A lot of my perspective is based on Abraham Heschel.

And one of the things he wrote is I think very applicable to child development.

Because he said the act teaches you the meaning of the act.

He said, I don't care why you're doing the good deed. Do the good deed.

And that's a wonderful lesson for children. Say, I want you to do this.

And you say, well, you know, I'm only doing it for you.

How is that going to be any good? And you say, just do it.

Just do it fully and do it. And you'll get something out of the doing.

The act, the doing is absolutely critical and will transform you.

My thinking about the education I received about school testing

and about what I want from my children will never be the same after this conversation

I had with the neuroscientist Adele Diamond.

What Adele Diamond is learning about the brain is turning some of our most modern ideas about education on their heads.

What nourishes the human spirit, the whole person, also hones our minds.

I'm Christa Tippett and this is on being.

American Warren and Harvard trained Adele Diamond is a professor of developmental

cognitive neuroscience at the University of British Columbia.

She's a formative figure in innovative networks in British Columbia and beyond

that are bringing the fruits of unfolding science into classrooms and educational systems,

informing environments where children learn how to pay attention to problem solve,

to collaborate and to work creatively with what they know across the lifespan.

Facility in these skills research is showing is a stronger predictor of success,

...