Study Suggests MRIs Can Predict Math Tutoring Outcomes

MRI Scanner
(photo: Penn State University)

A recent study conducted by the Stanford University School of Medicine claims that "the size and circuitry of certain parts of childrens' brains are excellent predictors of how well they'll respond to intensive math tutoring," as reported in today's siliconvalley.com.

Brain scan images, according to lead researcher Vinod Menon, would predict how much a child would learn. The team used fMRI scans which, according to the siliconvalley.com story, measures the changes in oxygenated blood from one part of the brain to another.

If one takes this logic to its conclusion, the notion of having mandatory fMRI scans for young students is hardly out of the question. Why should we waste valuable educational resources on those children who just don't have it, biologically speaking? This bleak thought, which reduces willpower and determination to inconsequential factors, could only be given room in a data-driven nightmare. And that's where we are right now.