Thursday, May 28, 2009

What is the purpose of education?

For quite a while, I've had the view that we spend a huge amount of time educating students primarily toward high-paying jobs with little emphasis on creating quality citizens with jobs. I guess an argument can be made that the push toward high career jobs is necessary to help students repay a mountain of college loans. In any case, I'm glad that I'm not alone in my view of how we educate our children. Today I read an article that shared some of my views about how we educate. Below is an except from an article titled Selling Education, Manufacturing Technocrats, Torturing Souls: The Tyranny of Being Practical by William Astore:

Based on a decidedly non-bohemian life - 20 years' service
in the military and 10 years teaching at the college level - I'm convinced
that American education, even in the worst of times, even recognizing
the desperate need of most college students to land jobs, is far too
utilitarian, vocational, and narrow. It's simply not enough to prepare
students for a job: We need to prepare them for life, while challenging
them to think beyond the confines of their often parochial and
provincial upbringings. (As a child of the working class from a
provincial background, I speak from experience.)

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Would You Drug Your Child for Control?

On SlashDot.org I found an article that references a device that delivers drugs to a child to keep the child sedated in home settings. Here is the link to the device. I find this device scary.

As I'm writing this, I just remembered a situation from around 1971 when I worked a summer job as an Allied mover in NY. I overheard a medical doctor, while I helped move his family in Connecticut, remark that he had given his infant a sleeping drug to allow the baby to be quiet during the family's upcoming driving trip. I found that situation incredulous at the time as well as now.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

What I'm Reading



I'm currently reading Iconoclast by Gregory Berns. I made the choice to read this book by happenstance in that I saw it on display at a library and thought I remembered something about it from a program at BookTV on C-SPAN.

Although I'm only about halfway through, one idea that sticks out is Berns's view about the pressure we feel to conform to the wishes of the group: "for most people the will to stand alone for one's opinion does not come easily. (p. 87)

What is striking about this idea is that it brought to mind a March 15, 2009 report at Science Daily concerning a research study that indicates that children as young as 3 and 4 years feel the need to conform to the wishes of the group. I now wonder whether the need to conform is innate? Moreover, can we encourage children to risk being different and standing up for their ideas without creating more pressure on them?

Monday, May 18, 2009

An Interesting Way to Ensure Children Study

Here is a British article that highlights how parents ensure their children study.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Boosting Your Creativity




New Scientist is featuring an article titled Eight Ways to Boost Your Creativity. The idea that piqued my interest most was the one that indicated that the color blue helps a person to be more creative.
In thinking about colors, I'm reminded of a study years ago that suggested that a pink environment made boys less aggressive. The report indicated that when boys, who were acting out, were placed in a pink room, the boys immediately calmed down.