Do not leave your brain unattended

Fall is wiping its feet on the doorstep. The air has become a bit more crisp. And the anesthetizing has begun in schools all over the country. One of the first assignments my 6th grade daughter came home with was a list of fifty prepositions she had to memorize in one week. Yikes. I didn't over-react to it, but we had a good laugh when I told her I would have stood up on the desk and peed in my shoes if I had that task in front of me. Dr. Mel Levine, M.D. writes in A Mind at a Time

"Vastly more extensive and strenuous use of memory is required for school success than is needed in virtually any career you can name. Students must store and retrieve mounds of facts, skills, and concepts across unrelated subject areas and topics...In creating this demand, education imposes an ever-growing burden on the neurodevelopmental functions that together make up memory capacity."

All I want toknow is this: Is there a better way to learn? Are there better things to learn? Do ways exist to engage a brain while holding its owner accountable?

Welcome back to school. Please do not leave your brain unattended. It will be ticketed and towed.