Going to School
| Like chimps, human children wander away from their mothers and into
the larger community at about five years of age. What makes this so mysterious
is that five year old chimps are old enough to find their own food, escape
from threats, and make some basic decisions about what is safe behavior
and what is foolish; Human children, armed with only an amazing verbal
ability, require ten more years of maturation before they are biologically
equipped to survive alone.
Leaving mom at five years old is a genetic trait that doesn't pose much risk to chimps because they are nearly mature, but how is it that human children can join the company of strangers without risking death? Can you think of any other species where a still-helpless offspring is sent off to explore its wider community? Five year old children not only need adult supervision, but they also believe what any adult tells them. While mothers still warn their children not to talk to strangers, this advice is impractical because children will trust any stranger that appears benevolent. Considering that there are over six billion Homo sapiens on this planet, this must be a successful genetic adaptation. Could this be true if ‘benevolence' was a choice rather than a genetic trait? |