Which Side Of The Brain Is More Important?

In this modern world we live in, which side of the brain is more important and how can brain development from an early age benefit our children?

Academic and logical activities such as numbers, language, and words are associated with the left-brain. The right brain is associated with more artistic and creative activities such as image, imagination, rhythm, and movement. On our website, we looked into the difference between the left and right brain and the specific characteristics of each.

But what exactly is the benefit of knowing this? To answer this question, we must first observe the past, present and future demands of a workplace.

It can be seen that, more often than not, the past few decades have been dominated by people who have mastery of their left brains: MBAs who excel academically, programmers who can crank codes. While this has always been common for most working adults, now in any workplace scenarios, these professionals would have a secondary role other than the usual cranking of codes and crunching of numbers.

While the left-brainers domination may hold true for many past decades, and will continue to do so, people who have the mastery of their right brains are becoming more important in this digital information age: pattern recognizers, creators, investors, designers, storytellers, big-picture thinkers. As many researchers theorized, the left hemisphere needs to work together with the right hemisphere. This connectivity is the objective of all holistic brain development.

Long gone were the days where we use paper and pens to write down every single transaction that happened in our lives. (To find old records becomes a hassle). Although this information is still required in our daily life, many are branching out for data mining solutions to source for the best possible solutions in order to get the best results from a broader view.

It is of this reason that people who can process information fast enough would gain an advantage in achieving their intended results. As competitions steepens these days, having good and quick decision making skills are important and they are not made in a blink of an eye. It requires the right brain (big-picture thinking, visualization, etc…) and left brain (analyzing skills, pattern spotting, etc…) to work hand in hand.

This debate – whether the focus of training for our children should be left or right brain orientated have been on-going for years now. And while there isn’t an overall consensus by educators and parents alike, the trends have shifted as such:

• Our parenting methods have changed. More and more parents today allow and encourage more right-brain activities such as going for art classes or learning a musical instrument
• Preschools in Singapore have also shifted their focus to right-brain activities by introducing more play into the curriculum.
• However, once our children enter primary school in Singapore, they will spend hours of left-brain activities such as drilling sums and memorizing content.

After all, a certain level of knowledge acquisition is needed to prepare our children for their future in an information-rich world.

As the demands change, more and more people recognize the need to develop the right hemisphere of the brain, this leads to a growing trend in the learning environment created for our children. More kindergartens, child care centres will be built to help our young ones to have a better future and the curriculum in these preschools have also evolved from what we used to have.

Our children’s mindset usually switches from a left-brain dominated environment in school to a right-brain dominated environment when they are away from school. Likewise, for adults, many would want to get out of the logically-fast-moving-alphanumerical paperwork working environment to a chilling-leisure-relaxing environment of enjoying your favorite drama series or movies in town.

Is there a way to combine both so that our children get the best of both worlds?

Developing both the left and right brain is important, and one should not develop one side of the brain while neglecting the other. Exercising the right hemisphere will help us adapt well in our predominantly left-brain environments. Making the right decisions, controlling your emotions, building a strong bond with your peers, these are some of the few things which the right hemisphere is largely in control of.

At CMA, our dual-hand 4-fingers methodology allows holistic development of the brain to equip everyone a life skill that will be useful in the future. Children who are more “left-brain orientated” – systematic and organized – can learn to have some fun while training up their visual sense through abacus; children who are more “right-brain orientated” –imaginative but disorganized – can discover that they can create better results within a controlled environment. The result? Better concentration, improved memory power, and better discipline.

Your child deserves the best of both worlds. Start your child’s journey to success with CMA here or contact us so that our representative can tell you more about our programmes for all ages.

Published on 1st November 2017