Tag: politics

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Pondering Courage and More

Just pondering a recent Facebook post….


Some people hate. I’ve had people tell me to hate some one, some group, or some thing. I can’t muster up the energy to do that. Some people lash out with toxic aggression (seems to be a trait of the United States “mindset.” And, then there are people who can remain calm in the midst of turmoil and act with no fear for themselves. Neerja Bhanot was one of those people. 


I think there are many people who have these attributes, but who fortunately are never put to the test. There were a plane full of people on United Airlines flight 93 headed to Washington on 9/11/2001. We see many such people during the big disasters that becoming more frequent. We see it among teachers, doctors, nurses, firefighters, policeman….. We see these qualities among mothers and fathers. We also see it among dogs, who will put themselves at risk to help or protect others without any training or request. 


But, here in the U.S. and in many other places around the world, aggression and violence are valued and promoted. The toxicity of anger, hatred, and violence is a pandemic in the U.S. that is a greater threat than the pandemic of Covid-19. In fact, this pandemic of aggression-hate-violence is so threatening that it is likely to bring down this country along with a huge death toll. We find ourselves in a pandemic of delusional psychosis (a) on the “right” of the political spectrum (I don’t know what to call it) and (b) on the left, which seems to be stuck in another kind of delusion of normalcy and self-absorption. 


If only we had a vaccine for this pandemic….

FACEBOOK POST:

Gregory Hilton —- Snietpstemebeiir 10, otedrne2019  · 

33rd Anniversary: Flight Attendant Who Saved American Lives Shot Dead By Terrorists.

She was the youngest person and first civilian to posthumously receive India’s highest award for gallantry. 


This week in September 1986, Flight Attendant Neerja Bhanot, 23, of Chandigarh, India was shot dead while shielding three children on the hijacked Pan Am Flight 73. 


She is credited with saving the lives of 360 passengers when radical Islamist terrorists hijacked her aircraft in Karachi, Pakistan. She informed the pilots who used their escape hatch to get away. When the terrorists demanded to know who the Americans were on the flight so they could execute them, Bhanot gathered all passports and hid those belonging to Americans under seat cushions.


The terrorists confused and unable to determine the national origins of the passengers didn’t execute anyone. When Pakistani police raided the plane she was able to nearly singlehandedly evacuate all the passengers as the firefight ensued.


She was one of the last people on board and found three children still hiding. As she led the children to safety the surviving terrorists spotted the children and opened fire on them. Neerja jumped in the way of the bullets and was mortally wounded.


She was able to evacuate the children to safety before dying from her wounds. She also posthumously received a “Special Courage” award from the government of Pakistan and recognition from the U.S. Department of Justice. The 2016 Indian Hindi-language biographical thriller drama, Neerja, is about her life.

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Disconnection, Collapse, Complex Systems, and Working Now in the Liminal Spaces

Over the span of my life so far, I’ve been noticing some disturbing trends, which may very well be contributing to our current situation on the brink of disaster, if not extinction. Some of these trends probably have been in existence for hundreds, if not, thousands of years, while others are more recent. And, some seem to be more characteristic of one country (or a few countries) or region.

  • An increase in aggression becoming our default response to uncertain situations or more intense situations..
  • An increase in our emotions driving our decision-making in almost all contexts…. From fear to desire, from joy to repulsion….
  • Tending towards a complete loss of empathy (not to mention compassion) towards fellow human being
  • Tending towards a complete loss of empathy and disconnect from other living beings, from pets to wildlife and our critically important invertebrate cousins.
  • The development of a total disregard for the environments and ecosystems in which we live and upon which we depend
  • An increase in mind-less buy-in to the myths of capitalism
  • An increase in the mind-less buy-in to religious dogma and a loss of the connection to the core meanings of different religions
  • An increase in intolerance, if not hate, of those who are “different”
  • An increase in racism
  • An increase in addiction to our devices (phones, TV’s, cars, etc.), to our foods, to careers, to substances of all kinds, and to our own neuroses and habitual patterns of thinking and behaving
  • An increase in the loss of integrity – decreases in trustworthiness, dependability, reliability, responsibility, honesty, forthrightness, and so forth.

These tendencies are just a few of the more “ig-notable” ones. I’m sure we can add many more to the list. At the same time, all of these tendencies intertwine with one another. There really are no distinct borders between one and another.

I am sure there are multiple factors that have contributed to the increases in these tendencies. Technology has certainly played a big role in disconnecting people in various ways. The concerted effort of the “institution of education” to dumb down the population has had major effects on these tendencies. Political and corporate brainwashing has been a major factor. “Religious leaders” – who do not have deep and extensive training in their spiritual disciplines and in their religious teachings and who edit what teachings they know to conform to their own egotism and biases – have contributed to many of these tendencies.

The corporate world and its greed and disregard for social and environmental responsibility has had huge effects.

And, again, there are many other contexts that have had and continue to have effects on how we relate to the world.

Our complete buy-in to Objectivist, Positivist, Reductionist, Mechanistic thinking (from Rene Descartes, Isaac Newton, and others) has been a core contributor to our disconnects to one another, to other life forms, to society, and to the ecosystems and environment upon which we depend.

At the same time, human beings have so much potential. We can love. We can care for others. We can create amazing powerful, thought-provoking, and/or beautiful music, dance, works of art, novels, stories, film, and poetry. We can develop incredible technologies and structures. We can explore and develop incredible scientific understandings of our world.

Yet, we have brought ourselves to the brink of destruction. Ecosystems are collapsing, Rates of extinction are skyrocketing. Resources are being depleted. And, climate patterns are changing so radically and so quickly that the weather-related disasters that were once rare and becoming common events, which in turn is creating havoc in some parts of the world. And, what is happening in a few areas now will become commonplace everywhere else in the world over the next decade or so.

Our global situation is absolutely beyond grim. However, governments and other institutions will not be “the answer” to the “wicked” problems we’re facing. But, they can make a difference in providing a more workable context for change. And, that change has to come from between the institutions (in the liminal spaces)…. In other words, change needs to arise from as many people as possible working together to address the very complex, transcontextual, and very slippery interacting systems and the pathologies that are plaguing these systems.

And, we need to start NOW!

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A Short Discussion on “Senate Adopts Resolution Declaring ‘The Press Is Not the Enemy of the People'”

“Senate Unanimously Passes Resolution Declaring the press Is Not the Enemy of the People”

View Video Here

It would be nice if Congress would take more stands like this, but I think this action is superficial and all too politically safe.

I’m getting to the point where I think the whole system has become pathological (and Democrats are equally responsible for what’s happening). And, by the “whole system,” I really mean multiple systems (political, economic, educational, social, etc.). And, electing new people isn’t going to fix it. There might be a temporary shift, but we are collapsing (along with most other societies).

We (almost all people) have been “trained” to think in linear ways, where cause and effect are simplistic and blame is easy to assign. But, living systems are complex (they don’t operate according to simplistic linear rules and processes). Thinking that blames Trump or even the Republicans for our ills is way too simplistic. The current situation has arisen and continues due to a multiplicity of interacting systems. Capitalism and the rise of neoliberalism are big contributing factors. The systemic dumbing down of children through public schooling since the mid/late 1800’s is another factor, along with the mechanistic approaches to education that have prevented the learning of flexible, creative, and critical thinking. And, we can see how the social system has been created to respond to fear and anger, while maintaining an animal realm nose-to-the-ground existence. We can go on talking about how all of these systems interact and reinforce one another, but it’s too much to cover here.

The big characteristic of complex systems is that they are self-maintaining. At this point, the cluster of interacting systems has “learned” to maintain itself in generally the way we are seeing them manifest. Let’s say we elect a great Democratic president and Congress, we may notice a shift in certain characteristics, but the underlying patterns of money, power, and control will remain, just as they have for many decades. And, then as global warming continues to increase exponentially, the population continues to grow beyond the limits of resources that can maintain the population, and people (including millions of North Americans) are driven from their homes from these previously mentioned conditions, the deeply embedded patterns of reacting with fear and aggression comes storming back into the social-political-educational-economic-etc. contexts, and we get politicians who will be even worse than the ones we have now. And then, I suspect everything starts to collapse… and this is probably within the next decade or two.

It seems to me that the only things we can do to prevent a total collapse involve:

  • not creating divisions between people, but getting everyone to begin caring for and supporting one another and working together;
  • changing the way we think by moving from the linear and simplistic cause and effect ways of thinking to complex systems thinking; and
  • not depending on politicians and governments to “solve” the problems, but working with others in the liminal spaces between institutions to explore ways of dealing with the big issues we’re facing.
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The Dissolution of the Institution of Education

I’ve been a critic of the institution of education in the U.S. for quite some time. Little did I know that in my lifetime I would see this institution be threatened with elimination. At this moment, I’m trying to contend with this radical change in status. Yes, we’ve had many problems, many of which were rooted in the politics of education. National standards and high stakes testing have been problematic. The ways in which teachers are treated, including low salaries, their systematic deprofessionalization, and their portrayal in the media and by politicians. But, now that we are faced with the destruction of the U.S. Department of Education and the massive defunding of public education, I wouldn’t mind going back to the way things were. An institution with all of its problems is better than no institution at all.

Without an institution of education, without a federal department of education, our children face a grim future. Those who will suffer the most are the poor and middle class. The wealthy can send their children to private schools. The rest of us, even with vouchers or other support, will not be able to access these schools. Just like public charter schools and public magnet schools, the vast majority of which cater to the wealthier families by making the process for applying and being accepted difficult and time-consuming to navigate. The parents in poor families spend their time trying to make enough money to survive and have little time for anything else.

Even going to private schools can be problematic. Many teachers have no academic preparation for teaching. Some private schools barely manage to act like baby-sitters. And, those private schools with some sort of brainwashing agenda can fail to provide the kind of education that is necessary for survival, let alone for thriving, in a world that is changing in ways that cannot be anticipated.

Children will be deprived of a basic education. For many children, schools provide them with the only healthful food they eat in a day. For many, school provides a rare safe zone, where they don’t have to worry about physical or psychological violence. And, as problematic as our education system has been, it did provide for these basic needs.

If some sort of free school arises from the ashes, they will be corporate run. The publishers and testing companies may step in to fill the gap. Then, they can control the very system that can rake in billions of dollars in profits. And, at the same time, these corporate entities can control what children learn, how they learn it, and what values children develop. As corporatized as we may have thought schools were, this will pale in comparison to the corporate schools that may arise. It will be brainwashing at its best. And, teachers will be forced into submission to the teacher-proofed corporate curriculum. Education for democracy will not even be a thought. Child-centered education may become a catchy phrase, but will have lost its essential meaning. Children will not be anywhere near to “center” of focus. They will be pawns to be manipulated for profit and for control.

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Losing Our Nation

I’m sad. Actually, I’m incredibly sad. I’m sitting here having realized that my country in gone. Poof! Just like that… gone. If you haven’t realized this, you have probably felt an uneasy sense that something-is-missing. This experience must be like dying in your sleep…. You lie down in a world of solid objects and all of your feelings and thoughts, then all of a sudden there’s no solid, physical world. Everything is kind of fuzzy and slippery. We can’t quite grasp anything. Even our thoughts seem fuzzy and slippery. We feel like we just cannot get a handle on what is real and what isn’t. And I think, as a society, we’ve been asleep for quite some time. And, now many of us have awakened into some sort of limbo state or purgatory as the Catholics say.

The coup has taken place, and yet people, especially our legislators, seem to think that everything might be a bit bizarre, but it is still business as usual. In reality, it is a whole new situation. It is kind of like a baseball team taking the 7th inning break, but when they come back out of the dugout it’s cricket and not baseball. We are no longer living in a democracy where the rules of the game have been followed for the past 240 years. The rules have just changed, but not everyone knows it yet. They keep thinking that this executive order, this nomination, and this action are the issues, but they are just the window dressings – the distractions for a much bigger plan that is going to change everything.

The way we’ve done business up to this point will no longer be effective. In fact, such ways will be counterproductive and feed into the take-over of the U.S. And, it’s not just the U.S. where the action is happening. The same transformation is happening in countries around the world. But, in this big shift, the U.S. will no longer be the leader of the “free” world. The free world is disappearing.

This movement of the “far-right” is not only occurring across national contexts, but also is occurring in multiple contexts, such as the media and communication contexts, the deep state (all of the government agencies and structures) contexts, the global economic contexts, the national economic contexts, the education context, religious contexts, cultural contexts, et al. (some of these are discussed in Jordan Greenhall’s article, “Situational Assessment 2017: Trump Edition,” https://medium.com/deep-code/situational-assessment-2017-trump-edition-d189d24fc046#.gqr4pj8my

I don’t care for the word, “far-right,” to describe what is happening. Maybe it’s the rise of bigotry in a culture of fear and loathing. A rise in corporatism, as the central authoritarian god, not unlike many science fiction films: Fifth Element, Blade Runner, Brave New World, and Total Recall, among many others. Whatever you’d like to call it, the coup is happening right now. And, this coup is not just the president, it involves all of his advisors, and the entire Repugnant Party (aka, Republican Party). It also involves Democratic congress people who seem to think it is just business as usual. In addition, all of us are responsible for not voting, for being conned, and/or for thinking that everything will work out. It is also Putin and Russian, most Europe, South American, Africa, and throughout the Middle East and Asia. It’s in the technology, the media, the economy and big corporations. It’s in law enforcement and any number of government agencies. It’s also in the education system and in religions that confuse money and power with being a religious leader.

It is all overwhelming, but also workable. At least, I hope it is workable. Everyone of us has to keep pressure on our Congress people. We need to resist and stop making our current governments seem legitimate. We need to take immediate actions, as well as long-term actions, like educating ourselves and our children. Schools have failed and are in part responsible for our current situation. But, it isn’t the fault of teachers, but rather is the fault of the politicians and corporations that have systematically created policies and curriculum that dumb down our children, through fragmented and irrelevant curriculum and high stakes tests that show nothing of any depth about children’s learning and thinking.

There are no easy answers or solutions to this situation. But, if we want to find ways of working with this situation, we must examine multiple contexts and find ways in working with these contexts, which include, but certainly not limited to:

• political contexts
• all aspects of the economic contexts
• all educational contexts
• religious contexts
• socio-cultural contexts

These and other contexts all intertwine.

From within these intertwining contexts and the systems within these contexts, pathologies have arisen that have led to our current situation. To address these pathologies we must work transcontextually and avoid looking for linear causes.

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Responsibility and Relationships: From You and Me to Society

Over the past eight months or so, my wife and I have been renting a house after moving from a different city. Several weeks ago we found a house to buy. We approached our landlord, who lives out of state, and proposed that if he can let us out of our lease we could help him find a new tenant and fix up the place to move-in ready condition before the new tenant moves in. To us, this seemed like a perfectly normal proposition and apparently so did our landlord.

So, for the past two weeks we have been advertising the house, letting people view the house, and handing out applications and landlord contact information. But, what has been surprising about this whole process is that the people who call and come to see the house cannot figure out why we are doing this. They can’t make sense out of why we would be advertising the house, why we would be showing the house, and why we would be discussing the terms of the lease. When they ask “why?” I want to just say, because we’re responsible adults. But, I just give them a rather lengthy rationale instead.

I don’t think people have any models for how to develop straightforward relationships with people and how to assume responsibility for situations. The relationships they encounter with housing are all adversarial and based on distrust. Gregory Bateson’s complementary (dominant–submissive) and symmetrical (competitive or adversarial) types of relationships seem to characterize the vast majority of relationships encountered in the business of everyday life. As for “responsibility,” schools don’t really address it, even though they talk about teaching it all of the time. Their parents have been caught up in the same messy relationships and have lacked any experience in responsibility. And, most workplaces are based on the same dysfunctional sorts of relationships and lack of trust.

We live in a society where the relationships are out of whack. In such contexts, a number of the social characteristics we all discuss and say that we value are just not supported. These social characteristics include responsibility, ethics, empathy, moral reasoning/judgment, and so forth. We’ve created a social context where these sorts of positive personal and social characteristics are not supported, encouraged, or developed. There are few positive models for others to emulate. The vast majority of relationships are problematic at best. What we see in the media are dysfunctional relationships. The vast majority of our politicians do not model functional (reciprocal, negotiable) relationships or any of the positive social characteristics. I’d like to say that looking at the Republican debates is clear evidence of dysfunctionality, but the same holds true for almost all politicians. It’s just that the Republicans seem have taken the bar to a whole new low point. However, the point is that the predominant model of behavior as represented in film, TV, news, and everyday encounters is one that does not value reciprocal relationships and the values and behaviors that are intertwined in such relationships. Reciprocal relationships (Bateson’s third type) are those that are based on some sense of trust, and where terms and issues are negotiated rather than becoming the source of conflict and resentment. This sort of relationship should be what we strive to achieve with our partners, our friends, our families, and our adversaries. What would Congress look like if reciprocity was the basis for interactions. Instead of blockages and other childish games, we may see adults sitting down together in serious conversation. Disagreements would be a source of negotiation, change, and growth. But, instead we are left with childish, self-centered antics that only serve to prevent growth and destabilize the whole of society.

As The Turtles said, “You don’t believe we’re on the eve of destruction.” But, here we are and not quite in the way The Turtles saw it.

We can step back from this precipice and change our ways of thinking and acting, but that will take an overwhelming desire from a vast majority of people to just say “NO MORE” to this nonsense.

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More Shootings and We Still Haven’t Learned

Yet another school shooting today, and this time young children, as well as adults.

Of course, we still think everyone should have guns, even though the 2nd Amendment was not intended to allow guns in everyone’s homes, but rather for state organized militia. We should remember that those were very different times.

But, the issue of gun control is somewhat secondary to what has been a recurring pattern in our schools. Fundamentally, our whole notion of dealing with children in and out of schools is really heartless, much in the same way Boehner and his colleagues want to treat our elder citizens. Kids and the elderly are just numbers and pawns in a game of money and politics.

If we really want to help children, we don’t need to “raise standards,” use more high stakes tests, implement “zero tolerance” (just another form of heartlessness), or set up a “Common Core” curriculum. None of these efforts really have anything to do with the welfare of children. If we really cared about our children, we would help teachers formulate approaches to develop relationships. Children need to learn how to appreciate one another, to value differences, to develop empathy, and negotiate solutions to particular problems. When I was in the classroom, the personal and social problems that arose always trumped whatever agenda I had for the day or the week. We’d drop everything and work on ways to communicate and appreciate one another. It’s all about developing deeply meaningful and empathic communities in schools. When kids feel appreciated, they don’t act out with violence. But, of course, adults don’t do a very good job of modeling relationships and community. Look at our congress and the way they treat each other and the way they propagate fear and hatred of other cultures.

What the people who develop educational policy don’t realize is that when children begin to feel good about themselves and each other, they learn more than we could ever imagine. But, maybe that’s the issue. Maybe the policy-makers don’t want our children to feel good about themselves and don’t want them to learn more than some meaningless content.

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Greenpeace… Book Review

Greenpeace: How a Group of Ecologists, Journalists, and Visionaries Changed the World by Rex Weyler (2004, Rodale Press, 612 pp)

I just finished reading Rex Weyler’s Greenpeace…, which I purchased shortly after meeting Rex at a conference in July. His talk, which is posted on YouTube and on the Ecomind site, haunted me. Although I knew much of what he talked about, the actual confrontation with his data rattled my tendency for complacency.

Greenpeace Cover
His book, Greenpeace…, has had a similar effect and provides a thorough background to his more recent thinking and actions.

In the book, he delves into the political background starting in the late 1930’s, and also addresses the beginning of environmental/ecological awareness in the 1950. The whole book reads like an historical novel with captivating dialogue, intrigue, and humor. He brings to light some of the insidious patterns of power, control, and greed that have steadily led to the increased destruction of our local and global environments, including the increased extinction of many species of life.

Greenpeace started with protests of extensive nuclear tests. Their first trip on Greenpeace I, a contracted boat with its captain, John Cormack, headed to Amchitka Island in the Aleutians, where the United States was testing nuclear bombs deep under the surface of the Earth. Of course, the tests occurred along a very active tectonic plate boundary and literally exploded the heads off of wildlife on and around the island. Although they didn’t manage to stop the test they were focused on, their fundamental strategy of using the media to put pressure on governments and corporations was successful eventually, but only after many attempts and a ramming and beatings by the French navy. But, they maintained their core values of not doing harm to anyone and of not damaging property.

As they moved on to trying to stop the slaughtering of whales, they encountered the same resistance, but managed to put incredible pressure on countries to stop whaling. Interspersed with the open ocean adventures, are stories of Dr. Paul Spong’s and other scientists’ investigations of whales and their extensive intelligence and sensitivity. When Spong first started investigating whales he was dangling his feet in the water in the Vancouver Aquarium’s Orca tank. When the Orca swam up and brushed his foot with her teeth, Spong reacted reflexively by pulling his legs out of the water. After a number of times doing this, he forced himself not to react. When the Orca saw that he didn’t react, she swam out into middle of the tank and started making lots of sounds. It was at this point that Dr. Spong realized he had just been trained by the Orca and the roles had been reversed.

Rex Weyler also introduces a great deal of fundamental ecological concepts, to which we all should pay very close attention. The nature of the carbon cycle, energy, and toxicity, as well as all of the complex interactions among life forms (including humans) and the environment should be fundamental to the way we view our life and actions on Earth.

As Greenpeace expanded to protecting seals from being skinned alive, while decimating their populations (as with the whales), to dealing many other environmental and socio-political issues, the internal politics of Greenpeace became another potentially damaging dimension to their very future. However, the wisdom of a few key players helped Greenpeace to thrive as an international organization.

What I find troubling now is that it is very difficult to use the media to bring issues to light. We do have the capability to use the Internet for disseminating information, but the broad impact of the media is no longer a possibility. While the major TV networks and newspapers covered the actions of Greenpeace in the 1970’s, these same networks and newspapers are now owned by the corporations that are behind many of the current, destructive practices. From the ignorance, irresponsible, and dangerous practices of FOX news to the poor journalism of most of NPR, we’re placed in a fog of ignorance.

For those of us who lived during the beginning decade of Greenpeace in the 1970’s, the book introduces many familiar key figures on both sides of the issues. Some of the key players included then president Nixon and Jerry Brown (past and present governor of California), as well as Allen Ginsburg, Lawrence Ferlingetti, Chögyam Trungpa, and the 16th Karmapa, who provided support and wisdom. Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism and the I Ching also served as guides for their actions.

Reading Greenpeace…. was a joy (even when the stories were at their most disturbing). I found it hard to put down, even though each chapter is broken down into one to three page sections making it easy to read in small bits. I highly recommend this book as both an engaging read and an important source of information about our past and current situations. For me, the book has been a call to action, as well. We shouldn’t sit back, while the destruction of our global environment threatens the survival of the human species.

More by Rex Weyler:

http://rexweyler.com/
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/about/deep-green/

Greenpeace at:

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/ with links to Greenpeace International

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Children as Real People and Engaged Learners, but Schools Get in the Way

I mention in my book, Creating a Classroom Community of Young Scientists (2nd ed.), that “children are people.” Although this may seem obvious, the “institution” of schooling assumes that children are something less than human. In fact, children (as emotional, thinking, creative, and curious human beings) are totally missing in The No Child Left Behind Act. Children are merely pawns in the politics of education.

Fundamentally, humans are born as learning beings. From the moment children are born, they start exploring and making sense of the world. They learn one of the most abstract “things” we ever learn (i.e., language or languages) and do so within the first few years and with no real “instruction.” They come up with all kinds of explanations about the world (many of them are amazingly complex, but might make natural and social scientists cringe).

Children’s curiosity almost seems like a basic need. They crave learning  new things. Certainly from a biological point of view, curiosity leads to learning and learning provides human beings with tools for survival. For parents, the concern is always to what extent can you let children pursue their curiosity? If they curiously explore an electrical socket or a cabinet full of chemicals, they could end up getting seriously injured or worse. However, some parents seem to limit children’s exploration around all kinds of personal issues, like “not wanting to be bothered,” “too noisy,” etc. Then, of course, despite the best intentions of parents, they go to school. In most cases, school is the death nell for the spirit of children, which is filled with wonder and curiosity, intriguing ways of making sense of things, an innate cheerfulness, amazing imagination, and an excitement for learning. Schools immediately try to “control” children and make them conform to some adult standard of behavior. They limit or destroy their imaginations and curiosity. They deaden the very process of learning. It becomes the drill and practice march into stupefication. No more excitement for learning, no imaginative play, no more curiosity, no more exploration — just boredom. I’ve seen this happen to my own children, despite our best efforts keep them excited and curious.

Children are capable of so much more than No Child Left Behind will ever allow them do. Then we test them repeatedly for days on end. And, not only do we test them, but we drill and kill them for months in preparing for the tests. It’s a psychological act of violence that parents should be standing up to and saying “no more!”

If we really think hard about what is important for children, we might find that what schools are doing is just the opposite. Of course, there are many amazing teachers, who work very hard at helping children grow in ways that keep the excitement for learning alive, but they fight an uphill battle against their administrators, other teachers, and parents. It is extremely hard for teachers, especially new teachers who may enter the professional with the right kind of ideals, to pursue the kinds of approaches to teaching and learning that will actually benefit children. Such approaches see children as the producers of knowledge rather than the consumers of knowledge. Children explore, investigate, and generate explanations for what they have found. This what they do naturally. Teachers just need to help them refine these skills, challenge them to go to new heights, support them in whatever ways possible, and take peaks at new perspectives and possibilities.

Gregory Bateson (anthropologist, biologist, a thinker way ahead of his time, and one time husband of Margaret Mead) said there were three ways people can find the limits of the possible: (a) exploration (try out new things, see where one can go, etc.), (b) play (fantasy play, “what-if” play, pretending, experimenting, etc.), and (c) crime (breaking the official and unofficial rules, not conforming to the status quo, etc.). If we think about famous people who have made significant contributions to society through writing, science, the arts, etc., have these people engaged in any of these three ways of pushing the limits? Do children engage in any of these before entering school? What do schools do when children engage in these?

[* Thanks to Lisa Smith for her painting of the unicorn frog © 1976]

(originally published June 28, 2008)