WHY JUST TEACH ART: THE DEVELOPMENT OF
THE HIPPOCAMPUS
International Journal of Web & Semantic Technology (IJWesT), 1 (01):
01 -10 (July 2014)Abstract
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.
