"Why Humans Learn: Thinking About Education Biologically"

2019/02/19

Because I study genes and the brain, I am often honorably (?) misunderstood as being a graduate of the School of Medicine. In such cases, I puff out my chest and respond with mock-wickedness, "I was born and raised in the Faculty of Letters, the lowest academic stratum."

It is true that during university entrance exams, I failed the science track and ended up in the Faculty of Letters. Despite being immersed for over 40 years in Keio University's Faculty of Letters (naturally), which is strongly colored by philosophy, literature, and history, my sense of history has still not developed, and my brain freezes at abstract discussions of philosophy and literature. Rather, I feel more at ease when I have robust results showing the genetic influence on psychological phenomena derived from twin data. How can anyone entrust themselves to a discussion that lacks solid evidence to explain things from the roots? This very feeling is unmistakable proof that I lack the genetic predisposition for Faculty of Letters-style thinking. Nevertheless, I have fortunately been able to do a decent amount of work as a behavioral geneticist at Keio.

However, I still do not understand the essential question: "What is education?" The pedagogy at Keio, where I belong, has a philosophical academic style that always asks "What is education?" regardless of the approach taken. This was attractive. Even if I show that genes influence intelligence and academic ability, that alone does not provide the answer to "What is education?"

About ten years ago, the god of "evolution" gave me a revelation. I realized that this is the explanatory principle that "explains from the roots" why humans are creatures that learn through education. No animal can survive without learning. Most animals rely on individual learning for this. However, humans, who live by depending on invisible "knowledge" produced by the brain, cannot learn this without the assistance of others. That is the evolutionary origin of education. At the same time, the diversity of abilities provided by genes encourages the creation of diverse adaptive knowledge that individuals cannot achieve alone, and education allows that knowledge to be shared by everyone. For this purpose, the brain brought language, theory of mind, and executive functions to humans. Thinking this way allows for a unified biological understanding of the essence of humans and the essence of education.

My genes and brain may not have been adaptive to the Faculty of Letters, but I cannot help but feel that it was unmistakably the free intellectual environment of Keio University that allowed me to conduct my research.

"Why Humans Learn: Thinking About Education Biologically"

Juko Ando (Author)

Kodansha Gendai Shinsho

280 pages, 840 yen (excluding tax)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time this magazine was published.