Human society, especially societies of the so-called “civilized nations,” needs to evolve from the savage to the noble. I am of the belief that the surest way to help us reach for this growth goal is to transform our educational practices and systems, from the ground up.
The first and most basic educational institution is that of the family. The foundation for the education of a human is laid down in the family social unit. If the parents have been educated into darker aspects of the current status quo, then the child of such parents will be more likely to practice inside of the same belief and value system as the parents do.
I have often written in these Journal postings that one example of our glaring educational deficiency is shown simply in the fact that our civilization has been at war for over 95% of the time during the last 2 millennia. A cursory examination of these wars reveals that many of these hostilities resulted from peoples’ views over ideologies. By using the word “ideology” I am softly referring to religious ideologies, as well as racial and ethnic ideologies.
I think that most Americans have come to believe that war is normal. After all, it is America which wages most of the current war making.
War is not normal. War is horrifying and destructive at every level of life.
Just go be in a war, and you will understand what I mean. When you have seen lives and families and homes and businesses and cities and cultures destroyed, and when you have seen bodies blown apart, and when you have smelt enough smoking burning flesh…then you may begin to become curious to seek the truth about war, and those who make it.
We members of the human race should start a campaign to alter the current manner in which the history of war is being taught. Currently history is being taught which legitimizes, indemnifies, and glorifies war. This manner of teaching is wrong.
Our entire educational system needs to be transformed if we are to have any future leaders and builders of any worth.
Sir Ken Robinson speaks in a TED talk in April, 2013 on the culture of education in a presentation entitled “How to Escape Education’s Death Valley.”
Robinson considers 3 simple points which are congruent and harmonious with how we can improve the overall scope of our educational systems:
1) Humans are naturally different and diverse. Our current educational practices are not based on diversity, but on conformity. Children do best in broad curricula which celebrates their diversity of talents.
2) Curiosity is a natural feature of all children. Children are natural learners, and curiosity is the engine of achievement. Instead of encouraging conformity and compliance, we should facilitate curiosity and learning.
3) Human life is inherently creative. Education should awaken the powers of creativity. Creativity is original ideas that have positive human value.
This Robinson TED talk is a good one…and I hope you will give it your attention. Here is his presentation.
Crestone and Beyond
Ted Robinson’s TED talks on education are very engaging, entertaining, and informative. His past and more current presence on TED has garnered over 21,000,000 views and this ranks him at the very top (#1) of all TED presenters. For a short biography on Robinson and a list of his acclaimed presentations, go to this page. At this page you can connect to his other presentations.
One major reason we ordinary citizens struggle to reach for higher and better education is tangled up in the role which corporate media plays in the ongoing deluge of purposefully misinforming us.
Violent Hollywood productions continue to assist in the propaganda of misinformation about human violence with preposterously grotesque big film distractions. Just go watch any film of any violent theme genre. Many expensive film creations of ultra violent genres are probably believed to be true to life by the average lot of people.
Just consider our social behavior, criminal rates, overcrowded penal systems, and recidivism rates.
Do you believe we are noble, savage, or some combination of noble and savage?
What are we being taught? What are we learning?
A brief article, from Global Research, printed on June 18, 2013, clearly explains the media misinformation problem “…The Media are Loyal to the System, not to Their Profession.” This writing will take a few minutes of your time. Please see this page.
In this article I hope that you will put your mind and heart to the cartoon presented therein. Contemplate how lives are currently being intimidated, manipulated, and destroyed.
As Robinson says in his TED talk, the seeds of possibility are waiting for the right conditions to come about to assist their development.
Our educational systems must evolve to create the climate of possibility, not the climate of control.
We also should establish a potent and viable Department of Peace.
Signing off from Crestone and Beyond.