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The Revelation of the Father - Week 10
1. S E S S I O N 10
Weeds in Intellectual
Formation
2. Weeds in the Field
• “While men were sleeping, his enemy came
and sowed weeds among the wheat” (Matthew
13:25).
• “It is legitimate and even necessary to ask
whether [the socioeconomic system of the
West] is not the work of another ideology of
evil, more subtle and hidden, perhaps, intent
upon exploiting human rights themselves
against man and against the family” (St. John
Paul II, Memory and Identity, p. 11).
3. The Four Types of Formation
Human Formation
The material body is now
subject to decay and death.
Intellectual Formation
Darkened intellect struggles
to perceive the truth.
Pastoral Formation
Relationships are wounded
by tension and domination.
Moral Formation
Weakened will struggles to embrace
its true good.
Formation
of the
Human Person
4. • “Except for a few cognitive instincts, newborns pretty
much just perceive and react … Cognitive
development is the product of two interacting
influences – brain growth and experience.”
• “The brain continues to change in response to
experience throughout the lifespan. We are in lifelong
development, as reflected in the ever-changing
structure of the brain throughout our lives …
attachment relationships are the major environmental
factors that shape brain development during its period
of maximal growth.”
The Basis of Intellectual Formation
Source: Eliot, E., “What’s Going on in There?
How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First
Five Years of Life,” Bantam Books, New
York, 1999, p. 392 and pp. 412-414.
Siegel, D., “The Developing Mind: How
Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape
Who We Are,” 2nd Edition, The Guilford
Press, New York, 2012, pp, 35 and 112.
5. Intellectual formation is called to be founded upon
the experience of another person.
We are struggling with intellectual formation in the
United States.
6. A Picture of International Education
US #29 #36 #28 #24 #4
1 Shanghai Shanghai Shanghai Shanghai Luxembourg
9 Liechtenstein Switzerland Poland Ireland Sweden
10 Macau, China Netherlands Liechtenstein Poland Netherlands
Overall
2 Singapore Singapore Hong Kong Hong Kong Switzerland
3 Hong Kong Hong Kong Singapore Singapore Norway
4 South Korea Taiwan Japan Japan United States
5 Japan South Korea Finland South Korea Austria
6 Taiwan Macau, China Estonia Finland Denmark
7 Finland Japan South Korea Taiwan Iceland
8 Estonia Liechtenstein Vietnam Canada Belgium
Source: OECD, “PISA 2012 Results in Focus: What 15-year-olds know and what they can do with
what they know,” 2013, p.5.
OECD, “Education at a Glance,” 2011, Table B1.1a, p. 218.
Math Science Reading Expend/Cap
7. Solution: Longer, Harder, Smarter
• Increase school year: Push to increase length of
school year by up to 300 hours per year (daily 7am-
5pm, every other Saturday, shortened summer).
• Earlier start: Push to begin formal education earlier
(PreK-4 and PreK-3).
• Testing and Homework: Push to increase rigor of
testing and increase amount of homework.
• Smarter: Continued commitment to have the latest
and best technology at all levels (iPad in PreK).
8. Is the fundamental issue with education in the
United States simply that our children are not
working hard enough?
Let’s look at some data.
9. 200
600
800
Shanghai JapanKoreaHong
Kong
Singapore
0
LengthofSchoolYearK-12
(HoursperYear)
Finland
Source: OECD, “PISA 2012 Results: What Makes Schools Successful? Resources,
Policies and Practices, IV,” 2013, Revised February 2014, Table IV.3.20, p. 343.
Bush, M., et al., “School Calendar: Length of the School Year,” Number of Instructional
Days/Hours in the School Year, August 2011.
United States Census Bureau, “Population Estimates,” State Totals: Vintage 2013.
400
LiechensteinEstonia Macau
China
1000
USA
Issue: Work Longer?
Average – 753 hours/year. Students in the USA will
spend 4.7 additional “Top Ten average years” during
their K-12 education in the United States.
720
Start–1stGrade
761
Start–1stGrade
626
Start–1stGrade
770
Start–1stGrade
810
Start–1stGrade
772
Start–2ndGrade
704
Start–2ndGrade
908
Start–1stGrade
708
Start–1stGrade
957
Start–Kindergarten
13. Familial discord introduces tremendous stress into
the life of children on the emotional, physical and
socioeconomic level.
14. Source: Lee, B., et al., “Associations of Salivary Cortisol with
Cognitive Function in the Baltimore Memory Study,”
Archives of General Psychiatry, v. 64, no. 7, July 2007.
Hanson, J., et al., “Structural variations in prefrontal cortex
mediate the relationship between early childhood stress and
spatial working memory,” Journal of Neuroscience, June 6,
2012.
Arensten, A., “Stress signaling pathways that impair
prefrontal cortex structure and function,” Nature Reviews
Neuroscience, June 2009.
Lupien, S., et al., “Effects of stress throughout the lifespan on
the brain, behaviour and cognition,” Nature, June 2009.
Stress and the Brain
• Increased cortisol levels impact six
cognitive functions: language,
processing speed, eye-hand
coordination, executive functioning,
verbal memory and learning, and
visual memory.
• Stress can lead to decreased volumes
in the hippocampus and prefrontal
cortex.
• Early childhood stress is linked with
reduced spatial working memory.
15. A Plan to Create Additional Stress
• Work longer – Reduced sleep leads to
increased evening levels of cortisol and
decreased glucose tolerance.
• Work harder – Time in nature and green
space is linked to lower cortisol levels
and lower stress.
• Work smarter (use technology) – Lower
screen time is associated with more
sleep and lower depression levels.
Source: Spiegel, K., et al., “Impact of sleep debt on metabolic
and endocrine function,” The Lancet, v. 354, October 23,
1999.
Thompson, C., et al., “More green space is linked to less
stress in deprived communities: Evidence from salivary
cortisol patterns,” Landscape and Urban Planning, 105, 2012.
Gentile, D., et al., “Protective Effects of Parental Monitoring
of Children’s Media Use: A Prospective Study,” JAMA
Pediatrics, May 2014, v. 168, no. 5.
16. IQ–DanishArmyRecruits
Sources: Teasdale, T., et al., “A long-term rise and recent decline in intelligence test
performance: The Flynn Effect in reverse,” Personality and Individual Differences, 2005.
Shayer, M., et al., “Thirty years on – a large anti-Flynn effect? The Piagetian test Volume
and Heaviness norms 1975-2003,” British Journal of Educational Psychology, 2007.
1998 2004
100
102
104
106
110
1975 2003
MeanScore
(VolumeandHeaviness)
1959
108
3.0
3.5
4.0
4.5
5.0
5.5
A Leveling of Intelligence?
• After rising steadily for almost
40 years, the IQ scores for
Danish army recruits has
begun to decline.
• Boys who are 12 are scoring
as low as 8-9 years from 30
years ago on understanding
real world science concepts.
• PSAT critical reading and
writing skills scores have
fallen in the past decade.
109.5
108.2
5.42
4.29
100
17. TimeonPage(Seconds)
Sources: Nielsen, J., “How Little Do Users Read?,” Alertbox, May 6, 2008.
Rockwell, S., et al., “The Effect of the Modality of Presentation of
Streaming Multimedia on Information Acquisition,” Media Psychology, 9,
pp. 179-191, 2007.
200
Words
1000
Words
0
20
40
60
80
Text
Only
Text +
AV
CorrectAnswers
4
5
6
7
8
Restructuring the Activity of the Brain
34
78
7.04
5.98
• Of its nature, the internet alters the
way the brain processes
information.
• Individuals skim information as they
move from page to page.
• Prefrontal cortex works at elevated
levels to sort through information.
• Working memory is overwhelmed.
• “Consolidation” into long term
memory doesn’t happen lessening
the brain’s ability to reflect.
• The brain accepts what it receives,
which is based on popularity.
18. What happens when we fail to consider problems
deeply and allow public opinion to become the
measure of truth?
The story of Adolf Hitler.
19. Adolf Hitler
• Born April 20, 1889 in Braunau am Inn Austria.
• Performs poorly at school. Wants to be an artist, but is
rejected by the Viennese Academy of Art twice.
• Serves as a dispatch runner in World War I.
• Gains popularity through beer hall speeches.
• Arrested November 11, 1923 for attempted coupe.
• Legitimately appointed Chancellor on January 30, 1933.
• Largest political party in 1933 elections.
• July 14, 1933, Socialists declared only legal party.
• Annexes Austria on March 12, 1938.
• Exterminates 6 million Jews during World War II.
• Commits suicide on April 30, 1945.
Source: Kershaw, I., “Hitler, v. 1 1889-1936
Hubris and v.2: 1936-1945 Nemesis,” W. W.
Norton & Company, New York, 1998 and 2000.
20. Fredrick Nietzsche and the Superman
• “Man is something that shall be overcome … All beings so
far have created something beyond themselves … You
have made your way from worm to man, and much in you
is still worm … Behold, I teach you the overman.”
• “I say: what is falling, we should still push … I am a
prelude of better players, O my brothers! Follow my
precedent. And he whom you cannot teach to fly, teach to
fall faster.”
• “I know my fate. One day there will be associated with my
name the recollection of something frightful – of a crisis
like no other before on earth … there will be wars such as
there have never yet been on earth.
Source: “The Portable Nietzsche,” Translated by Kaufmann,
W., Penguin Books, 1954-1982, p. 124 and p. 321.
Nietzsche, F., “Ecce Homo,” Translated by Hollingdale, R.,
Penguin Classics, 2004,pp. 96-97.
21. Adolf Hitler and the Aryan Race
• “The gravest and most ruthless decisions will have
to be made … the demand that defective people
be prevented from propagating equally defective
offspring is a demand of the clearest reason … if
necessary, the incurably sick will be pitilessly
segregated – a barbaric measure for the
unfortunate … but a blessing for his fellow man.”
• “As I was strolling through the Inner City, I
suddenly encountered an apparition in a black
caftan and black hair locks. ‘Is this a Jew?’ was
my first thought … but the longer I stared at this
foreign face … the more my first question
assumed a new form: ‘Is this a German?’”
Source: Hitler, A., “Mein Kampf,” trans.
Manheim, R., Houghton Mifflin Company, New
York, 1927, p. 255 and p. 56.
23. Alois Hitler: The Fertile Soil for Adolf
• Born on June 7, 1837, Alois Hitler is the illegitimate
son of Maria Anna Schicklgruber.
• Alois has an illegitimate child in 1860’s.
• At 36, Alois marries Anna Glassl – aged 50.
• Alois has an affair and child with a maid, Franziska
Matzelberger.
• While Franziska is dying of tuberculosis, Alois has
an affair and child with Klara Polzl.
• Everyday beats Adolf, who becomes “tantamount
to an unperson.”
• Alois “took little interest in bringing up a family, and
was happier outside rather than inside the family
home.”
Source: Kershaw, I., “Hitler, v. 1 1889-1936
Hubris,” W. W. Norton & Company, New York,
pp. xxv and 3-13.
24. Next Week
Weeds in Moral Formation
Small Group Discussion
Starter Questions
1. How are you going to help others recognize
the true issues involved in forming our youth?
2. What specific steps are you going to take to
reduce stress in someone else’s life?
![Weeds in the Field
• “While men were sleeping, his enemy came
and sowed weeds among the wheat” (Matthew
13:25).
• “It is legitimate and even necessary to ask
whether [the socioeconomic system of the
West] is not the work of another ideology of
evil, more subtle and hidden, perhaps, intent
upon exploiting human rights themselves
against man and against the family” (St. John
Paul II, Memory and Identity, p. 11).](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)