Brave New Parenting: Using Genetics to Determine Which Sport Our Child Should Play
It used to be that the parental ideal was to expose one's children to many and varied activities so that they could discover for themselves the avocations and activities that most suited them. But apparently that's too messy and time consuming for some. A company is now offering to test children's genes to determine which sport they will be best at so that parents can cut through the dross and put them directly in that activity. From the story:
When Donna Campiglia learned recently that a genetic test might be able to determine which sports suit the talents of her 2 ½-year-old son, Noah, she instantly said, Where can I get it and how much does it cost?Yes, well we wouldn't want you to be frustrated. But maybe you should love your kid enough to give him the room to take some wrong turns, have some rough patches, and fall on his butt a few times until he finds his own way. After all, that's part of what childhood is for. Sure it hurts, but the tough times strengthen us and help us not only become individuals. but mature adults.
"I could see how some people might think the test would pigeonhole your child into doing fewer sports or being exposed to fewer things, but I still think it's good to match them with the right activity," Campiglia, 36, said as she watched a toddler class at Boulder Indoor Soccer in which Noah struggled to take direction from the coach between juice and potty breaks. "I think it would prevent a lot of parental frustration," she said.
Besides, genetics isn't destiny. What a child might seem predisposed genetically to be best at--these things will always be uncertain--are not what he or she will necessarily like or want to do. But we are becoming such control freaks we want everything wrapped in a neat package. But that leads away from freedom.
Such thinking is the start of what Huxley warned against in Brave New World. If we keep going in this direction, it isn't going to make us stronger, it is going to make us weaker.
Labels: Genetic Predeterminism. New Eugenics. Brave New World
posted by Wesley J. Smith @ 9:59 PM
13 Comments
13 Comments:
Wow. That's just terrible. I know, "ahh, poor baby, did we have to hang in there with our child?"
Perfection is such an imperfect goal when you take to fun out of playing the field..
I think people should watch GATTACA more frequently.
When I used to be in radio we interviewed David Prentice PhD on cloning. Prentice was teaching at Indiana State University, the school of basketball legend, Larry Bird. I think ISU has never been very good except when Larry Bird was there. So I asked Prentice if we could make a cloning exception and clone Larry Bird. He said no. He said the clone might grow up and not like basketball at all-which would of course defeat our purpose for cloning him.
Having been involved in youth sports for the last 11 years or so, I can echo Don Nelson's point. Physical talent is undeniably important, but it takes a combination of ability and interest to create high level skill.
I've seen successful and non-successful kids, and in my experience parental ambition has been more of a hindrance than an asset to the kids. This is particularly evident in the money sports like football and basketball. Too many parents seem to think their 12-year old kid is going to a) make a fortune in pro sports, and b) give it to them. Virtually all are wrong on at least one count.
I see something similar in chess. I know one little boy with a lot of talent that has been squelched partly by his father's pushiness. Maybe he wouldn't have gone much farther even if his father hadn't been pushy and he'd been left to his own devices, but as it is, they have a lot of totally unnecessary tension built up in their family and nothing to show for it. And I speak here as a mother who is inclined to be demanding of her children. I know my own faults in others too.
Naturally, interest and talent will to some extent go together, but only to some extent. I have a child with a modest amount of chess talent who has gone much farther than the little boy I just mentioned (they are almost exactly the same age), because she is so excited about it that she works very hard at it. But her great interest is only partly because of her talent. It's also a result of other matters of temperament and even in part because of her position in the family--the middle child. You can't make an absolute and sharp separation between genetics and environment in some of these things.
"Besides, genetics isn't destiny." That's a point much of our society refuses to admit. Everything from the gay lobby that says "I was made this way" (a genetic argument) onward refuses to accept that despite what our genes bias us towards, we still have a choice to make.
In many ways it is a further example of the rejection of human exceptionalism because it makes us "slaves to our genes" and our "animal" insticts.
I'm not a very good artist, but I adore sketch art and am a very amature manga-ka (Japanese-style comic book artist and author). I'm very tall and I love to move around to music, and I could have been a dancer - Mom made me take dance classes for years - but it never grabbed me because dancing wasn't fun for me. Genes don't have any hold over the Gift and the Gotta. The Gift is the ability to take your limited talents and make them into something special, and the Gotta is the desire to see your completed work for the fun of enjoying it over and over again. Like, I write stories because I like to read stuff but nobody writes what I want to read (and I'm a horrible author, too, but I still tried to write a novel in one month). Genetic disposition is the worst thing you can use to determine what someone will like. Flavor changes over time.
Gee, a toddler having trouble taking direction from a coach. Hmmm. I wonder why that would be.
How frustrating does Ms. Campiglia think it is to be asked to do things that are simply not appropriate for your age and stage of development?
I do think genetics has a large impact on who we become, but this study is weak on the genetics. It only tests for what sports you may be good by testing for copy numbers of a single gene. There are many genes that impact physical prowess, and likely many more that impact mental aptitude for sport. Maybe if they were testing for all of these genes too, I'd say they were acting sensibly, but this is just over the top.
Having been adopted and met my biological family, I know that the influence of genetics is uncanny-such as carrying my bag in the same way that my birth father does, losing all my stuff like my biological gradmother does, and being very energetic and enthusiastic, like my aunt. My writing ability, glasses, trouble with math, musical talent, passion and love for others also seem to be family traits. On a bizarre note, my biological father and I even clear out throats the same way. On the other hand, I wouldn't want someone refusing to sell me alcohol in a restaurant because some of my biological relatives are alcoholics, and even though my biological grandfather is very organized, I certainly didn't inherit that trait. Also, my parents (the ones who have raised me) have had the resources and willingness to provide voice lessons and music classes, which is why I've come as far as I have in music. My mom, in particular, advocated her butt off for me at school when people tried to pigeonhole me or not provide me with accommodations related to my learning disability. Thus, environment is extremely important. It's good that I know that math isn't my strong suite through experience-I wouldn't want to have been tested for a gene that predicted this.
I can just see this going badly -- I coached youth football for 5 years and found that some kids who are really talented hate playing it, while some with little athletic talent are very successful even at later levels because they work hard, play smart and love the game.
I can see parents exploiting their children, just like Padraig mentioned. If we used to have a culture where kids were upset by their parents expectations, imagine the kid who is told his genetic code said he must be good at football, but is terrible and hates the sport.
Or how about the kid who's parents will push him based on this kind of test, and has his ACL snap like a twig his freshman season in college. Will the genetic test tell him what to do next?
Well, these parents are trying to prove that their kids are "exceptional," rather than accepting them as they are and simply valuing, rejoicing in, learning from, and nurturing the best that is in them. My point is that we if we simply valued, rejoiced in, and learned from other species and ourselves, and exercised the best that is in us, rather than considering ourselves uniquely apart from the other species (and therefore entitled to treat them in an evil way), we wouldn't have the death culture.
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