Paul Tough is Cool Part 3: Still Nerdy

I was getting carried away with my interest in Paul Tough's recent talk the other day, so I thought I'd save my other thoughts for this post, just to spread things out a little. Here I go, nerdying out a little bit more, then I'll try to be done. Promise.

As I was saying . . .

Point the second. In response to his comments about a study done on baby rats [I believe this may be the study, or at least one related to what he discussed] where they've found that certain genes actually switch on and off based on whether the mama rat licks and strokes the baby rat in the first seven days of life, one woman asked about a related study that seemed to indicate that the administration of certain chemicals could have a similar effect on the rats' brains as the nurturance. I believe the answer was yes. And certainly, as someone who wishes that a pill would switch certain genes of my own on or off at times, and as someone who has seen the devastating effects of abuse and neglect and has wished a simple switch could heal people I care for, this is a hopeful breakthrough. And still, my heart sank a bit at the swiftness with which we would seek out a chemical to replace the love and care of a healthy relationship. Of course, creating healthy relationships is infinitely harder, but isn't it also infinitely more useful and effective? Even if a pill could reverse the brain damage caused by abuse, does that pill also surround that brain with a model of how to love, how not to pass on more failed relational interactions? How can we encourage a culture obsessed with instant gratification to choose the much much harder road in this instance??

And perhaps to that point, and to make my last point, in considering how to help children succeed, Tough contrasted studies about language development with studies about Attachment. I believe he was trying to help us shift our understanding of how to define success (the harder road worth taking, if you will)
. And yet, the whole way through, I was so certain he was building up to a point I don't think he ever made [though, my brain isn't exactly functioning on all cylinders, so perhaps I missed it, or perhaps we're supposed to wait for his book to see it]. I had seen glimpses of studies here and there [I believe this one gets at the point] that show that healthy attachment actually has a powerful effect on language development. Had he come to this as his climax, he might have helped us think about relational competence and stress management as the more valuable skills, but shown us how better language development is the cherry on top gained when you order your priorities correctly. Personally, I thought that would have been pretty cool. But his talk was still cool nonetheless.

I'm really sorry if this makes no sense because you probably were not at this talk with me, but maybe you're getting a glimpse into some interesting research studies/ideas I've found interesting. I would certainly love to engage on these questions with anyone who is interested! Comment away, Lobsters!