Headline May 11, 2016/ ''' CREATING *A DIFFERENT* STUDENT '''

''' CREATING 

*A DIFFERENT* STUDENT '''

NUTSHELL  -  *The Importance Of Being Little*.

THE AMERICAN approach to  preschool tends to fit one of two molds:

Direct instruction, with rigorously scheduled lesson plans, and free-form, in which kids learn on their own whims.

In her new book, education scholar  Erika Christakis argues that both approaches are lacking. 

A better method falls in the middle, helping kids ''exercise their deductive muscles'' -without boring them or giving them too much agency, writes Christakis, who resigned from her Yale teaching job just recently after an email  she wrote ignited a campus debate about racial insensitivity.

Instead of drilling kids on vocabulary, for instance, teachers and parents should focus on how well they can carry on a conversation. they should also ensure that structured activities like team sports do not replace playtime-

Especially for kids under 6, who need play to develop social skills and deductive reasoning. Too often, kids innate abilities are  ''masked by adult......obliviousness,'' Christakis writes.

In advocating for effective pre-schooling, ''my aim to reveal those special powers.''

And now to the !WOW!  connect ; with our heart and your world:    

Jennifer Doudina, a professor of chemistry and molecular and cell biology at the University of California, Berkeley, who played a key role in developing  CRISPR, says she supports Niakan's study-

But only because she isn't bringing the embryos to terms.

''I don't think it's appropriate or responsible to use  CRISPR  in embryos that would be implanted in people right now,'' she says, adding that there are too many unknowns about the log-term effects of manipulating human genes.

After all,  that manipulation is permanent. Theoretically, if the embryos were allowed to survive, their edits would be passed on to their off-spring.

Most ethicists accept the idea of adults having their genes altered to treat their disease. But when genetic editing is done in a human embryo or in germ-line cells, like those in egg and sperm, the changes are forever.

That may sound great if the changes prevent a person from developing lung cancer,  but scientists worry that any permanent and heritable change could come with downstream consequences that simply aren't fully understood-

And can't yet be predicted. 

Manipulation of the human genome also raises ethical questions about how we define which parts of the  DNA  we decide to alter-

For instance, should genes that contribute to non-life threatening conditions that affect quality of life, such as asthma or severe allergies, be edited out?

What about the ones linked to a predisposition for obesity? Or having red hair? and freckles?

       

''Whenever you do  gene editing,  you create a different person,'' says Calum  MacKellar,  director or research at the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics.

*''What you are saying, in a way, is that certain people should not exist, and that other people should exist*.

When you start go down that road, you hit the eugenics fields.''

The embryos  Niakan will edit won't survive beyond a week,  but the fact that the scientists are beginning to manipulate  germ-line  genomes with a tool as efficient as   CRISPR   means that issues like these about where to draw the line need to be discussed, and soon.

''We are asking these questions,'' says Mackellar, ''because the possibilities are in the future and the near future.'' 

With most loving and respectful dedication to  *All The Students Of The World*:

STUDENTS : Merium, Rabo, Dee, Malala {Nobel Prize], Haleema, Sarah, Sameen, Paras, Sorat, Aqsa, Eman/Lums, Armeen/Lums, Amina/Lums,Sanyia Rumi, Mahnoor, Nina, Tooba, Nayab, Talat, Hannyia, Merium, 

Hussain, Ali, Haider, Ehsen,  Shahzaib, Haider, Salar, Vishnu, Toby/China, Noman, Murtaza Hassan, Reza/Canada, Ghazi, Mustafa/ Lums, Faizan, Hassan, Ahsen/Lums,Ibrahim, Bilal Malik, Noman, Danyial, Rahym, Hamza, Sannan, Zaeem, Hazeem, Anique,  

See Ya all on !WOW!   -the World Students Society and the Ecosystem 2011:

''' Verbatim '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless