- April 17, 2024
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A recent article in the Palm Coast Observer reported on our schools’ desire to fashion a sex-education program that aligns with Flagler County values.
The Flagler County School Board has been grappling with a recent study that listed Flagler teen pregnancy and STD rates at unacceptable levels. Finally, in June the school district adopted a ninth- and 10th-grade sex-education curriculum that emphasizes decision-making and character building.
This makes sense. Our world has changed and most adolescents, bombarded with reality media, lose the luxury of growing up in relative innocence. Most are saddled with large blocks of leisure time, and how they choose to use that time can lead to future health and prosperity or a life filled with regrets.
It also turns out that neuroscience research appears to support the School Board’s decision. We now know much about the brain mechanics of making decisions, especially with respect to young people, and what we are learning is sobering.
Adult brain vs. adolescent brain
Almost everything our senses take in simultaneously follows two distinct paths through our brains. One path, used most often by adults, is the logical, rational path that leads us to our frontal lobes. We accept new information (thalamus to our frontal lobe), check it rationally with our past experiences (hippocampus) and hopefully arrive at a wise conclusion: Should I go to this party where there will be lots of alcohol and some good looking (but pushy) guys, or err on the side of caution and skip the drinks or the party?
Usually, an adult will think it through, weigh the costs and practice caution.
An adolescent has a significantly different brain from an adult. She has the same two pathways, but she is often forced to deal exclusively with the alternative route. This is called the emotional pathway. It’s present in the adult, but adults have a much greater ability to use their frontal lobes to override the emotional pathway, if they just step back and clear their heads before acting.
This emotional path travels through the amygdala, which is connected to a myriad of emotional memories stored in our brains. Depending on the strength of the emotional memory that is aroused, certain chemicals called neurotransmitters (cortisol, adrenaline) are released in the brain and change how we view things.
If the strength of the neurotransmitters reaches certain levels, access to the logical part of our brains is nearly shut down and logical arguments fall on deaf ears.
Youngsters have fully functioning amygdalas that are greased (mylenated) and always ready to go, but their logical paths aren’t fully functioning until nearly their mid-20s. Try reasoning with an adolescent when his emotions have him convinced his views are correct!
In many, if not most instances, adolescents are unable to think rationally. It has little to do with rebellion or stubbornness and everything to do with biology.
“Of course I can attend the party,” they will think. “I can handle myself. I’m not stupid enough to get pregnant.” Or, “The football star will be there. Enough said!”
Brain makes it clear that decision-making won’t be a logical process for an adolescent under the excitement of the moment.
This not only holds true for whether or not to party, but for all the leisure-time decisions that can have life-altering consequences.
Patience is a virtue
Let me suggest a few things to consider as parents. First, you can never have enough patience with young people. That doesn’t mean you just sit back and do nothing. There’s a place for teaching correct principles and setting limits in place. But adolescents need lots of opportunities to make decisions as they grow up, and the teaching must be done when they can use the rational portion of their brains, and their decision opportunities must move continually from the trivial toward the profound.
Adolescents also need to be taught about their brains to understand that simply feeling strongly about something doesn’t make it right or the correct course to pursue.
Patience is again a must when young people slip up, even when it appears they purposely disobeyed your rules. You aren’t necessarily condoning when you don’t condemn. Wait for the next teachable moment and express disappointment for them and not for yourself.
Love, even tough love, must always be present. Your children will eventually be on their own. Our job as parents is to guide them through the formative years when their brains are trying to grow up. The Flagler schools, with their decision-making curriculum, appear to be positioned to partner well with Flagler County parents.
Palm Coast resident Dr. Tom Morley is a retired college professor and is a student of neuroscience.
