Why Do Schools Flunk Biology?
Note: The following article is reprinted from Newsweek, February 19, 1996. 1996, Newsweek, Inc. Biology is a staple at most American high schools. Yet when it comes to the biology of the students themselves how their brains develop and retain knowledge school officials would rather not pay attention to the lessons. Can first graders handle French? What time should school start? Should music be cut? Biologists have some important evidence to offer. But not only are they ignored, their findings are often turned upside down. Force of habit rules the hallways and classrooms. Neither brain science nor education research has been able to free the majority of America’s schools from their 19th-century roots. If more administrators were tuned into brain research, scientists argue, not only would schedules change, but subjects such as foreign language and geometry would be offered to much younger children. Music and gym would be daily requirements. Lectures, work sheets and rote memorization wou
