stupefying, mindless, or obedient?

Extra post today!!

I just finished writing my last post on “Education” when I got a comment on it from Hudson Howl (thanks) and a new post in the inbox from Speccy. Read this one!! It is about how George Osborne was booed at the paralympics, and it refers to another great blogger, Sue at Diary of a Benefit Scrounger. Speccy and Sue write differently, but clearly, with compassion and often with a good whack of anger, but somehow never ever with self-pitying or whingeing or arrogance about others. [Fun and joy there too]

The context of these two posts is very British, but it seems to me there are equivalent types of systems everywhere inadequate humans have tried to balance the economy and pretend hope we are still good people who look after those less fortunate who can’t manage for themselves. But what I have just written is maybe exactly the problem, the economy is put first, and the need is second, or way down the list, as if some of us are UP and some are DOWN, some of us HAVE and some of us HAVE NOT, rather than all different, with different needs and abilities and we are all in the one system, one world, and forget to co-operate and get on with doing what we can, knowing others too do what they can. And no-one is saying it is even or fair or that it isn’t going to need a lot of work to make it a better world/way of living in it.

So this is how it connects with my recent education post:

I boil over often about how much education by well-meaning people is appalling, in its capacity to stupefy, to create mindless followers, to make out of anyone what my sister calls “Blind Obedience” especially in that the blindness is that the stupefied person does not know they are stupid.

So much education ignores we are all in it, in a moving living system, and much of what we do is in actuality ‘mindless’ by which I mean unconsciously motivated and not understood thoughtfully. Emotion, reaction, unconscious, happens first, before you even start awareness – that’s why it’s mindless. There are loads of psychological experiments about this, the most famous probably Milgram, who got some people to apparently give other people lethal electric shocks. The issue in all of this is that of AUTHORITY. People, especially including me, are very very likely to mindlessly obey anyone or any instruction they see as an appropriate authority.

Unless, they observe themselves doing it. Then they are able to stop and think, in mind, can even assess what sort of authority is speaking, and is it appropriate.

As my parents (appropriate authority, see?) would have said … Catch yourself on… Thank you thank you Mum and Dad and many since who gave me space to “Catch myself on”,  at least often enough.

So I think many of those in positions of power, have got there because their own particular brand of mindlessness never lets them catch themselves on, they have become STUPEFIED. They keep going, along the track, well-trodden, well learnt, passed on by a stupefying mindless authority now in their own heads. They fool others as well as themselves, look as if they know what they are doing. They do, they are carrying on as things have always been done.

Anyone who has a vote and votes in any context/country for this kind of mindless power, anyone who is with others, say teaching?, say parenting?, catch yourself on, ask who is this authority being used for, me, or the other I am ‘helping’. And then ask again, but if you are like me where one of the blind obedience rules is was self-doubt, then do something, the best you can at the moment, paralysis is another kind of stupefaction, and don’t forget to look at what happens with curiosity, interest and no calling yourself ‘stupid’. So…

STOP

CATCH YOURSELF ON

Then your reaction will shift to being a response. If there are times you might have to ‘go along to get along’ that is different. You are not passing mindlessness on. Good luck. Enjoy living.

[References re the power and how people in authority can use/misuse/abuse the power they have are all over the web. If you are theoretically minded, there is a great but psychoanalytically technical paper, "The Fascist State of Mind" by Christopher Bollas, which you do not have to believe just because someone of that ilk wrote it.]

Education, and my star learner-teacher-educator-discoverer

Inspired by Sidey’s weekly theme: Education

Oh Oh Oh … I never meant to be a teacher… I was aiming for the stars… (astronomy maybe) … hit the roof inside when my first university professor suggested ‘teaching’ was a good job for a (pregnant) girl graduate… but what a lot of fun I had, still have, and I did end up calling myself an ‘educator’ and incidentally discovered that for me having children/working with children/ watching others with their children would become a life long joy I had not known could exist.

Do I know what ‘education’ means? With a woman’s ‘educator’ career behind me? [I have taught something at nearly every age and stage you can think of.] No, I don’t know, not really, have not heard a good definition except for going back to Latin and saying it means Lead Out, but I have to say that Romans, Coliseum, Lions, Crucifixion, and lots more leave a lot to be desired in terms of thinking about where education might lead have been useful in those days. It depends on where, when, and what might be needed.

Who (who is learning, never mind if anyone is teaching. Who is this education for? is worth asking)

Where (formal, informal, home, school, college, workplace, institution, life)

What (facts, topics, subjects, skills, attitudes, morals, you tell me)

Why (useful, pleasure, vocational, academic, professional, creative, other)

How … ah ha … that’s what most of the fuss is about … and goes with the ‘who’ question

told by a teacher who of course already knows it – uh uh well David Attenborough on animals and nature does that quite well – so did my star – see below

told by a teacher when someone else* has told the teacher what should be taught

not told… discovered… but what if the stuff already known is not around for discovery

or, what if there is something new, subversive, OMG different, around …

* if education was good to us, we think what we got must be the right kind/if it wasn’t so hot, then it’s either “never did me any harm” or “best kind of learning is school of life innit?”

*NOT LIKE IT WAS WHEN I WAS LEARNING ANYWAY IS IT THEY DONT KNOW ANY GRAMMAR THEY DONT KNOW HOW TO ADD THEY DONT KNOW ABOUT MANNERS THEY

Sorry sorry get a bit carried away sometimes….

[These cartoons (and many more) are from Tony Beesley and have been on/in my computer files for a long time but I cannot find any reference to him now, except the name. Thanks Tony]

Do I have a star teacher? Or teacher type? (Learn by listening, learn by doing, learn by discovery, learn by discussion, learn teamwork, learn independently, … aaagh aaagh aaagh…)

My Star: Michael Faraday, learner teacher educator discoverer…

Michael Faraday, detail from lithograph by Alexander Blaikley, Christmas Lecture

Michael Faraday, incredibly wonderful discoverer in science, was the person who began the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures in 1825 – yes 1825.

He also gave many many Royal Institution lectures for science education and insisted that all lectures there should never ever last more than one hour, and have as many visual aids/demonstrations as possible. All without film, video, power point and internet, and if he had not done all the wonderful work he did it is possible we would not yet have any of that stuff. He often had to make his own equipment.

Never mind the different techniques now available -

1. Are educational principles the same now as they were then – we just have different means for demonstration and communication?

2. Are educational principles the same for all disciplines? [learn a foreign language, drive a car, understand economics, play the piano... ]

Faraday was a scientist, of his time. One of the the most unusual things about that was that he did not come from the upper, educated, leisured classes. He was the son of a blacksmith. His joy in science and wish to share it is still well served by the Royal Institution where he worked for so many years. And, early RI lectures on Education can now be read online.

One of these is the Faraday Lecture on Mental Education, given in 1854 to a distinguished audience. His main point:

Education is of the Self

I take courage…to speak boldly that which is upon my mind.  I feared that it might be unpleasant to some of my audience… (p. 463)

Among those points of self-education…. there is one…. difficult to deal with, because it involves an internal conflict and equally touches our vanity and our ease.  It consists in the tendency to deceive ourselves regarding all we wish for, and the necessity of resistance  to these desires… (p. 475)

This education has for its first and last step humility.  It can commence only because of a conviction of deficiency; and if we are not disheartened under the growing revelations which it will make, that conviction will become stronger unto the end…  (p. 485)

Such self-schooling must continue to the end of life to supply an experience of deficiency rather than of attainment, still there is abundant stimulus to excite any man to perseverance.  What he has lost are things imaginary, not real; what he gains are riches before unknown to him, yet invaluable… (p.485)

The deficiency is known hypothetically, but I doubt if in reality; the individual acknowledges the state in respect of others, but is unconscious of it in regard to himself.  (p.489)

…Because the education is internal, it is not the less needful; nor is it more the duty of a man that he should cause his child to be taught than that he should teach himself…

It is victorian, it does not say much about curriculum, it does not say much about schools or other institutions. I think it is amazing. Like modern notions in therapy and personal development, like the discoveries being made in neuroscience, he says OBSERVE YOURSELF, see yourself as others see you and stop looking at others as if they are the faulty ones, learn to feel, think, self-correct, assess … gain riches before unknown.

Like David Attenborough, Faraday the scientist, and all the other great educators, the education offered is

just an invitation

hey – I enjoy this stuff – come join me – how about you?

this is the kind of education which will indeed change the world – riches unknown

My grandsons went back to school yesterday, in Shanghai, my grand-daughters today, in Block Island. Half a world apart, I hope they are invited and I hope they take up the invitations they receive.

Getting the backpack ready

teamwork – computer literacy – Level ?? Ben-Ten

Simple and complex

A while ago, before I began following the Daily Post, the photo challenge suggested ‘simple’ as a theme. I was glad not to need to try that, as I can never see ‘simple’ without wondering if it is really.

Glass of water on the kitchen table

This is a glass of water, on my kitchen table.

Water – from the tap which is quite good tasting and certainly drinkable here, but I expect there are ‘things’ in it besides water. The Scottish Water Board or whoever they are now that everything is owned by some corporation registered somewhere in the some distant part of the world might be annoyed at this suggestion. H2O – not really simple! Scottish Water, not very simple either. Different meaning to simple there.

But when I, me, looks at this photo, I see the table. The photo can show grain in the wood, it’s an old table, how many other things have sat there? what tree grew and fell to make it? That’s not really what I see – for me there is the history of where and when I bought it (in a second hand shop up Causewayside, brought home in the boot, tailgate open, of the Honda, last car I owned) – settling in to here where I have now lived longer than anywhere else I have lived, why did I need a kitchen table…because my then just become ex got the other one…  all the people who have sat there since, Cindy writing her essays, Daowen teaching me chinese, … memories memories.

Who would know all that but me?

“Simple” or “complex” depends on the viewer as well as the view, does it not?

I got a phone call on Sunday, unexpected and delightful, from J my friend from New Zealand. She reads this blog, we email etc. but it is wonderful to hear her voice. We were chatting about the others we know and care about and some sadness at recent deaths, though these had been in old age. And we talked about the history of someone’s life, another person we both know. On the surface, a pleasant, quiet woman, maybe 80 already, maybe just getting there. But once you have talked with her a little, what a number of things have been in that life, and how many different experiences and places. This is my experience of everyone, young as well as old, once you start listening, the unique stories are there in layer upon layer of experience.

Just an egg…

Not simple at all – hugely interesting and complex, here is another photo pretty obviously  simple or complex depending on whether you are thinking outside or inside.

This notion of how anything can seem simple, or complex, depending on the way you happen to look, grew in my head because Sidey’s weekend theme this week in CONTRASTS. [I had been thinking of lots of stories from the sublime to the ridiculous, and not able to blog them as no matter how I looked they were embarrassing, to me or someone else. I am always wondering how to blog when anyone can look and read, and just love seeing how other people do it with such grace and/or humour that it works.]

One young person in my life at the moment is Paul, who was 7 years old last week, he and his mother share my flat, so I see him every day. In a short life he has been living on three different continents, he has experienced very different education systems and styles, he is bilingual, and he is well-adjusted, cheerful, likes football and swimming and in conversation will come up with all sorts of questions. He knows life is very interesting and varied. I think everyone does, even if they do not have the range of different experiences he has had. A first look says he is not-scottish, different, a second says he is like any 7 year old boy, a third he is lively and also ‘good’, aware of adults and well behaved, a fourth… well just look, listen, get to know.

However, not everyone seems to manage living with different experiences, and not everyone seems to experience difference happily, with interest. Contrast is a good theme – lets go for celebration of difference. Look for the inside or the outside, on the surface or under it, find stories hidden in the grain of the wood, use imagination and empathy, hurray for difference. Hurray for the contrasts we find everywhere.

[Doesn't mean they are all easy to live with, or that some can't be judged as NOT good at all, like the obscenes of poverty/wealth, destructive behaviour, ... just look for the layers before judging... and what a lot of interesting stuff there is around.]

 

 

 

 

Feeling political

It is difficult to do anything about anything here but over and over again I find I am feeling political and wish I had the ability or confidence to find a way to act. Even within the family I feel ‘wrong’ but mother-in-laws and grandmothers learn fast that speaking out is never a way forward. (‘Transference’ rules, and ‘counter-transference’ ends up giving one far too much information, though does keep one sane.)

Yesterday and today we spent time at the running track. On arriving at the sand-pit yesterday, a fairly disturbed/disturbing little chinese boy – maybe about 3 years old from his speech, but as tall as a 5 year old – was pushing his face into strange scowls, and into other’s faces. As soon as my boys stepped into the play space, he was on them, so I did my teachery thing and smiled at him, shrugged shoulders and generally invited him my way by joky body language, and he responded. He became more natural, and played well enough, there were 4/5 kids there and they all shared well. But, the inappropriateness and neediness was always there – Asbergers-ish – not that I know too much about this or other syndromes. He did latch on to me, giving me the feeling that very few people have much time for him. Louis and Ali were friendly too, and when they went off round the running track, they accepted that he just joined them, and did not object to his being much too close and his odd facial expressions, they just took off and ran round him. He and his grandmother were there again today and she was very friendly and obviously glad to see us. So, how is this political? It isn’t, but I would like to know what the knowledge and provision is, whether it is the same or different from the west, and of course, provision for many things is patchy there anyway, and getting so much worse under Gove and Cameron… hence politics.

And, there is a contrast here which is both personal and political. The ‘running track’ is actually a local recreation ground, freely provided, kept tidy and clean but not snazzy, and the people there tend to be poor/ordinary rather than rich. Very different from Sunday, when Cindy had brought our boys to Fastrack Kids free morning. I, in my ignorance, thought it was just another outing… a morning of fun for us… but of course I forgot how much Cindy wants the boys to have advantages. They are now signed up to attend every Sunday morning. It is a world wide business from USA supposedly offering the ‘edge’ in learning to the kids who attend. I very much approved of the teacher-kid ratio of 1-8 (though these are 3-5 year olds, it ought to be this kind of ratio, I have already become used to Chinese expectation where there are about 30 kids in the kindergarten class, two adults.) And, no doubt the boys enjoyed their first taste, but, it was just good child-friendly chinese teaching. At least we were allowed to watch, which has not been the case anywhere else in China. Fastrack also did a presentation for accompanying adults, in chinese, so I relied on the powerpoints and body language, and was reminded of the guy who once tried to sell me a holiday share in Ibiza or somewhere. They promised all sorts of good words – on their website too – like child-centered, teamwork, knowledge integration, leadership, etc etc.Well, they were child friendly, but not not not child-centered and I am so fed up with people taking these words and misusing them. Everything the four children present at Sunday’s event did was teacher-centered, even the so-called creative work with glue and cotton wool. The teachers worked very hard indeed for an hour with all the focus on them, getting answers to their questions, responses to their programme, etc etc. My question is, if they do not know what child-centered means, do they know what teamwork etc means? Or is it jargon to get the parents to spend? Sorry, I should be more honest, my assumption is that it is business, and education is incidental, though it may well be quite good. By the way, I do not know what knowledge integration is – integration of what to or with what? Oh sometime I may stop being judgmental, but then I expect I’ll be dead.

So I am political again. These kids will meet other well-off kids, they will learn what the establishment wants them to learn, they may forget how to question what they are offered, let alone question their own prejudices and assumption of rights. They may grow up to be very responsible, but will they ever know how to choose what to be responsible for?

Here the devil does take the hindmost, society is a collection of individual families determined to get ahead as far and as fast as their money can take them.

So, I have become political again. What the something will I end up doing about it? I looked up a couple of the China poems and posted them. Fat lot of change agency there.