Twofold

Sorry for the randomly timed posts. It seems I am on the two post every two weeks schedule. I'll try to do the double post since two in one I know are hard to read.

This week I did zero work. That's because I had a paper and two presentations on Monday. Motivation levels- null. So I've played around, stayed up late and also wasn't feeling good earlier this week. But now that I have another paper looming in the distance, I am opting to write the blog instead. One of the big things that happened this week is Spam Boa and I got into a dense conversation about the education system and the power of sincere conversation.

We started by talking about this video about education, found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U. I think you should really watch this link as Sir Ken Robinson explains it better than I do, but the gist of it is that our education system was designed by influences of the Enlightenment (intellectual) and Industrial (economic) settings. Now our intellectual and economic settings today are very different from those times. Spam and I both reflected that we, as college educated high achieving students have survived this system. Not just survived, thrived in them. But other students do not. And often, what happens is if the system doesn't work for people, we have a tendency to respond with a "What's wrong with you?" mentality, usually then diagnosing them with ADHD and sending them on their way with pills. Robinson goes on to question the basic tenants of our system, like why do we lump everyone together by age (industrial similarities to lumping things by date of manufacture) or why do we educate at certain times of the day, etc.

Spam brought up an anecdote about a little girl who would struggle through school. Full story found here: http://wdyt.org/2010/06/18/your-daughter-isnt-sick-learning-disabled-shes-a-dancer/. The moral of the story, the girl was not in her ideal learning environment. So, like many conversations that Spam and I have had, this lead to an idea. What would it be like if we started our own school? Of course we went on the tangent of the amusing idea that we ran the school with our friends: Nemesis as the school nurse, Kareem as the English teacher, Sunshine Knives PE, RC Tequila for math, Alejandro for Art, Mama Goldfish as the school counselor, maybe Brock for history or government with his Poli-Sci background etc. While entertaining, we did give serious though to how can we address the issues at hand? Well, we would need like-minded people first. Then the will to create a thorough and effective method of teaching all learning types. Then people willing to lend us their kids and probably their money.

But the logistics were not as important at this time as the idea. Like I mentioned in the blog a few weeks ago, I've been thinking a lot about these great sparks of ideas we have an how we pass them by. I saw a presentation about the Lost Generation, which was saying my generation doesn't care about stuff in the same way that previous generations did (though they acknowledge as older persons that they were told the same thing when they were young). But still there is some truth to the fact that often if the going gets tough we don't bother. We lack the passion to try, to dare to love, to get off our lazy butts and do something. A good example of this is the fact that I never took early classes if I could at all avoid it because I didn't want to get up at that time. Now on one end I could have  slept earlier, dragged myself out and took advantage of the great class. One the other end, if I am not a good learner at 8am, why only give me that option?  It's twofold- I need to climb the ladder but someone needs to give me a ladder and someone else needs to hold it steady.

Which connects to my discussions in class as to why do we do what we do? Why do we have a liberal arts education in this country if the resounding question for all English, Art, Philosophy, Classics, etc students is: What are you going to do with that? Are we such a practical-application focused country that we miss the value of being able to understand Shakespeare or paint a portrait or wrestle with Socrates? Perhaps, because I feel the need to explain that doing those three things could practically translate as critical analysis, patience, product design, and persuasion. But I shouldn't have to explain it because we should all see merit in the arts, shouldn't we? Without the arts, how can we understand ourselves? But I digress.

The (several) points being: Spam and I had a big idea, and it is going to be up to us not to let it die. To keep the spark alive and jump on opportunities to push it forward. We know this is a very long term idea, and we aren't exactly quitting our day jobs, but we can do it. And if our generation is considered lost, then who lost us? And how can we keep ourselves on track with our education systems? How can we provide the guidance to those who are lost? How can we shepherd our sheep? And yes, I'm using religious imagery intentionally because I think the two goals are alike. Enacting change in people by giving them the opportunity to embrace it. And tailoring your approach to the individual, not the mass market. The Catholic traditions are rich and deep. But they don't appeal to everyone. If we are a communion people, why don't we seem to welcome all types?

Which leads me to my final point: how do we motivate ourselves. One more video for you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc. This video talks about how we need to have purpose, which aligns with my development theories, my leadership theories, and all the things I learn in my program. We talk about our strengths and using our strengths. Hopeful Introspective is writing his thesis in relation to this and he discussed how true practice really makes us good at things. Spam and I discussed this in regards to video games. If we just go through the motion of the games, its a waste of time, but if we are consciously paying attention to the strategies, conflicts and reacting properly, then we are truly practicing certain skills. And let me tell you, you learn much better skills playing the Legend of Zelda and solving puzzles and problems then you do playing Modern Warfare, which is mostly muscle memorization. In other words, in order to tap into these passions, these sparks, these dreams we have to practice. We have to train ourselves and not just go through the motions. How different would school be if we didn't just have to memorize for the next test and forget everything? How much better could we talk about religion politics and all those difficult topics if everyone was used to analyzing the data, Scripture, and media representations with a critical eye, rather than just absorbing and repeating things we may or may not understand? What kind of world would we live in if we were all trained in the liberal arts before our professional training? Wait, if we were ALL trained in anything, then that would undermine the tailoring of education to individual needs. So perhaps then we need a twofold approach, balancing both sides of it to this unique and exciting new way of doing things.

-JTY

Reading: Nothing cuz i'm a terrible student.

Listening to: RSA talk about motivation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc

Playing: TOR and LoL as usual.