Triathlon and Plato

We published in the blog subjects related to education, last post was the latest.  I have been working as a doctor for 25 years.  My work is to educate the patient to prevent health problems.  I understood my mission ten years back, reason why I consider myself "slow learner."  At the beginning, I thought everybody wanted to prevent future health problems.  I grew up in a walled house, with just one door, and a yard where I practiced bicycling inside the house as a child.  My friends were welcomed in but I did not have a business outside the house.  Trying to understand what is happening today regarding education makes me think about this NEW WORLD and the different problems we are facing.  Plato said something interesting more than 2300 years ago: “The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future life.” “Plato believed that children would never learn unless they wanted to learn. In The Republic (7.536e), he said, " . . compulsory learning never sticks in the mind." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_reform  I am not a fan of Plato, “he believed that things are there to be discovered; I think that we invent things.” But Plato´s observations belonged to a very intelligent and brave man.

The report from the USA Department of Education says: “The PEPG study found little correlation between increased per pupil spending and improvements in test scores so just throwing money at the problem is not the answer. To make matters worse, though significant gains were found at the fourth grade level, those gains fall off by eighth grade and virtually disappear by the junior year of high school.” Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2012/07/22/Education-Reform-US-schools-making-little-progress-in-improving-student-achievement/UPI-62731342947660/#ixzz2Gx0RsGgd

This is a strong correlation with what Plato mentioned more than 2300 years ago.  Common sense is not so common in today´s world, that is why we have so many problems understanding what we see.

So, what is the relationship between triathlon and Plato?  It is just what Obama mentioned in his speech (previous post): “But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.”  Without education is impossible to teach athletes in order to improve performance or to teach any kind of technique.  Triathlon is not like boxing, the triathlete needs a lot more skills to perform at a high level.  How to improve education?  Fernando Savater mentioned that the lack of abstract thinking is the cause (previous post video).  As a psychiatrist, I would say that the lack of basic education is the cause.  I just heard from a friend that her five year old niece did not want to learn anything.  She does not pay attention to what the adults say.  You can say that this is ADHD, but at the end, after 33 years of following ADHD patients, we know that thre is a relation to Antisocial Personality Disorder.

Arch Gen Psychiatry.2012;69(12):1295-1303. doi:10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2012.271.

3.  “The most clear cut adult psychiatric diagnosis in children with ADHD was antisocial personality disorder (16% vs 0% of controls).  Does this suggest that much "ADHD" in children is not ADHD, but conduct disorder that later declares itself as antisocial personality?” Nassir Ghaemi, MD, Psychiatry/Mental Health, 08:44PM Nov 1, 2012

This willingness to learn is teachable and the New Zealanders have educational programs to improve this attitude/behavior.

Early intervention will not be a panacea but evidence suggests that it could play an increasingly important role in reducing the prevalence of serious conduct disorder in ‘at risk’ children by fostering improved relationships, increasing affective and cognitive competencies, and reducing the number of incidents that create entrenched attitudes, harm to self and others, and progressive loss of hope.

http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/fms/Te%20Mata%20O%20Te%20Tau/Publications%20-%20Mason/M%20Durie%20Whanau%20as%20a%20model%20for%20early%20intervention%20in%20conduct%20disorders.pdf

Plato was right:  “Compulsory learning never sticks in the mind." We need to teach how to love learning and many other things if we want better athletes and better people in general.