"We have to demand that new voices and new ideas get a hearing: my ideas and yours. We've all had a belly-ful of authorized voices mediated by television and the press. A decade-long free-for-all debate is what is called for now — not any more 'expert' opinions. Experts in education have never been right; their 'solutions' are expensive and self-serving and always involve further centralization.
"And we've seen the results!"
— Same genius
Thursday, July 28, 2016
Scrap a "school system" and reinstate a LIFE one
“Independent study, community service, adventures and experience, large doses of privacy and solitude, a thousand different apprenticeships — the one-day variety or longer — these are all powerful, cheap, and effective ways to start a real reform of schooling. But no large-scale reform is ever going to work to repair our damaged children and our damaged society until we force open the idea of “school” to include family as the main engine of education. If we use schooling to break children away from parents — and make no mistake, that has been the central function of schools since John Cotton announced it as the purpose of the Bay Colony schools in 1650 and Horace Mann announced it as the purpose of Massachusetts schools in 1850 — we’re going to continue to have the horror show we have right now.
"The 'Curriculum of Family' is at the heart of any good life. We've gotten away from that curriculum. It's time to return to it.
"The way to sanity in education is for our schools to take the lead in releasing the stranglehold of institutions on family life, to promote during schooltime confluences of parent and child that will strengthen family bonds."
— Some genius
"The 'Curriculum of Family' is at the heart of any good life. We've gotten away from that curriculum. It's time to return to it.
"The way to sanity in education is for our schools to take the lead in releasing the stranglehold of institutions on family life, to promote during schooltime confluences of parent and child that will strengthen family bonds."
— Some genius
Social media and social reality
What do we hunger for that we can't get from Facebook or "work"?
Personal, face-to-face, messy, beautiful, intimidating, challenging, validating, interaction with other human beings, the only purpose of which is to experience raw, pulsing life.
Physical touch.
To see the physical fruit of some worthy labour.
Eye-contact.
Smells.
True surround sound.
Live, unencumbered positive human responses.
Personal, face-to-face, messy, beautiful, intimidating, challenging, validating, interaction with other human beings, the only purpose of which is to experience raw, pulsing life.
Physical touch.
To see the physical fruit of some worthy labour.
Eye-contact.
Smells.
True surround sound.
Live, unencumbered positive human responses.
On self-teaching
"We've got to give kids independent time right away because that is the key to self-knowledge. And we must re-involve them with the real world as fast as possible so that their independent time can be spent on something other than abstraction.
"This is an emergency! It requires drastic action to correct!"
"This is an emergency! It requires drastic action to correct!"
Family happiness
My question … was the simplest of questions, lying in the soul of every man from the foolish child to the wisest elder: it was a question without an answer to which one cannot live, as I had found by experience. It was: “What will come of what I am doing today or shall do tomorrow? What will come of my whole life?” Differently expressed, the question is: “Why should I live, why wish for anything, or do anything?” It can also be expressed thus: “Is there any meaning in my life that the inevitable death awaiting me does not destroy?”
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Mindweather 101
Notes from the Underground:
1. Emotions, like weather patterns, come and go — the issue is not that we have emotions, but how we judge them and ourselves moment to moment as we experience them. "Something must be wrong with me" is condemnation coming from an external source, even if the voice is our own. Kids don't question whether or not they are okay until they receive some message/signal from an external saying either that they are or aren't (BOTH negatives, because it sets up for a false world view that says the purpose of life is to ascribe rightness or wrongness to everything, including our emotions).
"I didn't know I wasn't okay — that my existence was a problem."
2. "Mindweather 101, All of Life’s online class, was designed
to set people loose on their own unique path towards
vibrant mental health." — Brilliant!
Soul dump for new forum of Awesomeness
Perceive, analyze, express.
Find people who can but aren't and help them see honestly what they could.
Forum for sharing, rejoicing together, encouraging, community exploration
What do people hunger for that is not currently being fed to them through social media and existing communities?
What are people hungering for?
Provide forum where we can invite people to feel okay being what they most love about themselves.
"I just love this!" — How many of us do what we do because we LOVE it versus our being addicted to the socially accepted outcomes the baaa-havior produces?
Freedom from social media.
This can NOT be about self-validation, but the experience of our humanity.
No name.
Do you know that what you think is the answer to your problem is actually the root of the problem?
More question:
Vision: Share awesomeness, intimate connection with people
Activitator.
Patron saint: Dr. Bronner
Starting activities: presentations, discussion, music, reading, discussion, movies, discussion.
***Keeping rants to a minimum will go far in preserving the sense of vision that we are going for. Plenty of rants on social media.
"I have lived through much, and now I think I have found what is needed for happiness. A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books , music, love for one's neighbor — such is my idea of happiness. And then, on top of all that, you for a mate, and children, perhaps — what more can the heart of a man desire?"
Social media
Find people who can but aren't and help them see honestly what they could.
Forum for sharing, rejoicing together, encouraging, community exploration
What do people hunger for that is not currently being fed to them through social media and existing communities?
What are people hungering for?
Provide forum where we can invite people to feel okay being what they most love about themselves.
"I just love this!" — How many of us do what we do because we LOVE it versus our being addicted to the socially accepted outcomes the baaa-havior produces?
Freedom from social media.
This can NOT be about self-validation, but the experience of our humanity.
No name.
Do you know that what you think is the answer to your problem is actually the root of the problem?
More question:
Vision: Share awesomeness, intimate connection with people
Activitator.
Patron saint: Dr. Bronner
Starting activities: presentations, discussion, music, reading, discussion, movies, discussion.
***Keeping rants to a minimum will go far in preserving the sense of vision that we are going for. Plenty of rants on social media.
"I have lived through much, and now I think I have found what is needed for happiness. A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books , music, love for one's neighbor — such is my idea of happiness. And then, on top of all that, you for a mate, and children, perhaps — what more can the heart of a man desire?"
Social media
Thursday, July 21, 2016
The only reality you have is PEOPLE and their expectations
Give your life to making life rich for others and you will find yourself surrounded by wealth.
Perceived options:
1. Trust that things as they are is as they should be — we have no choice to change things.
2. Maybe some external circumstance or person will come in and force change us from the outside.
Reality:
It is possible that no change will ever be instituted upon us. It is possible that the earth will never quake and burn and destroy a third of all life upon it. It is possible that no foreign army will ever invade our nation and institute a martial law of terror as punishment for the immorality of its people.
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
The purpose of childhood education is not college
The purpose of childhood education is not to prepare a child for college.
Why? Because the purpose of college is what? To land a good job somewhere. To make money.
If A is for B and B is for C, then the purpose of a primary education is to make money.
Give me a break.
The only thing that matters to a sane human being (and all children are sane) is meaning.
Why? Because the purpose of college is what? To land a good job somewhere. To make money.
If A is for B and B is for C, then the purpose of a primary education is to make money.
Give me a break.
The only thing that matters to a sane human being (and all children are sane) is meaning.
Sunday, July 10, 2016
Saturday, July 9, 2016
Nothing practical
Another thing:
I am a little skittish about not having a set goal for a child's perusal of mathematics.
I can get over that.
I am a little skittish about not having a set goal for a child's perusal of mathematics.
I can get over that.
Children's books that need to be written
Children's books that need to be written:
Who Gets to Choose? — The realities of free speech, free press, and a free country
If You're Whining You're Losing
Nothing is Fair — Really.
Choosing What You REALLY Want — You know you want this, but is what you're doing really getting it for you?
If You Don't Know What The Kings Know, You Can Only Be Their Slave — Pick up a book and read. There are no new methods of slavery. They've all been tried before, and they only work on those who don't understand them.
Everything Comes from Somewhere — Milk does not come from a grocery store, nor smiles from Walmart.
Nothing is Free — If it exists, it cost somebody's life.
Where Does it Go? — On trash, dreams, poop, and peoples.
Why Do People Use Drugs? — The reality.
Who Gets to Choose? — The realities of free speech, free press, and a free country
If You're Whining You're Losing
Nothing is Fair — Really.
Choosing What You REALLY Want — You know you want this, but is what you're doing really getting it for you?
If You Don't Know What The Kings Know, You Can Only Be Their Slave — Pick up a book and read. There are no new methods of slavery. They've all been tried before, and they only work on those who don't understand them.
Everything Comes from Somewhere — Milk does not come from a grocery store, nor smiles from Walmart.
Nothing is Free — If it exists, it cost somebody's life.
Where Does it Go? — On trash, dreams, poop, and peoples.
Why Do People Use Drugs? — The reality.
Thursday, July 7, 2016
With all your getting, get wisdom
Impressions from today:
Claudia Gardner/Jex/Marsden — education not recommended as a profession by educators. Them that can't succeed at teaching move on to administration and law-making. (Rob Marsden). I had just left the driveway on the little Mongoose BMX bike and headed down 9800 So to find Jorge and his family. A CRV passed me, then pulled over and out came Claudia, asking if my bike wasn't too small for me and whether I wouldn't want to use her large bike as she was leaving town for a day or so. "Never say no," right? She recommended two Brackenberry children as possible tutoring needs.
Ed Liebing — Andrus, Hyrum. Pearl of Great Price Commentary... Skousen, Eric (?). In the Beginning.
Bishop Clare and Ed both said that this last year (much longer, really) has been a time of proving, and that God now knows my heart. Ed reminded me that our choice to express joy, love, praise, and gratitude is what keeps us the Lord's. Will I praise and love Him no matter the circumstance, degree of blessing, in sickness or in health. If I have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, can I feel so now?
Zion is a matter of the heart.
Jake Jackson.
Also, 11 policemen were shot at a peaceful Black Lives Matter rally last night, 5 fatally. Another officer was shot when he responded to a 911 call that turned out to be an ambush.
Claudia Gardner/Jex/Marsden — education not recommended as a profession by educators. Them that can't succeed at teaching move on to administration and law-making. (Rob Marsden). I had just left the driveway on the little Mongoose BMX bike and headed down 9800 So to find Jorge and his family. A CRV passed me, then pulled over and out came Claudia, asking if my bike wasn't too small for me and whether I wouldn't want to use her large bike as she was leaving town for a day or so. "Never say no," right? She recommended two Brackenberry children as possible tutoring needs.
Ed Liebing — Andrus, Hyrum. Pearl of Great Price Commentary... Skousen, Eric (?). In the Beginning.
Bishop Clare and Ed both said that this last year (much longer, really) has been a time of proving, and that God now knows my heart. Ed reminded me that our choice to express joy, love, praise, and gratitude is what keeps us the Lord's. Will I praise and love Him no matter the circumstance, degree of blessing, in sickness or in health. If I have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, can I feel so now?
Zion is a matter of the heart.
Jake Jackson.
Also, 11 policemen were shot at a peaceful Black Lives Matter rally last night, 5 fatally. Another officer was shot when he responded to a 911 call that turned out to be an ambush.
(apparently) [Un]common wisdom
"As a former criminal, in a time way back when, if the officer had his gun out and said stop, you stopped. And p.s. I don't know where all these "innocent" victims came from, because I spent years in prison and didn't meet one innocent prisoner, not one. Now as an adult with children, I teach them to respect the law and it's officers. I have friends on both sides of the law and am quick to call bullshit if someone tries to say something is unjustified just because some Facebook post says so..."
de labore sub tyrannis
Today I went down to city hall to order trash service. I didn't expect to receive from the experience such condemnatory argumentation against government employment.
But first, a few definitions:
Government — an organization whose providential income stream is effectively ensured, no matter the quality (or disquality) of the services/goods provided, or even the desireability of services/goods provided. An organization whose monopoly is ensured by law. see also "racket"
By extension, government employee is any person working in any organization whose income is assured regardless of the worth or quality of the service provided.
Income — what you get from elsewhere or else-whom; that for which you are dependent upon something other than yourself for obtaining.
(Please note: this is an iron-clad, exceptionless definition, despite seemingly obvious special cases. Let's look at a few. "Income is what I earn." — Thank you. What you once did not have was brought into your possession. Whether you deserved it or earned it means nothing in this regard. "God causes the rain on both the just and the unjust. Is that income?" — Yes, income includes everything that you get possession of that you once had no possession of. The definition is not limited only to our narrow idea of "payments" received after satisfying the requirements of a person or entity who withholds until you perform. Income may be, and, in matter of fact, most often is, free and non-compulsory. Sun, precipitation, air, Granting this, we all may rightly count ourselves among the very rich. Passive, residual income for even the least deserving of us.)
Income may be earned or un-earned, deserved or undeserved, fair or unfair, but it is that which comes from somewhere else. If it already "belonged" to you — if you already had full and free access to it — it would be something different.
It is societally unsustainable and morally reprehensible for one or many sectors of a population to receive without condition and be justified or protected by the law to do so.
The issue here is accountability and feeling the bite of actual costs. If you are accountable to no one but an internal personal or corporate morality, there is no external check or balance to the universal im-, a-, or sub-morality of your actions.
Everett would love to ensure his own income. (Who wouldn't?)
But he can't.
Why? Because he wants what others have and they have no reason to give it to him.
But first, a few definitions:
Government — an organization whose providential income stream is effectively ensured, no matter the quality (or disquality) of the services/goods provided, or even the desireability of services/goods provided. An organization whose monopoly is ensured by law. see also "racket"
By extension, government employee is any person working in any organization whose income is assured regardless of the worth or quality of the service provided.
Income — what you get from elsewhere or else-whom; that for which you are dependent upon something other than yourself for obtaining.
(Please note: this is an iron-clad, exceptionless definition, despite seemingly obvious special cases. Let's look at a few. "Income is what I earn." — Thank you. What you once did not have was brought into your possession. Whether you deserved it or earned it means nothing in this regard. "God causes the rain on both the just and the unjust. Is that income?" — Yes, income includes everything that you get possession of that you once had no possession of. The definition is not limited only to our narrow idea of "payments" received after satisfying the requirements of a person or entity who withholds until you perform. Income may be, and, in matter of fact, most often is, free and non-compulsory. Sun, precipitation, air, Granting this, we all may rightly count ourselves among the very rich. Passive, residual income for even the least deserving of us.)
Income may be earned or un-earned, deserved or undeserved, fair or unfair, but it is that which comes from somewhere else. If it already "belonged" to you — if you already had full and free access to it — it would be something different.
It is societally unsustainable and morally reprehensible for one or many sectors of a population to receive without condition and be justified or protected by the law to do so.
The issue here is accountability and feeling the bite of actual costs. If you are accountable to no one but an internal personal or corporate morality, there is no external check or balance to the universal im-, a-, or sub-morality of your actions.
Everett would love to ensure his own income. (Who wouldn't?)
But he can't.
Why? Because he wants what others have and they have no reason to give it to him.
To work
The word is engagement.
I taught a student a math lesson for the first time in a year.
What I noticed:
1. He was just as quick to pick up on the concepts as students always have been. Me having lost degrees of my touch did nothing to blunt the simple elegance and effectiveness of presenting Math as a language.
2. Today I lacked a long-term vision about where to take this student.
3. I need to speak regularly with people who are also interested in the subject of math -- either teaching it or learning it.
4. My work is no longer one-on-one. If it isn't expanded to something much broader than that, it is dead.
5. The basic tenets of mathematics really can be taught in a matter of months -- it is the presentation of their application that should fill up the majority of a child's educational time. Heavens -- who studies French or German for 12 years? For how many does basic conversational proficiency in Russian require 10 years of regular study?
MATH IS A LANGUAGE, PEOPLE.
6. Words do not give a person understanding of a concept -- experience gives understanding. Words provide tools to communicate and share, especially in the absence of present experience (not the absence of experience at all -- without experience, words can never anything other than sound). A child feels hunger, sadness, and happiness long before it has words to describe them -- language does not teach them how to feel, but how to communicate our feeling -- how to experience feeling in a context over which we have some control, some perspective. Words (spoken, gestured, or quantated) never take the place of experience, but the broader our vocabulary, the closer to real experience hearing becomes -- the greater the likelihood that our hearing the word approaches to experiencing the meaning the word is meant to convey.
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