.8
9.4
6
2.93.8
2.8
6.9
3.3
5.9 6.1Average – 6.09
0.2
0.6
0.8
Shanghai
JapanKoreaHong Kong
Singapore
0
Tech
nolo
gy
(Sch
ool
Com
pu
ter
per
Stu
den
t)
Finland
Source: OECD, “PISA 2012 Results: What Makes Schools Successful? Resources, Policies and Practices, IV,” 2013, Revised February 2014, Table IV.3.18, p. 341.
0.4
Liechenstein
Estonia Macau
China
1.0
USA
Issue: Work Smarter?
0.51
0.670.73
0.40
0.56
0.46
0.690.62
1.020.95
Average – 0.63
0.1
0.3
0.4
Shanghai
JapanKoreaHong Kong
Singapore
0
Div
orc
e(M
arr
iag
e R
ate
/Div
orc
e
Rate
)
Finland
Source: OECD, “PISA 2012 Results: What Makes Schools Successful? Resources, Policies and Practices, IV,” 2013, Revised February 2014, Table IV.3.18, p. 341.
0.2
Liechenstein
Estonia Macau
China
0.5
USA
A Contributing Factor: Family Breakdown
0.22
0.28
0.22
0.38
0.34
0.46
0.540.50
0.29
0.50
Average – 0.36
Familial discord introduces tremendous stress into the life of children on the emotional, physical and
socioeconomic level.
Source: Lee, B., et al., “Associations of Salivary Cortisol with Cognitive Function in the Baltimore Memory Study,” Archives of General Psychiatry, v. 64, no. 7, July 2007.Hanson, J., et al., “Structural variations in prefrontal cortex mediate the relationship between early childhood stress and spatial working memory,” Journal of Neuroscience, June 6, 2012.Arensten, A., “Stress signaling pathways that impair prefrontal cortex structure and function,” Nature Reviews Neuroscience, June 2009.Lupien, S., et al., “Effects of stress throughout the lifespan on the brain, behaviour and cognition,” Nature, June 2009.
Stress and the Brain• Increased cortisol levels impact six
cognitive functions: language, processing speed, eye-hand coordination, executive functioning, verbal memory and learning, and visual memory.
• Stress can lead to decreased volumes in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.
• Early childhood stress is linked with reduced spatial working memory.
A Plan to Create Additional Stress
• Work longer – Reduced sleep leads to increased evening levels of cortisol and decreased glucose tolerance.
• Work harder – Time in nature and green space is linked to lower cortisol levels and lower stress.
• Work smarter (use technology) – Lower screen time is associated with more sleep and lower depression levels.
Source: Spiegel, K., et al., “Impact of sleep debt on metabolic and endocrine function,” The Lancet, v. 354, October 23, 1999.Thompson, C., et al., “More green space is linked to less stress in deprived communities: Evidence from salivary cortisol patterns,” Landscape and Urban Planning, 105, 2012.Gentile, D., et al., “Protective Effects of Parental Monitoring of Children’s Media Use: A Prospective Study,” JAMA Pediatrics, May 2014, v. 168, no. 5.
IQ –
Dan
ish
Arm
y R
ecr
uit
s
Sources: Teasdale, T., et al., “A long-term rise and recent decline in intelligence test performance: The Flynn Effect in reverse,” Personality and Individual Differences, 2005.Shayer, M., et al., “Thirty years on – a large anti-Flynn effect? The Piagetian test Volume and Heaviness norms 1975-2003,” British Journal of Educational Psychology, 2007.
1998 200410
0
102
104
106
110
1975 2003
Mean
Sco
re(V
olu
me a
nd
Heavi
ness
)
1959
108
3.0
3.5
4.0
4.5
5.0
5.5
A Leveling of Intelligence?• After rising steadily for almost
40 years, the IQ scores for Danish army recruits has begun to decline.
• Boys who are 12 are scoring as low as 8-9 years from 30 years ago on understanding real world science concepts.
• PSAT critical reading and writing skills scores have fallen in the past decade.
109.5
108.2
5.42
4.29
100
Tim
e o
n P
ag
e (
Seco
nd
s)
Sources: Nielsen, J., “How Little Do Users Read?,” Alertbox, May 6, 2008.Rockwell, S., et al., “The Effect of the Modality of Presentation of Streaming Multimedia on Information Acquisition,” Media Psychology, 9, pp. 179-191, 2007.
200 Words
1000 Words
0
20
40
60
80
Text Only
Text + AV
Corr
ect
An
swers
4
5
6
7
8
Restructuring the Activity of the Brain
34
78
7.04
5.98
• Of its nature, the internet alters the way the brain processes information.
• Individuals skim information as they move from page to page.
• Prefrontal cortex works at elevated levels to sort through information.
• Working memory is overwhelmed.• “Consolidation” into long term
memory doesn’t happen lessening the brain’s ability to reflect.
• The brain accepts what it receives, which is based on popularity.
What happens when we fail to consider problems deeply and allow public opinion to become the
measure of truth?
The story of Adolf Hitler.
Adolf Hitler• Born April 20, 1889 in Braunau am Inn Austria.
• Performs poorly at school. Wants to be an artist, but is rejected by the Viennese Academy of Art twice.
• Serves as a dispatch runner in World War I.
• Gains popularity through beer hall speeches.
• Arrested November 11, 1923 for attempted coupe.
• Legitimately appointed Chancellor on January 30, 1933.
• Largest political party in 1933 elections.
• July 14, 1933, Socialists declared only legal party.
• Annexes Austria on March 12, 1938.
• Exterminates 6 million Jews during World War II.
• Commits suicide on April 30, 1945.Source: Kershaw, I., “Hitler, v. 1 1889-1936 Hubris and v.2: 1936-1945 Nemesis,” W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 1998 and 2000.
Fredrick Nietzsche and the Superman
• “Man is something that shall be overcome … All beings so far have created something beyond themselves … You have made your way from worm to man, and much in you is still worm … Behold, I teach you the overman.”
• “I say: what is falling, we should still push … I am a prelude of better players, O my brothers! Follow my precedent. And he whom you cannot teach to fly, teach to fall faster.”
• “I know my fate. One day there will be associated with my name the recollection of something frightful – of a crisis like no other before on earth … there will be wars such as there have never yet been on earth.
Source: “The Portable Nietzsche,” Translated by Kaufmann, W., Penguin Books, 1954-1982, p. 124 and p. 321.Nietzsche, F., “Ecce Homo,” Translated by Hollingdale, R., Penguin Classics, 2004,pp. 96-97.
Adolf Hitler and the Aryan Race• “The gravest and most ruthless decisions will have
to be made … the demand that defective people be prevented from propagating equally defective offspring is a demand of the clearest reason … if necessary, the incurably sick will be pitilessly segregated – a barbaric measure for the unfortunate … but a blessing for his fellow man.”
• “As I was strolling through the Inner City, I suddenly encountered an apparition in a black caftan and black hair locks. ‘Is this a Jew?’ was my first thought … but the longer I stared at this foreign face … the more my first question assumed a new form: ‘Is this a German?’”
Source: Hitler, A., “Mein Kampf,” trans. Manheim, R., Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, 1927, p. 255 and p. 56.
2000
6000
8000
12th 16th 15th 14th 13th 0
Soro
kin
i In
dex
of
War
Inte
nsi
ty
17th
Source: Sorokin, P., “Social and Cultural Dynamics,” v. 4, Table 49, p. 655. Author estimate for 20 th Century extrapolated based upon Sorokin value after WWI.
4000
19th 18th 20th
A Tragic Era for Europe
18 24 60 100 180500 370 120
~8000
Alois Hitler: The Fertile Soil for Adolf
• Born on June 7, 1837, Alois Hitler is the illegitimate son of Maria Anna Schicklgruber.
• Alois has an illegitimate child in 1860’s.• At 36, Alois marries Anna Glassl – aged 50.• Alois has an affair and child with a maid, Franziska
Matzelberger.• While Franziska is dying of tuberculosis, Alois has
an affair and child with Klara Polzl.• Everyday beats Adolf, who becomes “tantamount
to an unperson.”• Alois “took little interest in bringing up a family, and
was happier outside rather than inside the family home.”
Source: Kershaw, I., “Hitler, v. 1 1889-1936 Hubris,” W. W. Norton & Company, New York, pp. xxv and 3-13.
Next WeekWeeds in Moral Formation
Small Group DiscussionStarter Questions
1. How are you going to help others recognize the true issues involved in forming our youth?
2. What specific steps are you going to take to reduce stress in someone else’s life?
