BOSA Newsletter – Volume 21 April 2015

BOSA NEWS LETTER

“Only The Best Is Good Enough”

Volume 21 April 2015

 

Produced by: Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA)
Beersheba Primary School (Government Leased)
New Market P.O., Saint Elizabeth
Jamaica, West Indies
E-mail: beershebaoldstudentsassn@gmail.com

Officers: Glenis Daley, President
Victor Smith, Vice President
Vincent Samuels, Secretary/Treasurer, Newsletter Editor/Producer
Ann Hamilton, Assistant Secretary

REFLECTION ON BEERSHEBA PRIMARY SCHOOL ALUMNI THAT HAVE PASSED ON
In keeping with the decision of Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) to support a paperless friendly environment and go green, effective from Volume 16 of its newsletter, the Association will no longer list in its newsletter the names of Beersheba Primary School Alumni that have passed on.

All Beersheba Primary School Alumni, Honorary BOSA Members, Friends, Well-wishers, and all our other readers who are accustomed to see the names of those that have passed on listed in its newsletter, are asked to visit BOSA website: bosaonline.org where information is listed in full detains and it will be updated periodically.

Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) wishes to express its sincere condolence to all family members and relatives of the deceased as they continue to grieve and mourn the loss of their love ones. May the memories of these bereaved love ones continue to linger in our heart and subliminal consciousness. Sunset in one land is sunrise in another.

DECISION TAKEN BY THE SCHOOL BOARD AT BEERSHEBA PRIMARY SCHOOL (GOVERNMENT LEASED) AND THE MANAGING COMMITTEE FOR JAMES RICHARDS EDUCATIONAL TRUST FUND RE SHANISA JONES, NOW GRADE 10 C STUDENT AT SAINT ELIZABETH TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL (STETHS)
BOSA comments on the above subject matter remains the same as they were written on page 1 of 12 and 2 of 12 in Volume 14 July 2013 of its Newsletter.

Beersheba Primary School Alumni, Honorary BOSA Members, Friends, Well-wishers, and all readers of this newsletter are urged to visit BOSA website: bosaonline.org to view and read new articles posted on
the website that will give them additional information with respect to this outstanding, contentious matter unresolved.

PROGRESS REPORT ON SHANISA JONES, TANHOI GUTHRIE, NICKAYLA STEVENS, AND DAMANIKE SMITH

After being successful in all eight (8) CXC subjects, Shanisa Jones has returned to Saint Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) to further her studies as a Six Form Student. Shanisa’s focus is on the Sciences that will enable her to pursue studies in medicine as the career of her choice.

Notwithstanding the unconscionable tyrannically oligarchy rule d Administration at Beersheba Primary School (New Trustee) for James Richards Educational Trust Fund has consistently denied Shanisa benefit as a qualified beneficiary of the Trust Fund from she was grade 7 student in September 2009 with assistance and monitoring from Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA), Shania has not ceased to excel academically.

Tanhoi Guthrie, grade 11 student, Nickayla Stevens, grade 10 students, and Damanike Smith, grade 10 students who currently attend Hampton School and Saint Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) Malvern and Santa Cruz, Saint Elizabeth, Jamaica, West Indies respectively, continue to maintain satisfactory academic performance.

MEET SAMEIKA MAITLAND BOSA ADOPTED ACHIEVER AND TRAILBLAZER

Sameika Maitland who is currently Form 1 Grade 7-24 student at Hampton School, Malvern, Saint Elizabeth has been adopted and is being assisted and monitored by Beersheba Old Student Association (BOSA).

Sameika Maitland, daughter of Juliette Mullings, an Alumnus of Beersheba Primary School, graduated from New Roads All Age School, Westmoreland, Jamaica West Indies where she was successful in passing the Grade Six Achievement Text (GSAT) with a grade of 92.7%. The Ministry of Education placed Sameika at Hampton School on the basis of her excellent performance in the GSAT Exam.

When news reached BOSA Secretary/Treasurer that Sameika’s mother was in the process of removing Sameika from Hampton School because she could not afford to pay her daughter’s Boarding and Tuition Fees, the Secretary/Treasurer stopped the transfer process and initiated action that resulted in Sameika being admitted to Hampton School where she began classes on September 3, 2014.

Sameika continues to excel at Hampton School by scoring all 90s in tests and Exams that she has been given at school.

For more information about Sameika and her plight, readers are invited to log on to BOSA website: bosaonline.org where by clicking on July 2014 in the archives section, they will be able to read the news article captioned: WHO WILL HELP SAMEIKA MAITLAND IN HER PLIGHT that is posted on BOSA webpage.

If the hearts of our readers are touched by Sameika’s plight and success story, you can make your generous financial contribution to assist in defraying the cost of her Boarding and Tuition Fees at Hampton School in the following manner:

1. If you reside in Jamaica West Indies, you can deposit your contribution into Account No. 891007604 in the name of Munro & Dickenson Trust Hampton School at any Branch of National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited. Please indicate on the deposit slip that the amount deposited is for Sameika Maitland you are kindly asked to advise Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) by e-mail to: beershebaoldstudentsassn@gmail.com the name, mailing address or e-mail address of the donor and date when the money was deposited.
2. If you reside in the Diaspora outside of Jamaica West Indies, you can make your checks/cheques or money orders payable to Beersheba Old Students Association. Amounts received will be deposited in the Association’s account at Sagicor Bank Jamaica Limited (Black River Branch). All contributions with a note indicating the name, mailing or e-mail address of the donor should be mailed to: Vincent Samuels, Secretary/Treasurer Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA), 99 Jacaranda Avenue, Flat Rocks Subdivision, Black River P.O., Saint Elizabeth, Jamaica West Indies.

All contributions will be promptly acknowledged. Sameika is currently on Christmas Holiday 2014. She will return to Hampton School on January 5, 2015 to begin Term 2, Spring/Easter School Session.

Editor’s Note: Readers are asked to log on to BOSA website: bosaonline.org and browse through the Association’s web pages to ascertain the reasons that Parents have rejected the education products that are being offered at Beersheba Primary School and have been moving their children from the school to New Roads All Age School that is located in the neighbouring Parish of Westmoreland, Jamaica West Indies

BOSA INVALUABLE HONORARY MEMBERS, FRIENDS, AND WELL-WISHERS
Cognizant of how invaluable Honorary Members, Friends, and Well-wishers are to Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA), the Secretary/Treasurer of the Association with importunity, continues his relentless search through the use of social net work websites and Information Technology (IT) to build BOSA database so as to add Honorary Members, Friends, and Well-wishers who are invaluable to the work that BOSA is doing in the interest and welfare of students at Beersheba Primary School.

Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) wishes to place on record and express its sincere gratitude and appreciation to Hartley Cawley of Cawley’s Pharmacy, High Street, Black River, Saint Elizabeth for his continued invaluable support that he has been giving to the Association.

BEERSHEBA PRIMARY SCHOOL ALUMNI WHO CONTINUE TO HAVE A CARING HEART TOWARDS STUDENTS WHO HAVE GRADUATED FROM BEERSHEBA PRIMARY SCHOOL AS WELL AS THOSE WHO ARE CURRENTLY ATTENDING THE SCHOOL

Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) wishes to place on record its sincere appreciation and gratitude to Sheila & Winston Hamilton, Nora “Kitty Teacher” Lawrence, Kenneth Smith, Viola Cain-Hall, RN, Gloria Smith-Meredith, BSC, Roy Holness, Neville Jones and other Beersheba Primary School (Government Leased) Alumni who have requested that they remain anonymous, for their generous sacrificial financial contribution that are utilized by the Association as a safety net to assist students who are in need to further their education.

NEED FOR GSAT STUDENTS GRADUATING BEERSHEBA PRIMARY SCHOOL TO BE COMPUTER LITERATE

Against the backdrop of information given on page 2 of 10 Volume 15 October 2013 under the above heading, and in light of recent announcements made by the Ministry of Education with respect to the introduction and provision of Computer Tablets to each student at the Primary Level, Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) met with the School Board at Beersheba Primary School (Government Leased) on December 4, 2013 to discuss the way forward regarding this matter.

Decision taken at this meeting at which four (4) additional items that were used as terms of reference for this meeting, is that the Administration at Beersheba Primary School (Government Leased) will take appropriate action to contact Stephen Curran, Network Design Director at Digicel Group, Kingston, Jamaica West Indies regarding his interest that he has indicated to Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) to provide Wireless Broadband Internet Service to the school notwithstanding the fact that his knowledge of the terrain in the area could be challenging to provide service to the school.

Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) has not received any information from the School Board at Beersheba Primary School (Government Leased) with respect to the outcome of the contact that the Board is expected to make with Stephen Curran, Network Design Director at Digicel Group.

MORE JAMAICAN PROVERBS
On page 8 of Volume 2 of BOSA Newsletter under the heading: JAMAICAN PROVERBS THAT OUR ANCESTORS TAUGHT US, we defined a proverb (which comes from the Latin word proverbium) in any
language – including Jamaican Patois – as a simple and concrete saying that is popularly known and repeated and expresses a truth based on common sense or the practical experiences of humanity.

In addition to two hundred and forty four (244) Jamaican Proverbs that were published in Volumes 2-20 of the Association’s Newsletters, Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) is pleased to list the following ten (10) additional Jamaican Proverbs for the information and consideration of all Beersheba Primary School (Government Leased) Alumni, Honorary BOSA Members, Friends, and Well-wishers and other readers of its newsletter in Jamaica and the Diaspora:

 No mug no bruck no coffee no throw way
 If you hear something and it no go so, it nearly go so
 Don’t wait till drum beat before you grind you axe
 If you spread you bed hard you wi ha fe lie down inna it
 You gwine pay fe roast and boil
 Hand go packie come
 Dog with too much owner go to be hungry
 Idle jackass follow cane thrash go a pound
 If you get spoon you wi drink soup
 Teach a man to fish instead of giving him fish

ERECTION OF UNPAINTED PLY-BOARD PARTITION IN THE MAIN AUDITORIUM AT BEERSHEBA PRIMARY SCHOOL
In the pursuance of comments listed on page 9 of 14 of Volume 7 of BOSA Newsletter regarding the above subject matter, Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) wishes to report that as a result of pussy-footing by Ministry of Education Technocrats Errol Golding, Director of Technical Services, and Courtney
Hamilton, Regional Building Officer, Bertram Brooks, Area Building Supervisor, and Collin Blair, Director of Communications, the issue remains unresolved and inimical to all Stakeholders in the Beersheba Primary School Community. notwithstanding the assurance given by the Board of Governors Beersheba Primary School which met at a meeting that was chaired by Mrs. Nadine Leachman, Regional Director, Region 5, Ministry of Education that the Board would handle and resolve the matter, Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) wishes to report that this outstanding matter remains unresolved.

BI-MONTHLY MEETINGS OF BOSA
In the pursuance of their desire to “take back their school” from tyrannical oligarchy rule that forced the leadership of Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) to hold its bi-monthly meetings The Salvation Army Carr Corp – which like Beersheba Primary School, the land on which the church and school was built was purchased through the philanthropy of James “Dick” Richards, (1872-1965) “Bermuda King”, Beersheba Primary School Alumnus – the Secretary/Treasurer of the Association has written to Mrs. Tatlin Smith-Williams, Principal Beersheba Primary School, copy to Rev. Phyllis Smith-Seymour, Chairman of the School Board, seeking permission for the Association to hold its bi-monthly general meetings in the main auditorium at the school effective March 20, 2015.

Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) wishes to place on record its sincere gratitude to Envoy Glenis Smith, Commanding Officer at The Salvation Army Carr Corp for assistance he gave to ensure that the Association had a place to meet when its members were locked out of Beersheba Primary School on three occasions.

FUND RAISING ACTIVITIES IN CONNECTION WITH BOSA SUPPORT FUND FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
BOSA Members, Honorary BOSA Members, Friends, Well-wishers, and other Beersheba Primary School Old Students who have not yet heard but who through the help of other Old Students, and this News Letter, will be made aware of BOSA existence and the work that the Association has been doing in the interest and welfare of students at Beersheba
Primary School, are urged to make Checks/Cheques/Money Orders for their generous financial contribution to BOSA Support Fund payable to BEERSHEBA OLD STUDENTS ASSOCIATION and is to be mailed to: Vincent Samuels, Secretary/Treasurer, Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) at 99 Jacaranda Avenue, Flat Rocks Subdivision, Black River P.O., Saint Elizabeth, Jamaica West Indies. All donations received will be promptly acknowledged in writing on BOSA official letter head.

Persons living in Jamaica, West Indies may deposit their generous financial contribution to BEERSHEBA OLD STUDENTS ASSOCIATION Savings Account No. 4410317200298396 at any Branch of Sagicor Bank Jamaica Limited and advise the Secretary/Treasurer of the Association when the deposit has been made so that such contributions can be promptly acknowledged in writing.

MEET THE ACHIEVERS AND TRAILBLAZERS
No profile of any Beersheba Primary School Alumnus/Alumna has been received for inclusion in this newsletter.

Editor’s Note: If Beersheba Primary School (Government Leased) Alumni in Jamaica and the Diaspora would like to see themselves being featured under this heading, Alumni who have not yet responded to appeals made in BOSA Newsletters to send the Editor/Producer their curriculum vitae, academic, and communal profile as an attachment to the Association’s e-mail address: beershebaoldstudentsassn.@gmail.com as soon as possible so that they can be published in Volume 18 as well as future Volumes of the Newsletter..

RESOLUTION TO RENAME BEERSHEBA PRIMARY SCHOOL JAMES RICHARDS PRIMARY SCHOOL
As a result of the above subject matter being thoroughly discussed with the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education in a meeting that was held at the Ministry’s Head Office in Kingston, Jamaica west Indies on March 13, 2013, and the matter being given full support by the Saint Elizabeth Parish Council, Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) is hopeful that with the full backing of the entities named herein, the School Board at Beersheba Primary School (Government Leased) will acquiesce to meet with BOSA so that in the same way that Bob Marley Foundation has succeeded in getting cabinet approval for Hon.
Robert “Bob” Nester Marley alma mater to be named after him, Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) will also get Cabinet approval to rename James Richards alma mater, Beersheba Primary School (Government Leased) after him.

Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) wishes to report that this subject matter was discussed at the meeting that was held in the main auditorium at Beersheba Primary School (Government Leased) between the School Board Beersheba Primary School (Government Leased) and the Association on December 4, 2013. The Chairman of the School Board Rev. Phyllis Smith-Seymour – a Moravian and member of the decision making body in the Moravian Church pertaining to educational matters – informed the meeting that notwithstanding consensus reached by stakeholders in Beersheba School Community that the school should be renamed; the decision of the Moravian Church in Jamaica which she will communicate to the Association in writing is that the name of the school will not be changed despite philanthropic contributions
that James “Dick” Richards, Beersheba Primary School Alumnus, Soldier, Self-made Businessman, Philanthropist, Icon, and Legend has made to the school.

The big issue that will have to be resolved by Cabinet or the Courts in the Government of Jamaica is whether or not the Moravian Church as a Protestant Denomination has the inalienable right to ignore the
voice of the majority of stakeholders in Beersheba School Community and in so doing, deny the greatest good to the greatest number.

Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) wishes to report that up to the date and time of Volume 21 of BOSA Newsletter being published, the Association has not received any written response from the Moravian Church in Jamaica as promised by Rev. Phyllis Smith-Seymour, Chairman Beersheba Primary School (Government Leased) stating that the name of the school will not be changed despite philanthropic contributions that James “Dick” Richards have made to his alma mater.

MEMBERS OF THE SCHOOL BOARD BEERSHEBA PRIMARY SCHOOL, NEW MARKET, SAINT ELIZABETH, JAMAICA, WEST INDIES
The National Council on Education (NCE) has published the names of the following persons whom the Honourable Minister of Education has appointed to serve on the School Board at Beersheba Primary School (Government School), New Market, Saint Elizabeth, Jamaica West Indies:

Chairman: Rev. Phyllis Smith-Seymour
Principal: Mrs. Tatlin Smith-Williams
Academic Member: Mrs. Naomi Foster-Brooks
PTA Member: Nickesha Lawrence
Community Member: Mr. Valdes Hamilton
Member 1: Mrs. Karen Walker

LAUGHTER IS GOOD MEDICINE FOR THE SOUL
Research done by medical science has revealed that it takes fewer muscles to smile than to frown. Consequently, a smile that often culminates in laughter does not only support good muscular skeletal health but it is also medicine for the soul.

BOSA invites its readers to read, smile and have a good laugh at the contents of the following articles:

 A grandmother was out shopping with her grandson when the grandson picked up a toy and the grandmother shouted at him, “Degree, put back the toy on the shelf.” A woman who was also shopping in the store overheard the grandmother’s remark and asked her if Degree was the name of her grandson. The grandmother replied, “Yes, I send his mother to University to pursue studies to get her degree and my grandson is what she brought back to me.

 Teacher: Maria, go to the map and find North America.
Maria: Here it is teacher.
Teacher: Correct! Now class, who discovered North America?
Class: Maria.

 Teacher: Donald, what is the chemical formation for water?
Donald: H I J K L M N O
Teacher: What are you talking about?
Donald: Yesterday you told the class that the chemical formation of water is H to O.
 Teacher: Winnie, name me one important thing we have today that we did not have ten years ago?
 Winnie: Me!

 Teacher: Glen, why do you always get dirty?
Glen: It’s because I’m a lot closure to the ground than you are.

Teacher: Mike, give me a sentence that starts with the letter I.
Mike: I is

Teacher: No Mike, you should always say I am
Mike: All right, I am the ninth letter of the alphabet.

 Teacher: George Washington not only chopped down his father’s cherry tree, but he also admitted that he did it. Now Louie, do you know why his father didn’t punish him?
Louie: Because George still had the axe in his hand.

 Teacher: Now Simon, tell me frankly, do you say prayers before eating?
Simon: No sir, I don’t have to, my Mom is a good cook.

 Teacher: Clyde, your composition on “My Dog” is exactly the same as your brother’s. Did you copy his?
Clyde: It’s the same dog!

 Teacher: Harold, what do you call a person who keeps on talking when people are no longer interested?
Harold: A teacher!

BEERSHEBA OLD STUDENTS ASSOCIATION (BOSA) HOME-COMING AND STUDENTS REUNION
Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) has not received any feedback, comment, and/or suggestion since the above subject matter was promulgated and thoroughly discussed in Volume 13 page 12 of 12 in its Newsletter, April 2013.

THE ELESA HAMILTON SCHOLARSHIP THAT WAS ANNOUNCED AT THE MEETING OF BEERSHEBA PRIMARY SCHOOL (GOVERNMENT LEASED) PTA THAT WAS HELD AT THE SCHOOL ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2013
Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) wishes to inform its readers, that none of the students at Beersheba Primary School who sat the Ministry of Education Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) examination has satisfied the criteria that would qualify them to benefit from The Elesa Hamilton Scholarship.

Parents and other Stakeholders are urged to take active interest in the welfare of students who attend Beersheba Primary School so as to ensure that they will be able to meet and satisfy the criteria set by the
Hamilton Family that manages and makes disbursements from the Scholarship Fund to qualified beneficiaries.

BRAIN SCANS REVEAL THAT CRIMINAL MINDS ARE DIFFERENT FROM NON CRIMINAL MINDS

Professor Adrian Raine, one of the contributors to the Research Study on the brain.

The latest neuroscience is presenting intriguing evidence that the brains of certain kinds of criminals are different from those of the rest of the population.

While these findings could improve our understanding of criminal behavior, they also raise moral quandaries about whether and how society should use this knowledge to combat crime.

In one recent study, scientists examined 21 people with antisocial personality disorder – condition that characterizes many convicted criminals. Those with the disorder “typically have no regard for right and wrong. They may often violate the law and the rights of others,” according to the Mayo Clinic.

Brain scans of the antisocial people, compared with a control group of individuals without any mental disorders, showed on average an 18-per cent reduction in the volume of brain’s middle frontal gyrus, and a 9 per cent reduction in the volume of the orbital frontal gyrus – two sections in the brain’s frontal lobe.

Another brain study, published in the September 2009 Archives of General Psychiatry, compared 27 psychopaths – people with severe antisocial personality disorder – to 32 non-psychopaths. In the psychopaths, the researchers observed deformations in another part of the brain called the amygdala, with the psychopaths showing a thinning of the outer layer of that region called the cortex and, on average, an 18-percent volume reduction in this part of brain.

“The amygdala is the seat of emotion. Psychopaths lack emotion. They lack sympathy, remorse, guilt,” said research team member Adrian Raine, chair of the Department of Criminology at the University of Pennsylvania, at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, C.C., last month.

In addition to brain differences, people who end up being convicted for crimes often show behavioral differences compared with the rest of the population. One long-term study that Raine participated in followed 1,795 children born in two towns from ages 3 to 23. The study measured many aspects of these individual’s growth and development, and found that 137 became criminal offenders.

One test on the participants at age 3 measured their response to fear – called fear conditioning – by associating a stimulus, such as a tone, with a punishment like an electric shock, and then measuring people’s involuntary physical responses through the skin upon hearing the tone.

In this case, the researchers found a distinct lack of fear conditioning in the 3-year-olds who would later become criminals. These findings were published in the January 2010 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry.

NEUROLOGICAL BASE OF CRIME
Overall, these studies and many more like them paint a picture of significant biological differences between people who commit serious crimes and people who do not. While not all people with antisocial personality disorder – or even all psychopaths – end up breaking the law, and not all criminals meet the criteria for these disorders, there is a marked correlation.

“There is a neuroscience basis in part to the cause of crime,” Raine said.

What’s more, as the study of 3-year-olds and other research have shown, many of these brain differences can be measured early on in life, long before a person might develop into actual psychopathic tendencies or commit a crime.

Criminologist Nathalie Fontaine of Indiana University studies the tendency toward being callous and unemotional (CU) in children between 7 and 12 years old. Children with these traits have been shown to have a higher risk of becoming psychopaths as adults.

“We’re not suggesting that some children are psychopaths, but CU traits can be used to identify a subgroup of children who are at risk,” Fontaine said.

Yet her research showed that these traits aren’t fixed, and can change in children as they grow. So if psychologists identify children with these risk factors early on, it may not be too late.
“We can still help them,” Fontaine said. “We can implement intervention to support and help children and their families, and we should.”

Neuroscientists’ understanding of the plasticity, or flexibility, of the brain called neurogenesis supports the idea that many of these brain differences are not fixed.

“Brain research is showing us that neurogenesis can occur even into adulthood,” said psychologist Patricia Brennan of Emory University in Atlanta. “Biology isn’t destiny. There are many, many places you can intervene along that developmental pathway to change what’s happening in these children.”

Furthermore, criminal behavior is certainly not a fixed behavior. Psychologist Dustin Pardini of the University of Pittsburg Medical Center found that about four out of five kids who are delinquents as children do not continue to offend in adulthood.

Pardini has been researching the potential brain differences between people with a past criminal record who have stopped committing crimes, and those who continue criminal behavior. While both groups showed brain differences compared with non-criminals in the study, Pardini and his colleagues uncovered few brain differences between chronic offenders and so-called remitting offenders.

“Both groups showed similar results,” Pardini said. “None of these brain regions distinguish chronic and remitting offenders.”

ETHICAL QUANDARIES
Yet even the idea of intervening to help children at risk of becoming criminals is ethically fraught.

“Do we put children in compulsory treatment when we’ve uncovered the risk factors?” asked Raine. “Well, who decides that? Will the state mandate compulsory residential treatment?”

What if surgical treatment methods are advanced, and there is an option to operate on children or adults with these brain risk factors? Many experts are extremely hesitant to advocate such an invasive and risky brain intervention – especially in children and individuals who have not yet committed any crime.

Yet psychologists say such solutions are not the only way to intervene.

“You don’t have to do direct brain surgery to change the way the brain functions.” Brennan said.

“You can do social interventions to change that.”

Fontaine’s studies, for example, suggest that kids who display callous and unemotional traits don’t respond as well to traditional parenting and punishment methods such as time-outs. Instead of punishing bad behavior, programs that emphasize rewarding good behavior with positive reinforcement seen to work better.

Raine and his colleges are also testing whether children who take supplemental pills of omega-3 fatty acids – also known as fish oil – can show improvement. Because this nutrient is thought to be used in cell growth, neuroscientists suspect it can help brain cells grow larger, increase the size of axons (the part of neurons that conducts electrical impulses), and regulate brain cell function.

“We are brain scanning children before and after treatment with omega-3,” Raine said. “We are studying kids to see if it can reduce aggressive behavior and improve impaired brain areas. It’s a biological treatment, but it’s a relatively benign treatment that most people would accept.”

“SLIPPERY SLOPE TO ARMADEDDON”
The field of neurocriminology also raises other philosophical quandaries, such as the question of whether revealing the role of brain abnormalities in crime reduces a person’s responsibility for his or her own actions.

“Psychopaths know right and wrong cognitively, but don’t have a feeling for what’s right and wrong,” Raine said. “Did they ask to have an amygdala that wasn’t as well functioning as other individuals’? Should we be punishing psychopaths as harshly as we do?”

Because the brain of a psychopath is compromised, Raine said, one could argue that they don’t have full responsibility for their actions. That – in effect – it’s not their fault.

In fact, that reasoning has been argued in a court of law. Raine recounted a case he consulted on, of a man named Herbert Weinstein who had killed his wife. Brain scans subsequently revealed a large cyst in the frontal cortex of Weinstein’s brain, showing that his cognitive abilities were significantly compromised.

The scans were used to strike a plea bargain in which Weinstein’s sentence was reduced to only 11 years in prison.

“Imaging was used to reduce his culpability, to reduce his responsibility, “Raine said. “Yet is that not a slippery slope to Armageddon where there’s no responsibility in society?”

 

(Taken from livescience.com/13083-criminals-brain-neuroscience-ethics …….. news article written by Clara Moskowitz, March 4, 2011)
Editor’s Note: We wish to remind our readers that as part of its vision to contribute to a paper free environment as well as to use Information Technology (IT) to minimize cost, Beersheba Old Students Association (BOSA) will no longer circulate its Newsletters by Post Office and hand delivery. Effective immediately, BOSA Newsletters will be will posted quarterly on its website: bosaonline.org. It is my sincere wish that all our readers will have a Peaceful and Blessed,  Prosperous and Productive New Year.

 

“A heart that is focused on others will not be consumed with self”