An Extension of the Humans Brain

Other people can help us compensate for our mental and emotional deficiencies(欠缺), much as a wooden leg can compensate for a physical deficiency. To be exact, other people can extend our intelligence and help us understand and adjust our emotions. When another person helps us in such ways, he or she is participating in what I’ve called a “social prosthetic (义肢的) system.” Such systems do not need to operate face-to-face, and it’s clear to me that the Internet is expanding the range of my own social prosthetic systems. It’s already a big bank of many minds. Even in its current state, the Internet has extended my memory and judgment.

Once I look up something on the Internet, I don’t need to keep all the details for future use-I know where to find that information again and can quickly and easily do so. More generally, the Internet functions as if it were my memory. This function of the Internet is particularly striking when I’m writing; I’m no longer comfortable writing if I’m not connected to the Internet. It’s become natural to check facts as I write, taking a minute or two to dip into PubMed, Wikipedia, or other websites.

As for the judgment, the Internet has made me smarter in matters small and large. For example, when I’m writing a textbook it has become second nature to check a dozen definitions of a key term, which helps me dig into the core and understand its meaning. But more than that, I now regularly compare my views with those of many others. If I have a “new idea,” I now quickly look to see whether somebody else has already thought of it, or something similar-and I then compare what I think with what others have thought. This certainly makes my own views clearer. Moreover, I can find out whether my reactions to an event are reasonable enough by reading about those of others on the Internet.

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Is early childhood education really necessary? Early childhood education mainly focuses on learning through playing to develop the child’s physical, sensory (感官的), communicational and social development. Early childhood education has become a concern of the government, who pushes poor children to be formally trained before they are old enough for kindergarten.

There are good reasons for the government to push early childhood education. Studies have shown that orphans (孤儿) who did not receive good care and education become developmentally delayed, causing failure in school, and even in life. Further studies show that poor children who take part in Head Start programs are more prepared for school, less likely to end up in Special Education classes, and are less likely to receive public help or go to prison.

There are also negative parts to putting a child in formal education programs too early. Time Magazine online explains that “the younger the child, the less his chances of catching up with first-grade work.” I have personally seen many children of my generation who went to Head Start programs become discouraged and bored with school before they finished high school. Yet parents have been sure that the earlier the child starts school, the better he or she is, so they push to start children earlier.

Actually while early formal education of poor children does show great gains in the early elementary years, studies also show that this head start is really a “false start”, as the gains are lost in middle and high school years. It seems that environment is a bigger factor (因素) on life’s success than early education. Head Start programs have not achieved its original goal in closing the achievement gap (差距) in poor and middle school children. Perhaps it is time to find other ways to close that gap.