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The Secular Trend and Failing Schools

James Michael Howard jmhoward at arkansas.net
Sun Jan 12 12:19:06 EST 2003


The Secular Trend and Failing Schools.

Teaching and breast cancer research may both be "failing" for the same reasons.
Breast cancer incidence continues to increase in this country and is not due to
increased surveillance or identifiable, environmental influences.  Medical
researchers have been searching for "causes" for many years.  They have found
some genes and toxins that really increase the probability of breast cancer in
some women, but they have not produced significantly applicable results for the
vast majority.  Innovations in breast cancer treatment are increasingly
successful but this does not slow the incidence.  Research in education has also
found some causes for learning problems, but they have not improved the larger,
overall problem.  Innovations in teaching have slowed the declines in education
but have not stopped it.

The increase in size and earlier puberty occurring in our children, the "secular
trend," is real and ongoing (Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine 2000;
154:155-161).  I suggest the secular trend is an increase in the percentage of
individuals of higher testosterone.  They are more aggressive and sexual; they
make babies faster.  (Some say this is due to better nutrition; better nutrition
simply increases reproduction.)  As the percentage of these people increases,
their characteristics, or "biomarkers," increase; e.g. size and earlier puberty.
In 1994, I suggested the biomarker and mechanism of causation in increasing
breast cancer is increased testosterone.  This past year testosterone has been
linked to breast cancer risk: "
testosterone might be more strongly associated
with [breast cancer] risk than estradiol." (Journal of the National Cancer
Institute 2002; 94: 606-616).  I think increasing breast cancer resides in
increases of women of higher testosterone within our society.

The increase in percentage of individuals of higher testosterone may also
produce the "biomarker" of reduced ability to learn.  Earlier puberty adversely
affects final development of the prefrontal lobes, the seat of the ability to
form and manage ideas.  This would affect the ability to learn English and
mathematics and reduce the ability to control impulses, all of which make
learning more difficult.  The biomarker of "learning disabilities" is
significantly associated with higher testosterone (Physiology & Behavior 1993;
53: 583).  I suggest the increase in percentage of individuals of higher
testosterone within our population is the cause of our education problems.

The increase in percentage of individuals of higher testosterone will not be
uniform.  There are areas where breast cancer incidence is high and there are
areas where entire schools "fail."  If my hypothesis is correct, our national
education problem will continue to worsen, as will the incidence of breast
cancer. We must increase overall teacher salaries to continue attracting
teachers into a system which may worsen.  Merit pay may not be appropriate
because it is unlikely to be based on teaching abilities alone.  Teachers who
have classes mainly of lower testosterone individuals may simply have the simple
advantage of location.

James Michael Howard
Fayetteville, Arkansas, U.S.A.




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