on theA Learning Special IssueBrain Qatr an-Nada Issue 11, summer 2007 Towards a Fair Start for Children in the Arab World • News ...................................... 2-3 • What’s the Type of Your Child’s Intelligence?................... 4-5 • How Does the Brain Learn?.... 6-8 • The Brain “Learns” More at the Beginning of Life! ............. 9-11 • What Parents Should Know about the Brain ...................... 12-15 • Maltreatment, Negligence and the Development of the Child’s Brain.......................... 16-18 • The Effect of Music, Play and the Arts in the Development of the Child’s Brain .............. 19-22 Resources .............................. 23-24 Contributors to the Arabic Edition: Dr. Hiyam Zein, Dr. Fadia Hoteit, Dr. Ilham Sharaani, Shaza Ismail, Zeina Hobeish, Maysoun Chehab, May Abou Ajram, Ghanem Bibi, Rabih Rizk, Rana Ismail, Moham- mad Hamdan, Hiba Kadi, Ahmad Berjawi Qatr an Nada 11, Summer 2007 Published by ARC, P.O.Box: 27380 HOW DOES A BRAIN LEARN? Nicosia, 1644, Cyprus e-mail:[email protected] HOW DOES A CHILD LEARN? www.mawared.org fax:(+357)22766790 - (+9611) 742077 lence and brutality, such as mentioning more fame, irrespective of the values the slaughter of children, stimulate fear and ethics of upbringing. From Innocent Joy to and hostility in children who under- The most alarming aspect to some edu- “Slaughtering Pigeons” stand these words literally, not in the cationists may be the fact that children context of their inherited tra-ditions. tend to imitate adults, including some A human being’s experience with She says such images stay long in the of their “unethical” actions on televi- music starts with incomprehensible memory. When an adult sees a slaugh- sion and some-where else within the rhythms. Some are scary, while others tered cow, he/she remembers the pre- framework of “children songs.” Par- are sources of comfort and security. Of liminary feeling of fear, sometimes ents worry about warning their chil- the second type is the voice of a moth- closing his/her eyes as a spontaneous dren about “adult” things. er, singing a lullaby she inherited from reaction. Ramzi Haroun, an educational science her mother, or one she impro-vises. An Children sing and dance; this means professor, argues that songs “help in infant is not concerned with words, they are happy. But do children need teaching and educating children and which he/she does not understand but music more than adults do? Ahmad help them assimilate behaviors and with the tone and the warmth of the Qaabour, a composer with a rich reper- values, such as clean-liness, respect of mother’s arms, which get the infant toire of children songs, says, “Children others and patriotism.” to have sweet dreams. Father Youssef songs should carry above all aesthetic Jordanian composer and researcher Muwannes, who bears a PhD in an- and human values. Orientation, educa- Wael Abul-Suud stresses in a study the thropology, believes that lullabies are tion and guidance are matters of family psycho-logical, social and cultural im- characterized by simple music, usually and school, while the mission of songs portance of songs that accompany the made up of no more than three notes, and plays is to help children answer playing of child-ren. “Music develops and a vivid imagination by the sponta- their questions and to cut through their the child’s talents, mental abilities and neous and generous mother. worlds and concerns.” He gives the ex- kinesthetic skills. Also, musical play- He analyzes a common and controver- ample of Hassan Abdullah, a poet and ing develops in children participation, sial lullaby: “Sleep, dear, sleep. I will novelist who wrote several stories for belonging to a group, taste and person- slaughter a pigeon for you. Oh, pigeon. children. “Simplicity isn’t simple. In ality by encouraging their feeling of Don’t you believe it. I’m cheating my Walt Disney movies, for example, a their region’s special culture.” son into sleeping.” Muwannes believes huge orchestra plays music. Renowned Leila Khalifa, Al-Hayat newspaper, 3/5/07 that this lullaby relies on an innocent composers and singers are re-cruited,” lie to encourage the infant to sleep by he adds. “But in our Arab societies, promising him/her a slaughtered pi- simplicity is mistaken for absurdity.” Street Children: geon. And despite the toughness of the Dana Beydoun, Al-Hayat newspaper, 3/5/07 From Negligence to word “slaughter” and the violent im- age it carries, the lullaby expresses a Confrontation specific en-vironment and popular her- Exploiting Children in Sentencing al-Turbini and Hanata to itage. It seems pigeons were the most Songs for Adults death in Egypt temporarily calmed expensive gift a mother could offer her down millions of Egyptians. They infant. Thus, by promising to slaugh- “Young, wicked and spoiled.” Three were relieved to see the two young ter a pigeon if her infant went to sleep, superficial characteristics, expressed men, who were convicted of raping she expressed her love for him/her, he in implying movements, are the main and killing tens of street children, face says. Also, when this lullaby was fa- features of songs addressed to children punishment. However, the suffocating mous, mothers did not buy meat from in the Third Millen-nium. problem of street children is yet to be supermarkets; they slaughtered birds A youngster freezes before the screen, solved. them-selves. This made slaughtering a watching the movements of Haifa We- Ramadan Abdel-Rahman Mansour, daily home task. hbi, and imitating her words and move- a.k.a. al-Turbini, and his assistant, Mo- Bella Aoun, a psychotherapist, argues ments. She and other singers seem to hammad Faraj, a.k.a. Hanata, raped that lullabies or songs that bear vio- target a new group of viewers to gain Caricature by Ahmad Khatib 2 - «Qatr an-Nada»; No. 11; Summer 2007 2007 ‾ΣŲ ºŏūẂ ΟŊĜ╪ė ŊŋẃΉė ºåΝŋΕΉė ŏǼ⅝ú - 2 and killed at least 30 street children in world, a world that gives children a are part of his/her natural tendency to seven years. They were arrested in De- chance to dis-cover and participate in take risks. cember 2006. Unveiling the crimes of interactive activities, such as reassem- The report warned against the spread of al-Turbini, who has scary, penetrating bling a dinosaur, flying a plane very the outfits of superheroes that appear looks, unveiled the fact that thousands much like real planes and flying a bee on tele-vision to be able to fly or leap of children fill the streets of Cairo and during its collection of pollen. over towering buildings by just wear- some Egyptian cities. They have be- The museum includes a theater where ing their special outfits. Children may come a usual thing; people seem to ne- children can hold concerts and plays. believe that the secret to the powers of glect them as if they do not exist. Haneen Ahmar, Al-Hayat, 25/5/07 these characters lies in these outfits. Egyptian officials have long been si- The authors said children’s adoration lent about the problem, claiming that of such superheroes could be a tool responsibility is elsewhere. A few London Arab Schools to develop other aspects of their per- years ago, they denied the problem ex- Wonder How to Develop sonalities, such as focusing on the eth- isted or tried to justify it. And despite Skills ics of such characters and their fight efforts by organizations, such as the against evil. Such superheroes can be National Council on Childhood and The Federation of Arab Schools in shown to be special because they like Motherhood and UNICEF, most peo- London, as part of its cultural activi- to do the right thing, not thanks to their ple and officials thought the problem ties, held a workshop that sought to supernatural abilities. Children must was “blown out of proportion,” “exag- find answers for three questions: How be praised when they try to imitate su- gerated” or “marginal” and not even a do we discover our children’s abilities perheroes hereof. priority. and intelligence? How do we deal with Good parental guidance and orienta- Some analysts believe that dealing with them through their abilities and intelli- tion help give children their chance to this problem will remain incomplete as gences at home? How do we deal with be superhe-roes, as they want – with- long as the reasons why children take them through the different types of in- out supernatural characteristics. to the streets are not handled seriously. telligence? Middle East Online, www.meo.tv Such reasons include poverty, family Dr. Mohammad Abdel-Razeq said, breakup, inefficiency of the education- “The education profession has devel- al system, and absence of political, re- oped; it doesn’t rely on rote anymore. Poverty Is the Main Reason ligious or cultural role models. Observ- It has developed in terms of presenta- for Child Labor ers worry about the second gen-eration tion, understanding and assimilation.” of street children, who are being born He defined intelligence as “a general Children Amount to One Third to street mothers and fathers. ability resulting from interac-tion be- of Agricultural Labor Amina Khairi, Al-Hayat, 25/5/07 tween heredity and environment fac- tors and helping the individual solve The UN Food and Agriculture Organiza- prob-lems he/she faces in life.” tion (FAO) said that 132 million children, Amman’s First Children In his lecture, he recalled eight types be-tween five and 14, work in agriculture Museum of intelligence as classified by Howard around the world. This situation deprives Gardner (naturalistic, visual, logical, them of education and exacerbates pover- “Your children are not your children.