March Break

March Break started today! I get a full week off and, unlike my winter break, I have virtually no other commitments, so it's a real week off.

That means I get to do things I've been neglecting, like clean the apartment, exercise (somewhat) and eat healthy foods (also somewhat). I've also had a chance to read things that aren't super-related to medicine. One book I've been very slowly working on is Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. It's weird. Really weird...

One element to the story that comes up frequently is the nature - and specifically the downsides - of indoctrination. Indoctrination is obviously a very bad thing, implanting often skewed or flat-out wrong thoughts into impressionable people, typically children, and suppressing independent thought. However, in my warped medical student mind, I couldn't help but recognize that the indoctrinated people really had that indoctrinated information memorized!

It's probably not best to find life-lessons in a fictional account of population-wide abuse, but when it comes to learning, there's something to be said for frequent repetition in a moderate time frame, which is what is employed in the novel. Studying, in general, is an attempt to replicate this approach. Teaching, I think, should also deliberately incorporate repetition on time scales (several days to about two weeks) that are more likely to promote long-term retention.

However, if the first half of Brave New World is any indication, these techniques should not be used to instill a rigid order onto society, something to maybe keep in mind with Mr Combover gaining an ever-larger following south of the border (I also have more time to keep up with the news on my week off!)