WHY JUST TEACH ART: THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE HIPPOCAMPUS

That we intuitively feel a need to teach children what we consider the rudiments of education, approximately as soon as they are socially adept enough to attend school is not unjustified (eg. the “core curriculum standards” adopted by US public schools). However, there is a deeper technical issue to be considered, one that proves remarkably simple. Though the role of the hippocampus, within the larger function of the brain, is hardly well understood, there is ample evidence of its role in a particular aspect of memory, namely metacognition, or “knowing about knowing.” More neurologically informed consideration for the distinct memory systems that contribute to cognition revels that these rudiments may be entirely artificial and based on “adult-centric” conceptual frames. Moreover, given that the hippocampus is only fully formed by early adulthood, this would indicate that our educational itinerary may easily be fundamentally flawed, and at least warrants radical reconsideration.