As I navigated the highways on my way to work this morning I heard a story on the radio about the "Bad Driver Gene". Apparently our colleagues at the University of California Irvine have identified a protein called brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF) which is secreted in the area of the brain associated with with a task at hand, like driving. According to this very limited study about thirty percent of Americans have a gene variant which they have associated with bad driving, due to limited secretion of BDNF.
According to the researcher, Dr. Steve Cramer of UCI,
"These people make more errors from the get-go, and they forget more of what they learned after time away."
Now, I will leave it to others to warn of the consequences of this discovery on insurance rates and to opine about banning certain people from behind the wheel for the sake of public safety. We in academia will need to get ahead of the curve on this one. People who make errors from the get-go and who forget more of what they learned after time away sit before us in every class. I see two potential directions this story could go for us.
Option one is that in the future Low BDNF will become a recognized learning disability. The consequences for faculty will be requirements to adjust curricula accordingly. With thirty percent of Americans suffering we will need to stop expecting students to know material which they have spent some time away from. No more prerequisite courses!
Option two is that we genetically pre-test potential students and limit public support for those, that owing to genetic predisposition, are less likely to succeed in education or careers that require BDNF.
On the plus side, Biochemists with friends in Education, there's a couple of grants in this. Let's correlate BDNF genetic mutation to major and alternately to grade received in courses or to graduation rate.
T.S. Hall
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