The DMIT scam
Mangaluru: Dakshina Kannada seems to be the favourite hotspot for scamsters. The combination of prosperity, that we are super intelligent and not easy to cheat seems to be making it a haven for all types of scamsters. In their anxiety to make geniuses of their offspring gullible parents keep falling into various traps. One of these was the so-called brain balancing (which was a new bottle for the old wine- Midbrain activation) whose only visible benefit or evidence for its effectiveness was that the children subjected to this process could see with their eyes blindfolded! It also came with another dubious pseudo-science- DMIT which on expansion reads as dermatoglyphics multiple intelligence tests. With the former process coming under attack from us, a new scheme was cooked up for Mangalore under the guise of brain balancing and such. There is a Panchavarna associates at Empire Mall, who have brought out the pamphlets with an emotional appeal to parents- again promising to recognise the genius in their progeny by DMIT giving the reference of Howard Gardner a well-known educationist/psychologist from Harvard University. Curious about this, I sent a mail to him enclosing copies of the pamphlets and his reply reproduced below was prompt.
September 20, 2017
To: Narendra Nayak
From: Howard Gardner
Dear Narendra,
Thank you for your note. In brief, there is no evidence suggesting a connection between a person’s fingerprints and their MI. I do not endorse DMIT tests and have not been involved in their creation.
I hope this is helpful.
With best wishes,
Howard
Howard Gardner
Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education
13 Appian Way
Longfellow Hall 235
Cambridge, MA 02138
Voice: 617-496-4929
Fax: 617-496-4855
www.howardgardner.com
e-mail: howard_gardner@harvard.edu
Which means Panchavarna Associates and their franchisers have been lying through their teeth. Perhaps they would have never expected that someone would take the trouble of verifying their claims. While medical science uses fingerprints for identification purposes or crime detection, there are some quacks who claim to ‘guide’ parents as to the future careers of their children by analysing their fingerprints (the fancy name for which being dermatoglyphics). We are lodging a complaint with the district authorities for cheating parents about such nonsense to mislead them about the capabilities and talents of their progeny.
We wish that the Child Welfare Committee and the education department pay attention to such activities which claim to be education but are actually quackery. We have just lodged a complaint about such going on in the name of brain balancing and right brain activation and it is being inquired into. Even before that report is ready another such scam is on!
The attached pamphlets show how the scam called DMIT is being advertised.