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Title: The Myth of the First Three Years : A New Understanding of Early Brain Development and Lifelong Learning by John Bruer ISBN: 0-7432-4260-2 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 05 April, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3 (7 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A new perspective
Comment: I'm going to start by disagreeing with a reviewer below. Dr. Bruer is not suggesting that we ignore our kids! Rather, his valuable book makes the simple point that neuroscience does not "prove" that the experiences of the first three years profoundly and irreversibly influence the remainder of life. It is true, Dr. Bruer points out, that abnormal and/or abusive environments do indeed damage kids. However, provided the child experiences normal care (a standard which varies greatly worldwide), he should develop normally. According to Dr. Bruer, There is no good nueroscientific evidence that "enriched" environments lead to better brain development.
Dr. Bruer also points out that there may be good reason to believe that the brain remains plastic (changeable) throughout life. That's good news for those who came from less advantaged environments! It's also a relief for parents who for whatever reason could not give their children the good start they would have liked to give.
This book is important to read for two reasons: first, it gives a good example of how science can be misinterpreted or even "created" in order to further a pre-set goal. Second, it sheds some light on a potentially dangerous effort to introduce super-early education programs for all children, disadvantaged or not.
But I am holding back a star because Dr. Bruer fails to qualify his arguments with an important point. Even if the first three years do not of themselves determine the course of life, these are the years when habits are formed and the parent-child relationship is established. In other words, if we handle kids well and spend lots of time with them in years 1-3, we are much more apt to continue to do so in years 4-6, 7-9 etc. The kids will also have the good habit of enjoying their family life, and will, I believe, be much more open to parental influence. For this reason, parents need to take the day-care vs. in home-care decision much more seriously than Dr. Bruer implies.
With that caution, I would recommend this book to parents, teachers and anyone interested in public policy.
Rating: 2
Summary: admirable sentiments, but mind numbingly tedious prose
Comment: i suppose you should take this review with a grain of salt, for i have only made my way through the first chapter. unfortunately bruer is an amazingly awful writer. in taking nearly thirty pages to illustrate that which should have been said in five, and with the words "new brain science," "new brain science," "reiner," "reiner," "reiner, " ringing hollowly, like some dreadful mantra in my mind, i fell into a stupor, one that could only be cured by closing this damned book. that is not to say that i won't return for a second look. call me a glutten for punishment perhaps. Or rather, could it be that i sympathize with what i have understood his argument to be thus far? anxious potential soccer moms and dockers kakhi gents, do not worry, properly applied neuroscience will save this country from the awful pestilence of.... low SAT scores... inability to hold a steady job... juvenille delinquency... violence... if we hand our little tykes over to the experts (which i guess is what consititutes "community" in this day and age) between the ages of 0 to 3 (as if the next 15 weren't enough), then we can eradicate the evil at its source - hit the neurons and hit em hard, while they're still fresh and spunky.
in all seriousness though, what this book seems to be critiquing is a very unclever and misguided liberal humanist agenda which would prefer to rest content with an astonishingly unrealistic cure-it all program than acknowledge the complexities of social distress and rebellion. neuroscience provides the crutch of truth to prop up this facile agenda. and in so doing we can, with clear conscience, avoid the disparaging task of examining and questioning the priorities of the society we live in. Much easier to let the market run free as the sole source of meaning in this culture, and delude ourselves into believing that youth violence, boredom, and alienation are simply the product of an ill formed mind.
am i jumping to conclusions?
Rating: 5
Summary: Finally, a book with some science.
Comment: After shelves upon shelves of books, magazines, and essays have been written about the brain science behind our childrens' developement, we finally have a book that actually discusses the evidence rather than shaping it for a particular goal. Mr. Bruer is not an advocacy group. He's not a political action committee. He has researched his book thoroughly, sourced it, and even interviewed the original scientists whose studies were horribly misinterpereted, misconstrued, or just plain misused. If you listen to the media, there are mountains of data regarding the connections between your baby's environment, and his/her brain developement. Mr. Bruer lets us hear from the scientists themselves that this is not true. They tell us that what little scientific evidence we have regarding such connections is incomplete, and should not be extrapolated to any practical parenting curriculum. In sum, we should raise our kids with common sense, love, and care. What a comfort that such a time-honored notion should still prove true.
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