Editor,

If you ever have doubts about your mental potential, doubt no more, because you carry in your head the most powerful computer in the world. With it you can learn virtually anything.

Even if you are to learn ten facts every second, for hundred years, you cannot still exhaust its potential. It is believed that even great scientists and writers like Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton and William Shakes peare never used more than five percent of their brains potential. In deed, discoveries made on the brain makes it palpably clear that almost every individual is born a potential genius.

One of the confidence-boosting discoveries on the brain is that it has infinite storage capacity.  According to Colin Rose, a British Psychologist, the brain contains 1.5 billion cells.

Professor Petr Kouzmich Anokhin of Moscow university estimated it at ten billion.  One brain cell, according to professor Anokhin, “has a possibility of connections of one with twenty-eight noughts after it”.

He estimated the total associative capacity of the brain at “ I followed by 10.5 million kilometres of noughts”.  This figure represents the amount of ideas and facts the brain can store.  Whyne Dyer, a top us psychiatrist, estimated it at one hundred trillion words.  

The brain’s storage capacity is definitely inexhaustible.  This had prompted professor Anokhin to conclude in 1973 that “ND human yet exists who can use all the potential of his brain.  This is why we don’t accept any pessimistic estimates of the limits of the human brain.  It is unlimited.

Another confidence-boosting discovery on the brain is that it is divided into two parts the left and the right hemispheres.  The most eminent researcher in this area is professor Roger Sperry of the California Institute of Technology.

He won a Nobel Prize for his research, which revealed that each of the hemispheres is dominant in certain intellectual functions.  The left hemisphere is dominant in academic functions such as logic, analysis, lists, words, speech and numbers.  The right hemisphere, on the other hand, is dominant in creative functions such as colour, lines, rhythm, images and imagination.  Other researchers including Robert Ornstain, 2 aidel and bloch later confirmed sperry’s findings.

They went on to say that the functions identified  by sperry are not restricted to one part but are distributed all over the brain.

The left/right brain theory is very important in understanding your mental potential.  First, it means that each individual possesses the range of skills of the two hemispheres.  This implies that each individual is capable of learning any subject.  

Thus the generally held belief that someone who is good in maths cannot be good in literature and vice versa is unrealistic.

According to Tony Buzan, a British Psychologist, “saying I am bad at or do not possess mental skill X is both an untruth and a misunderstanding.  In fact what has been found out is that mastery of one skill helps one to master other skills.

Secondly, the left/right brain theory has implications for our learning.  For example, if you want to excel in your learning you should use both parts of your brain.  The greatest brains in history are believed to have used both parts of their brains.

In their notes, for instance, they did not only use words but they also used images, lines and symbols.  In fact Leonardo da Vinci did not testrict himself to one occupation.  He was the most accomplished artist, mathematician and scientist of his day in at least half a dozen different fields, and he could write simultaneously with his left and right hands,” according  to Colin Rose.

The enormous potential of the brain elucidated above compelled Colin Rose to assert that “it is probably correct to say that almost every normal child is born a potential genius.”  To realize that genius one now needs a rich intellectual environment.  

There is a lot of evidence to prove the importance of a rich intellectual environment in boosting academic performance.  To cite an example, a German Doctor decided to give his son, Karl Witte, a really rich educational environment.  This enabled Karl to enter the university of Leipzig at nine and obtain his PHD at 14.  Another example was Edith Stein whose father, Aaron, was determined in 1752 to give his daughter the best educational environment.

Edith could talk in simple sentences at one, and had read and entire volume of the Ency Dopaedia Britannica at the age of five.  She was reading six books a day by the age of six.  At 12 she enrolled in college and was teaching higher maths at Michigan State University at 15.  In England, Ruth Lawrence obtained her O’ and A’ Levels by the age of 10 and was accepted at Oxford University at the age of 12.

In conclusion the poor accademic performance which is so common in our school is unnatural.  It is a mockery of our vast mental potential.  We do not need to be like Karl, Edith or Ruth but definitely we need to rise above our present standards.

Abdoul Rahman Barrie