Voices in Education

And Tango Makes Three.....

2009-10-08T11:13:00.001-07:00

And Tango Makes Three is a 2005 children's book written by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson and illustrated by Henry Cole. The book is based on the true story of Roy and Silo, two male Chinstrap Penguins in New York's Central Park Zoo. For six years they formed a couple and were given an egg to raise.

The book has won many awards but also been at the center of numerous censorship and culture war debates on same-sex marriage, adoption and homosexuality in animals. The American Library Association reports that And Tango Makes Three was the most challenged book of 2006, 2007, and 2008, as well as the most banned book of 2009. This book was written to help parents teach children about same-sex parent families. I personally think its awesome that books like this exist.. Its fabulous!
Education centers and families can't avoid this. It is a fact that we will be seeing more same-sex parent families in our society. Our children need to see their families represented in books. We can't take that priveledge away from them.

Stuart Brown says Play is more than fun

2009-09-06T13:35:00.000-07:00

Play is indeed important and in any age. Mr. Stuart Brown stresses the importance of play in childhood, and that it makes for happy, smart adults. Thus by keeping this up it can make us smarter at any age.
Mr. Brown starts off the lecture on how the New York Times did a special issue about play and its importance. However, he mentions that it doesn't show any sign of adults playing in the cover, but only of children. He then compares this cover to a 15th century European courtyard picture that has over 124 different kinds of play of all ages. Some show adults and children playing solo, games, or with one another. He wanted to make a statement of how our society or culture may have lost this.
Then he goes on the next slide and shows a picture of husky and polar bear playing together. At first you would think they were playing in a vicious way, but no, they override the carnivorous nature by playing in a very dynamic and harmonious way. It is like if they were dancing ballet or something. Their state of play allows these creatures to explore the impossible. I would agree with this. When one plays a sport or a game with another person, one makes friends and there is communication going on, which in turn can create a lasting relationship. People are too busy to even try going out of their way to even make friends. They have lost the human touch.
Mr. Brown also emphasizes on the importance the mother has with her child in the beginning years. By playing with the baby, the right brain becomes attuned. Body play is essential in all of us. We have to be spontaneous about it. I'm surely in tune with it. I love to dance anytime of the day. It brings me a lot of joy and happiness. It get rids of monotony and denials.
Play can be safe. Social play- develops the need to belong. Rough and tumble- no claws, soft eyes, specific to play (movement). This is a great medium for kids. Kids should be chaotic, messy, curious, and have the needs to explore. This develops social skills which are integrated with the emotional, cognitive, and physical aspects of it.
Mr. Brown also talks about how Imaginative play plays an essential part in a child's life. The importance of storytelling is fundamental. Our brain waves expand. It fires our Cerebellum. They have made studies where people who are couch potatoes will start to have shrinkage in their brain. The opposite of play is depression. Think about your life without play. We develop human trust thru play. We become unique throughout our lifetime when we involve play in our life.

The decisions that we make in our personal lives affect others....

2008-01-05T09:58:00.000-08:00

According to the United Nations development program it tells us that while Americans spend $8 billion a year on cosmetics, only $6 billion annually would be sufficient to provide basic education for everyone. Europeans spend $11 billion each year on ice cream, but for only $ 9 billion annually, we could provide clean water and safe sewers for all humanity. World military spending accounts for $ 800 billion every year, but just 5 percent of that annual sum over ten years would provide each person on this planet with an income level above the poverty line for their country. Just imagine if we started to shift our beliefs and put them into good use. We can start redirecting funds to human development. I can start picturing in my mind the dramatic change we would see in people's lives.

2008-01-03T07:56:00.000-08:00

"The best teacher is the one who suggests rather than dogmatizes, and inspires his listener with the wish to teach himself."
-Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Metamorphosis............

2007-11-28T12:31:00.000-08:00

As Robert Kiyosaki points out : Education is powerful enough that it can change a caterpillar into a butterfly. I feel strongly about this..... Everything takes time ...... But for education to be powerful it has to be passionate. It has to help fellow human beings. We need leaders to show others that is ok to make mistakes...this is how we get ahead in life. We become smarter mentally and emotionally. That is why leaders teach real-world mental and emotional attitudes that are required to be succesful in the world. The problem is that a lot of institutions, businesses, and schools remain in a caterpillar frame of mind cause they aren't willing to take risks nor make mistakes. Mr. Kiyosaki says that we live in a world of fear of failing, not of learning. We need to learn from those who have learned from trial and error and who have experienced things, not simply from the theory taught.

Another point that Mr. Kiyosaki talks about in his book, The Business School, is that most educational systems fail to provide a realistic financial education program for students. It's vital to know how to manage and invest money. This is an asset and a skill to have for life. It is imperative for schools to begin to teach this area.

Life changing education is found in 4 words :mental, emotional, physical and spiritual.... This is the natural law of things...............just think about it.....

Wisdom

2007-11-21T11:19:00.000-08:00

I recommend an excellent book by Scott A. Hunt, The Future of Peace.
After reading about Thick Quang Do, Vietnam's leading dissident, he highlights and stresses on the importance of wisdom.
He mentions that we are all human beings, and yes we make mistakes. We have to be compassionate towards those who have no wisdom at all. A lot of people have common knowledge, but no wisdom. It is vital to train ourselves to achieve wisdom.
This is not gained through studying or reading books, but meditating. Schools need to lead with love and spirit. They need to show students that by getting rid of hatred and anger and fear and self-cherishing will they become wise.

In my opinion it's not so much about knowing everything, it's how you go about it. I met in a bookshop once a buddhist monk, and I will remember his words always. He said. "if your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete".

Circus Fleas

2007-11-17T06:54:00.000-08:00

It was a story about how circus fleas are trained. Now if you don't know much about fleas, here's a true fact of nature that's just amazing: Fleas have been known to make leaps of up to 13 inches...about 200 times the length of their own bodies. This would be equal to a six-foot man jumping 900 feet!

But circus fleas won't jump 13 inches. They won't jump out of the jar even though the lid has been removed. Why? Because they've been trained to believe they can't jump out of the jar, no matter how hard or how often they try. It goes against nature for sure, but it's true.

The trainers simply put a lid on the jar and let the fleas bang their heads on the lid until the fleas are convinced that jumping high enough to get out of the jar results in nothing, but a big headache. If you don't take the risk of banging yourself on the head, you won't get injured. Let me say it again a different way ... If you don't take the risk of freeing yourself from your present situation, you won't feel any pain.

Someone was reading my mind............

2007-11-16T09:05:00.000-08:00

For those of you who haven't listened to Sir Ken Robinson's conference (which is posted on this blog) please go ahead, relax and watch! He is a senior adviser on education policy to the president of the famed Getty Foundation in Los Angeles and author of Out of our Minds: Learning to be creative.
I am telling you after listening to his speech it's like if someone knew what I was thinking all along.
He basically says that the whole apparatus of public education has largely been shaped by the needs and ideologies of industrialism... predicated on old assumptions about the supply and demand for labour. The keywords of this system are linearity, conformity, and standardization.
I would have to agree with that. We can't continue being educated solely on a hierarchical education system.
In the book "Revolutionary Wealth" Alvin and Heidi Toffler explain that despite a growing number of educational experiments, the core of education remains the factory- style model designed for the industrial age. I believe that it is vital to balance the arts with the maths and languages evenly.
I used to work in a school where math predominated the art. The kids would take five hours a week of math and one hour of art. Schools need to re-evaluate this way of teaching. Most students are educated from the waist up and not the waist down. When I was in school I was all about movement, dancing, acting, etc... I remember my 2nd grade teacher, Miss Maude, told my parents that I was fascinated with art. But you see in my school we had very few art classes, so practically I wasn't exposed too much at it. My 6th grade elementary teacher, Mr Kanarff , said that I had the talent to be an actress. Again, I felt that there were hardly any options to take theater or drama class.
When I graduated from school. One of my dearest friends, Elena, said: Liz you should really be dancing on broadway!!!! It's funny how some people see these qualities, but to be quite frank I was misguided and not oriented by my school counselor. Schools can't continue killing creativity...... We need freedom to think, to move, to soar, to expand......

2007-11-15T14:49:00.000-08:00

AUGUSTINE: Teaching is the greatest act of love and love is the best aid to learning. Those who love most, teach best.

Challenging the Status Quo

2007-10-29T15:16:00.000-07:00

The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.
Sydney J. Harris

In 1899, Catherine the Great of Russia adopted the "five-core curriculum", social studies, English, mathematics, science, and foreign languages. This framework was to produce good soldiers who would follow orders, good factory workers who would perform assembly-line tasks, and good tax-paying citizens who would not question authority.
They were conformed with the term - what you see is what you get. PERIOD. They didn't know better. Somehow some of us think the contrary. We have irrated convention, gone against certain norms, and pushed at limitations.... I am not saying that we don't have to follow certain standards or rules. On the contrary, they are essential. The thing is... schools must have room for creativity. If they don't allow that, then the educational system will have nothing to look forward to- the result would be obsolete. Educational systems need to encourage students to think for themselves in an innate creative intelligent matter.

Evolution is taking place...more so than ever... We are awakening and becoming more mindful of the world.
New ways to educate have to start soon.

A message...

2007-10-24T14:53:00.000-07:00

The simplicity of the truths in all aspects of life often result ironically in difficult spoken or written attempts to explain them. One never stops learning the wisdom of how to live by actually living and absorbing experiences, as opposed to learning how to live or how your should according to societal models and seasonal trends.We should be taught to be creative, or more so to exploit and develope our natural creative abilities; abilities which effectively can develop individual advantages ("competitive advantage" in capitalist and industrial terms.) that pave way to personally fulfilling and humane life styles. The negative manifestations in society such as stress and illness are the product of LIFE being an extension and byproduct of industrial, mass produced, cannibalistically competitive WORK. Personal differentiation and advantage comes to these only from the amount of work and so called education. As opposed to how it should be, where creatively educated individuals could engage in equally creative and unique productive activities depending on the ever-so diverse and particular abilities, knowledge, social contacts etc., which consecuently diminish or eliminate inhuman and unhealthy organizational competition that originates from present economic paradigms; WORK being an extension and byproduct of LIFE.

Sir Ken Robinson on TEDTALKS - Schools killed creativity

2007-10-23T21:25:00.001-07:00

Albert Einstein's thoughts on Education

2007-10-13T09:32:00.000-07:00

"The value of man, however, should be seen is what he gives and not in what he is able to receive". Albert Einstein.

Reading Einstein's Book, "Out Of My Later Years", got me to think a lot about what education should stand for.
We have all been lectured on how to live our life. People think they can mold our personalities. This is so wrong. Personalities are not formed by what we hear or what others say. Our personalities are the mere creation of what we go through in life. It is the doing, activities we experience, traveling, reading, interactions, and creative seeking that our personality is formed.

As I had mentioned before, schools need to put a priority on spirituality and aim solely on the student's individuality. We cannot continue educating children with force, coldness, artificial authority, and other manipulative ways.
Einstein talks about how a child can undertake a task or challange by simply looking it from an authority and distinction viewpoint, or loving interest in the object and a desire for truth, and thus to that divine curiosity which every healthy child possesses but which so often early is weakened. We can't let this happen. We need to encourage children to experience a harmonious atmosphere. The teachers need to be given little coercive measures as possible so that in return the students will respect them on a human and intellectual way. This creates an ambience of less effort and tension. The children need to enhance their self-confidence and to feel a mutual and sincere respect for their teacher and fellow classmates.

Einstein said something very interesting regarding this matter. He quoted "Darwin's theory of the struggle for existence and the selectivity connected with it has by many people been cited as authorization of the encouragement of the spirit of competition. Some people also in such a way have tried to prove pseudo-scientifically the necessity of the destructive economic struggle of competition between individuals. But this is wrong, because man owes his strenght in the struggle for existence to the fact that he is a socially living animal". He also mentions that one should guard against preaching to the young man success in the customary sense as the aim of his life.

Children cannot be educated like if they were some sort of tool. Einstein states "The school should always have as its aim that the young man who leave it as a harmonious personality, not as a specialist. The development of general ability for independent thinking and judgment should always be placed foremost, not the aquisition of special knowledge. If a person masters the fundamentals of his subject and has learned to think and work independently, he will surely find his way and besides will better be able to adapt himself to progress and changes than the person whose training principally consists in the acquiring of detailed knowledge."

Too many distractions................

2007-10-10T10:13:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago I was discussing with someone about education, and how most schools are educating students on a capitalist, dependant, egotistical, competitive, and rigid level. So what ever happened to creativity? Where does the definition of "Who am I" fit in the equation? I don't know about you, but I am slowly uncovering hidden thoughts and feelings that have been buried in me for quite some time... cause let me tell ya... LIFE IS ABOUT CREATING YOURSELF!

There is a book that I love , The Urantia Book, that talks about the understanding of cosmology and the relation of the planet on which we live to the Universe, as well as the evolution and destiny of Man and his relation to God. It's basically the well-being of Man, as an individual and as a member of society.
There is a passage from the book that I strongly agree with, and it reads like this "The purpose of education should be an acquirement of skill, pursuit of wisdom, realization of selfhood, and attainment of spiritual values. We need to pursue wisdom as an enhancement of insight into the significance of human relations, the meaning of reality, the nobilty of values, goals of living, and the glories of cosmic destiny. Education has too long been localistic, militaristic, ego exalting, and sucess seeking; must eventually become world-wide, idealistic, self-realizing, and cosmic grasping." Urantia Book, paper 71, pg 806.

This is precisely the point I want to get at. Growing up I found there were too many distractions, in and outside of school for most of us. We really didn't have the time to think truly what we wanted... and why is this? because most of society, and most schools conditioned us to think a certain way. They basically told us how to think, behave, and be.

Yes, I liked my school and it was pretty much a liberal one compared to most schools in my city. I think they lacked in being proactive in helping and guiding us with our careers. I really didn't feel any support whatsover about where I was going in my future and

what were my purposes in my life ?

A class based on Life Projections where we could have discussed about what motivated us, our goals, desires, and dreams, would have been ideal to have a better understanding of the future we wanted.

I also believe that a humanitarian class like Spirituality, not religion, would have been an extraordinary class. In my case, I believe we were too consumed and distracted from the outerworld. A class that taught us about meditation, and being in silence would have lead us more into our innerself.

A health class that also offered a cooking class would have been a great idea as well. Some children are starting to become anorexic at the age of 10, not 13, 10. If we don't start by teaching students on how to eat a balanced meal, and explaining to them that the media affects and influences children's self confidence, then we are just supporting this sickness by not doing anything about it.