EDUCRATIC CORRUPTION: OECD AGAINST SCIENCE:

Using the word "myth" (literally a lie) about something is questionable since it means an unscientific "certainty" about an issue and lack of respect of other people's positions. For example, "There is no direct neuroscientific evidence, for either animals or humans, linking adult synaptic density to greater learning capacity. All of this does not mean that the plasticity of the brain, and synaptogenesis in particular, might not bear some relation to learning but, on the strength of available evidence, the assumptions made in identifying such a determining role for birth-to-three development cannot be sustained." (OECD, Understanding the Brain, p.110)

What this means is that until now there is no conclusive evidence either way, not that stating one or the other position means telling a lie.

The same can be said about the concept of a "critical period" that the OECD attacks in favor of a "sensitive" one. What has changed? People still understand that there are no periods at all, even when the same document clearly states, "For sensory stimuli such as speech sounds, and for certain emotional and cognitive experiences such as language exposure, there are relatively tight and early sensitive periods." (p.14)  "Anyone who starts to learn a foreign language later in life, for example, will in all likelihood always have a “foreign accent”" (p.110)

How people understand your message should be crucial (or "sensitive") for education.

Stupidity and conformity are the actual goals of education, according to Chomsky: “There are huge efforts that do go into making people, to borrow Adam Smith's phrase, "as stupid and ignorant as it is possible for a human being to be." A lot of the educational system is designed for that, if you think about it, it's designed for obedience and passivity. From childhood, a lot of it is designed to prevent people from being independent and creative. If you're independent-minded in school, you're probably going to get into trouble very early on. That's not the trait that's being preferred or cultivated.”  (1).

Ironically, the OECD document states two of his own “theories” that go against scientific research: “The brain is biologically primed to acquire language right from the very start of life; the process of language acquisition needs the catalyst of experience.” (p. 5) “Numeracy, like literacy, is created in the brain through the synergy of biology and experience. Just as certain brain structures are designed through evolution for language, there are analogous structures for the quantitative sense.” (p.5)

These are not the only examples of organizations that claim to work for the public good but actually never take science into account.

(1) http://www.chomsky.info/books/warfare02.htm