Reeling in Research

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Brenda Clark

Professor Monique Williams

English 1A

Section:  014

29 August 2013

 

Reeling in Research

            The “Passion Project” introduced me to mirror neurons.  I was amazed to learn about the concept of mirror neurons, and intrigued to read an article written by John Marsh, titled “Do Mirror Neurons Give Us Empathy?” in order to further my understanding of these neurons.  I will explain why I believe that the article intersects with my “Rule of Three” paper focus of children being assigned too much homework by their teachers in the educational system.

I believe that the importance of homework has been exaggerated.  I believe that homework should be a review of the material that is taught in class, and should not be foreign material to a student.  Time spent outside of the classroom completing homework should be limited, and not interfere with the ability of a child to socialize with friends, or get enough sleep, as sleep is necessary for a child to develop properly.  Spending too much time on homework would then, in my opinion, result in a negative effect on a child’s performance in the classroom if the child becomes either depressed due to lack of socialization or exhausted due to a lack of sleep, for example.  I can relate my opinion to a statement in the article titled “Do Mirror Neurons Give Us Empathy?” by Editor-in-chief Jason Marsh, that “the importance of mirror neurons has been exaggerated” (Marsh 1).  There are benefits to both concepts of mirror neurons

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and homework, although one must weigh out the benefits versus the risks of each, to determine how valuable the benefits truly are.  I have learned that to absorb new material and improve one’s understanding and memory, sleep is important.  I feel as though it is pointless to give a child/student an extreme amount of homework (extreme meaning to me that it interferes with the student having any life of his/her own outside of schoolwork), if it means that the student will become exhausted and/or frustrated, and have a lesser likelihood of retaining and/or transmitting the learned information.  I can relate education to culture, as in a quote by Jason Marsh which states “that’s what culture’s about - the transmission of those learned skills (Marsh 3).  There are many different types of education as there are many different cultures.  One must have a passion for and comprehend the logistics of the education or culture in order for the education or culture to stay alive and be transmitted to future generations.  As stated by V.S. Ramachandran in the article by Jason Marsh, “mirror neurons are important in transmitting skills from generation to generation” (Marsh 3).  As in the concept of mirror neurons, I believe that if a student is able to notice that a teacher has a passion for the particular subject that he/she is teaching, it may be easier for the student to gain a passion for that subject as well, therefore making it that much easier for the student to complete homework, amounting in less time spent outside of the classroom struggling, and a more balanced and healthy lifestyle for the student. 

As you can see, I believe that the article “Do Mirror Neurons Give Us Empathy” intersects with my “Rule of Three” paper focus of children being assigned too much homework by their teachers in the educational system.  The value of homework may be exaggerated as may be the value of mirror neurons, although I am certain that there may be benefits to both.  I

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encourage the evaluation of homework in the educational system and mirror neurons in the brain in the future until there is able to be a more concrete explanation of each.