"...folks are not taught how to think, only what to think...from kindergarten through high school."
Right-on!
Right-on!
- Redler
"Many students, especially those who are poor, intuitively know what the schools do for them. They school them to confuse process and substance. Once these become blurred, a new logic is assumed: the more treatment there is, the better are the results; or, escalation leads to success. The pupil is thereby "schooled" to confuse teaching with learning, grade advancement with education, a diploma with competence, and fluency with the ability to say something new. His imagination is "schooled" to accept service in place of value. Medical treatment is mistaken for health care, social work for the improvement of community life,
police protection for safety, military poise for national security, the rat race for productive work. Health, learning, dignity, independence, and creative endeavor are defined as little more than the performance of the institutions which claim to serve these ends, and their improvement is made to depend on allocating more resources to the management of hospitals, schools, and other agencies in question."
From: Why We Must Disestablish School by Ivan Illich
robert and benita rabello <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
M&K DuPree wrote:
I'm with you Kirk on this one. Look at the educational system in the U.S.A., maybe anywhere. For the most part, folks are not taught how to think, only what to think...from kindergarten through high school. Add to that many kids social background, parents who were subjected to the same bullshit system and there you go...now now children, remember George Washington, couldn't tell a lie...what crap.
I'm a product of that system, and I object to your broad characterization. There were MANY people in my experience who encouraged real thinking, and some of them were teachers.
Add to that the religion foisted on folks and socialization to trust, to forgive, to do everything except open their eyes and behold the hand in their pockets...need I say more???
Many people prefer safety and comfort to making hard choices. Some folk have become cynical, too. There is nothing wrong with trust and forgiveness, provided that such trust and forgiveness is coupled with wisdom. Wisdom, however, is the fair daughter of pain, and sometimes the best lessons are those we've learned the hard way.
A bill like the one we've been discussing just might motivate such wisdom. (Why do I need so much AC now, when only a few years ago I didn't have it on so much? Why are the mountain peaks barren during the summer? Why aren't we getting as much snow as we used to? Are there any alternatives to our current paradigm of energy use?) Some people need to be shocked out of complacency. Others, like me, who've been advocating change for DECADES, shake our heads at what it takes to wake our friends and neighbors up.
But some people ARE waking up. Kirk is right. Alternatives exist, and many of these are becoming more economically viable. (I was at Princess Auto yesterday, looking at air compressors and thinking about turning one into an Organic Rankine Cycle engine . . . )
Yes, I do. Zeke, who have you helped today see a little more clearly who you knew was blind before today????? I wonder what might happen if everyone of us on this list took it upon ourselves to help educate just one person/family who we knew needed help learning how to think? What changes might we wreak on the planet????
This is often a process that other people resist, and some of them do so rather stridently. (I can tell really sad stories about this!) The best education is one of example. Your friends and neighbors are watching what you do, whether they will admit this or not.
So grow a garden. (Mine made it into the local newspaper last Friday!) Reduce your energy and water usage. Drive less (if at all). Support your local farmers and ranchers. The only real solutions are local ones, anyway.robert luis rabello
_______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org
Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
