Have we spawned a new human subspecies, Homo sapiens elumbus?

[old man emu]

Homo sapiens sapiens, in anthropology and paleontology,  is the subspecies of Homo sapiens that consists of the only living members of genus Homo, modern human beings. Traditionally, this subspecies designation was used by paleontologists and anthropologists to separate modern human beings from more-archaic members of Homo sapiens. Currently, H. s. sapiens is the only widely accepted subspecies of H. sapiens, but the necessity of this designation remains a matter of debate, since traditional taxonomic practice subdivides a species only when there is evidence of two or more distinct subgroups. For example, the elephants of Africa are either Loxodonta africana – African savanna or African bush elephant, or Loxodonta cyclotis – African forest elephant. This means that they both belong to the same Genus (Loxodonta), but are different species. The biological species concept defines a species as members of populations that actually or potentially interbreed in nature, not according to similarity of appearance.

 

So, what am I going on about? It seems that in this country we have managed to breed a new species which is characterised as having very different mental and physiological characteristics from the ancestral root. Where did I get this idea? My daughter-in-law manages a "Early Learning Centre". We used to call them Day Care Centres, but that is demeaning to the "educators" who are employed in those places. She has about 100 preschoolers enrolled. She was telling me that the majority of those children have a diagnosed mental or emotional disability, requiring one-on-one supervision to medication with things like Ritalin. Any child not diagnosed as being "on the autism spectrum" is the odd one out. The source population for these children is best described as being the statistically "Common People".

 

Therefore I suggest that we have a new species: Homo sapiens elumbus, "elumbus" being a Latin word which translates as emasculated, wanting in vigor or lacking intensity or brightness.

 

While it is possible to adapt care and classroom techniques and procedures to help these affected children, what happens to theHomo sapiens sapiens when they are in mixed classes with Homo s. elumbus children and the teachers have to devote most of their time to the elumbus ones. Will the Homo s. sapiens be able to reach their potential by their own, unassisted efforts?

[facthunter]

If you don't GRADE kids you will have the slow ones holding the smart ones back. This is not a popular thing to admit but its effect is there whether you like it or not.  Nev

[nomadpete]

We are all somewhere on the autism tree, to a greater or lesser degree. It's part of what used to be called the human condition. We just didn't have that name for it when I was a kid.

 

And we have always had special needs learners. Some are more special than others and now our modern world tries to make everyone turn out the same. This does result in a handicap for the 'less special' kids. (ie normal)

 

[nomadpete]

16 minutes ago, facthunter said:

If you don't GRADE kids you will have the slow ones holding the smart ones back. This is not a popular thing to admit but its effect is there whether you like it or not.  Nev

Nev, all kids are taught that they can be anything they want, and have anything they want. This illusion results in some very disappointed young adults. Might not have been a problem if they had learnt that sometimes we fail, and sometimes life aint fair.

Grading helps them understand how reality works, but now every child is a winner, an achiever, (even when they fail) .

[facthunter]

They've taken Aspergers off the list.??  There's no harm in integrating these people if done well It's not a crime to be different.  Why do winners count so much?  It's the American way but enjoying what you are doing is a reward in itself . Getting things can be a hollow achievement IF you just "have" them. for the sake of it. Nev

[rgmwa]

Two of our daughters are primary school teachers. Given the number of kids that have some intellectual, social, medical or other problem it's a wonder they are able to teach them anything useful. They need to be social workers and carers as well as teachers. From what they describe, it seems to me that a lot of the problems for many of the kids stem from a chaotic home life and poor parenting.

 

[facthunter]

At a HIGH School my wife worked at they were giving a lot of the kids food at the beginning of the day as they were not getting any breakfast at home.  Nev

[onetrack]

If you go through the British (and American) 19th Century census forms, you'll find a listing for the number of idiots in each village - starting in 1851 in the U.K., with a question if any person was blind or deaf and dumb - and extending in 1871 and 1881 to further definitions of idiocy levels. So, it's not really a modern phenomenon - it's just that definitions, levels of learning disabilities, and other measures are now kept with extensive and meticulous accuracy.

 

I think everyone went to school with some really dumb kids who failed to graduate to next years class. A lot were immigrant kids from displaced families from WW2 European nations, and I'm sure wartime deprivations in the form of inadequate and poor food quality, constant uprooting due to War, and poor parenting caused by the Wars disuptions, all led to educational deficiencies and often, poor behaviours.

I've known Italian kids who told me in Wartime Italy, the struggle to get decent and adequate food was a daily priority.

 

I would hazard an educated guess that a lot of todays afflictions such as Autism and learning difficulties can be traced back to the vast amount of toxic chemicals in our environment, with those chemicals affecting pregnant mothers the worst.

Never before in the history of homo sapiens has there been the level of manufactured, industrial and exotic chemicals in our environment.

 

They range from paints and fuels through to cleaning compounds, food additives, medicines, and exotic chemicals used in industrial manufacturing operations. It's a wonder to me we haven't all grown three heads and extra appendages.

 

Edited September 8, 2023 by onetrack

[octave]

The problem with school is that it is very much a one-size-fits-all-all system.  

 

During my work as a private music teacher, I taught all sorts of students and I had the luxury of teaching individually.   

 

One of the last students I taught before retirement was Aspergers or I think it is now called Autism Spectrum Disorder.   This boy was a bit of a challenge although it was made clear to me by his mother that she did not expect great results.  

This boy's school life was at the time hell both in the classroom and in the playground.    My philosophy was to impart some knowledge when possible but otherwise make his lesson something not to be feared or hated.

 

When Covid hit the music school transitioned to online which strangely seemed to work better for him and we started to make progress. 

 

The year before last I decided to retire. I received an email from his mother saying her son was devastated and was there any way I could continue teaching him online. I could not really say no.

During this year he really started to find his way.   He became interested in jazz and improvisation.  Sometimes some lessons would be not so good but generally things were going well.

 

I was going to be teaching him again this year however he decided that his real passion was composing and he wanted to concentrate on this rather than playing.  To me, this was great news.

 

Before I taught this boy he had numerous other lessons on other instruments (piano, Guitar) but unfortunately, those teachers gave up on him because he did not fit the mould. 

 

My last contact with this family was this lovely email  (warning this is a little bit self-congratulatory)

 

On Sat, Feb 11, 2023 at 9:13 PM ******************************.com> wrote:

Hi ******

Sorry I haven't got around to emailing you since ******  told you he wouldn't be continuing with the lessons.

 

It was really hard for me to hand the decision-making over to him and I am actually quite devastated that he's not continuing with clarinet this year. But we had a heart-to-heart talk about it just before school went back and said he really just wants to focus on his own music now. 

I guess it's not all terrible because he's going really well with it and is very disciplined - he makes something new every day after school. 

I know it was a difficult decision for ******   to stop clarinet lessons because he really thinks so much of you.

 

Personally, I wanted to say a huge thank you to you for everything you've done over the past 4+ years. It was a rocky start with *****  and you stuck with him when  other teachers told me to give up. You are an excellent teacher, a great role model and just an amazing person. Our whole family will miss you!

 

I hope our paths cross again one day but until then, look after yourself and have a wonderful year. Please use the money from the lesson to buy yourself a bottle of wine from me!

 

******* 🙂

 

The point is that this would have gone differently if I had presumed him to be stupid, poorly raised or perhaps just badly behaved. Also understanding the science of autism spectrum helps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This kid is not stupid and has not been raised badly  Things like Autism have always existed we just labeled them as weird or dumb. this boy is actually highly intelligent.

 

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

2 hours ago, facthunter said:

If you don't GRADE kids you will have the slow ones holding the smart ones back. This is not a popular thing to admit but its effect is there whether you like it or not.  Nev

Nev that may be true of the traditional education system we still suffer. Alternative schools seem pretty good at helping kids maximise their potential, but they are sure hard to get in to.

[Old Koreelah]

28 minutes ago, octave said:

The problem with school is that it is very much a one-size-fits-all-all system…

So true, Octave. Much of our schooling is pitched at the middle and misses those at either end of the spectrum. That’s the inefficiency of our current system, which derives from a need to train masses of factory and military fodder.

 

Every kid is different, with widely different abilities and potentials. Given unlimited resources, most of us could probably be diagnosed with some syndrome or other. Apspergers/Autism have now become recognised, with variations of ADHD becoming perhaps over diagnosed. Across the rich world, huge numbers of our kids are now being medicated on a regular basis. Who knows the long-term effects?

[nomadpete]

1 minute ago, Old Koreelah said:

Every kid is different, with widely different abilities and potentials.

Too true.

And when they get older, every person is different,  too.

Good trainers are the ones who connect and accept their learner. Whether adult or child, it is respect, connection and acceptance that are the keys to working successfully with anyone.

[Bruce Tuncks]

BUT with a "one size fits all" budget, what can you do?....  It would be great if all kids could have help like Octave .

In the meantime, its sad but true that we just reduce the smart kids.

[old man emu]

1 hour ago, rgmwa said:

From what they describe, it seems to me that a lot of the problems for many of the kids stem from a chaotic home life and poor parenting.

Spot on. Give that man a cigar!

 

My daughter-in-law expresses the same sentiment. The problem, or should I say the diagnosis, of these kids' problem is that the parents have never learned to parent.  I don't want to appear anti-feminist, but is it possible that women directing  their lives towards their own careers has left them without time to learn how to "mother". Has the change in our culture that makes us want to consume so much led to the need for women to leave the home to earn money to be able to buy the latest and greatest. 

 

I do see women leaving the home to go into earning money as their doing something which they believe is necessary to benefit the family, but one has to ask what are the social benefits of the newest car, and the latest gadget to the bringing up of children?

 

Unfortunately, I don't have any answers, so I'll stand in the background and wish it wasn't so. 

[Old Koreelah]

9 minutes ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

BUT with a "one size fits all" budget, what can you do?....  It would be great if all kids could have help like Octave .

In the meantime, its sad but true that we just reduce the smart kids.

Quite a few smart kids get on with little help. They learn fast and can benefit from helping their peers. My own mum was one of them; kept on for a couple of years in a tiny K-6 school to help the teacher. That sure helped the little kids (but lack of further schooling severely limited her chances in life.)
A century later my Grandies enjoy helping their peers and I doubt they begrudge any extra time other kids may need.

 

A smart country invests in educating all its kids, but in Australia there are large and growing disparities between rich schools and rest. Our national values of egalitarianism are being thrown away.

[Old Koreelah]

55 minutes ago, old man emu said:

…these kids' problem is that the parents have never learned to parent.  I don't want to appear anti-feminist, but is it possible that women directing  their lives towards their own careers has left them without time to learn how to "mother". Has the change in our culture that makes us want to consume so much led to the need for women to leave the home to earn money to be able to buy the latest and greatest.

Very good points OME; the law forces us to do lots of training before we’re allowed to drive a car, boat or aeroplane. Most things in life need lots of preparation, but to be a parent- the most important job we’ll ever do- no skills or qualifications are required. We need more schools to run courses in the basics of running a home and raising kids.

 

Times have changed: we set our womenfolk free of the kitchen sink. Fathers can and should also be parents. I knew one who did a great job of raising a team of kids alone after being widowed.

So many of our society’s problems stem from our obsession with stand-alone, single-family homes.

 Multigenerational housholds are the norm in many sensible countries and recent economic trends might make them more common in Australia.

[nomadpete]

And yet, I see that Australia  has the world's highest  education years for children.

 

Averaging 21.5 years of total lifetime education.

 

Our education system? ..... Not Yet Competent

[nomadpete]

[octave]

I do think people have a negative bias when judging our education system.     

 

Whilst there is much about the education system that I dislike (we homeschooled) I think there is a lot about it that is good.

 

Looking through various lists of top education systems Australia usually comes within the top 10. 

 

Best Education System in the World – Top 20 Countries

Countries by education index

Australia Ranked Third-Best Higher Education System

 

And many more.  These lists use various criteria however it is not possible to find a list where Australia is near the bottom.

 

Here is an example of the negative bias in reporting from News.com

 

NAPLAN test scores reveal one in three participants below expectations

 

"One in three of the country’s 1.3 million school students who sat the 2023 NAPLAN tests failed to meet literacy and numeracy expectations in the latest sign that Australia’s educational standards are continuing to slide.

Aggregated results from the 2023 National Assessment Program, Literacy and Numeracy testing, released on Wednesday, showed about 65 per cent of students fell into the “exceeding” and “strong” categories when test scores were averaged across year levels and testing domains.

But 23 per cent and 10 per cent were in the “developing” and “needs additional support” levels respectively,

The remaining 2 per cent were exempt from sitting the test."

 

 

The headline could also read "two thirds of students are in the "exceeding" and "strong" categories

 

It is not clear whether standards are sliding or not. The assessment system changed for the last NAPLAN which makes it a little unclear.

 

What do the NAPLAN test changes mean for schools and students?

 

New standards

"Another key change to NAPLAN is students’ results will now be reported against four levels of achievement instead of the existing ten “proficiency bands”. These new levels are “exceeding”, “strong”, “developing” and “needs additional support”.

---

Some media commentary has suggested the new standards will “water down” existing expectations. However, there will actually be a higher threshold for students to meet the new minimum standard."

 

The News.com article then groups together "developing" with "needs additional support"   I would suggest that these 2 categories are lumped together in order to get an overly negative headline.  The headline could surely be "Ten percent of students need additional support."

 

We do need to be always striving for better and be on the lookout for any declines however we also need to appreciate the good. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bruce Tuncks]

When I was a schoolkid, there was a dumb kid who did not pass into year 2 with the rest of us.

When I lived in Gawler( 1980's) our next-doors had a retarded kid who GRADUATED year 12 without being able to read.

So the standards sure dropped. I think the teachers discovered that the easiest way to get rid of a retard was to pass him on.

 

[onetrack]

Gee, if our younger generations now have to study for 21.5 years to learn anything, they must all be slow learners!

 

But I'm a pretty slow learner, anyway - I've made every mistake in the book at least twice, and I'm still learning today, after 74 years!

 

The problem is, I've got that great diploma from the University of Hard Knocks, but I can't frame it!

[octave]

13 minutes ago, onetrack said:

Gee, if our younger generations now have to study for 21.5 years to learn anything, they must all be slow learners!

This must surely be the maximum rather than the average.  School education (primary and secondary) is 13 years. This leaves 8.5 years which I am guessing must be tertiary education, which I think sounds like an advanced degree.   The chart that Nomadpete posted perhaps takes into account that some may spread their uni degree out by studying part-time, which is not necessarily a bad thing in my opinion.  I don't think the average years of education for the average person is as high as 21.5 years.

 

Here is a table of mean years spent in education  https://www.worldeconomics.com/Indicator-Data/ESG/Social/Mean-Years-of-Schooling/

 

It looks like 13 years is the mean

Edited September 9, 2023 by octave

[willedoo]

40 minutes ago, octave said:

School education (primary and secondary) is 13 years.

octave, I've never heard of grade 13, at least not up here. Does that 13 years include a pre-school year before grade 1?

[octave]

Yep

 

School education is for 13 years, divided into:

• primary school for 7 or 8 years, from kindergarten or preschool to year 6 or 7
• secondary school for 3 to 4 years - years 7 to 10 or years 8 to 10
• senior secondary school for 2 years - years 11 and 12.

[facthunter]

They are probably counting tertiary education. I think you should NEVER STOP LEARNING.  Nev