Examples

Human Sciences and Education (Part 2)

'Shut up and put up!' - is this our Brave New World?

Following on from the recent post on educational values, here's an extremely interesting article in the timesonline about about another of our important public domains: health.

It's called, 'Use your initiative? Far too dangerous' and appeared on Thursday 11th February 2010.

The article focuses on the same issue as our post: what happens when Government shapes the values according to which public institutions such as State Education and the NHS should be run?

We argued that the resulting impact is mediocrity in the standards of education; the blind, unswerving adherence to rules and the letter of the law which eschews all creativity and imagination and finally, the promotion into power of people who have no sense of vocation and who simply push through the educational legislation of the Government without questioning what they're doing.

The above article presents a tragic case-study of the consequences when Government values and the target and rule-based systems which are designed to promote them are allowed to function without common sense and some element of questioning and sceptical scrutiny.

It begs a really big question: to what extent should education and health be organised in the same way Government agencies are organised?

And a related big question is this: how far should Government be allowed to dictate the way in which health and education is organised and run?

This is not to advocate the wholesale (or even minimal) privatisation of education and health services. It is to suggest that alleviating these institutions from Government interference might help to promote values that have a less tragic impact on young lives and are longer lasting. But is this a strong enough argument? What further evidence is there that Government-led institutions are really NOT organised with the interests of the public in mind? What significant reasons can we find to argue that these institutions would function better WITHOUT the stamp of Government.

Examples

Human Sciences (Economics)

Money as Debt 1



Money as Debt 2



Money as Debt 3



Money as Debt 4



Money as Debt 5



Some time ago, we posted an entry on the nature of money and how money is created. Here’s a follow up entry with some clips from youtube entitled ‘Money as Debt’. The film is extremely illuminating, especially in the context of the present economic crisis, since it explains the practises of the so-called ‘Banksters’ which, it has been alleged, helped to cause the crisis in the first place.

If you can see the connection between the debt problems around the world and the risks which banks take in creating money through the fiat system, perhaps you’ll also see how the working people suffer most when Governments bail out failing banks: it’s public money, our hard-earned tax revenue, that is used to pay off the debt which banks have incurred in the process of creating money.

Think about how this economic state of affairs has an impact on those principles on which we base our dearly loved democracy: liberty and equality.

What do you think is the moral imperative that drives the behaviour of banks, of governments and of the people (us) who allow this situation to continue? Why does education actively promote this practise of money creation and remain silent on its disastrous impact?

Websites

http://www.ibtoktutor.com/

If you're approaching your TOK Essay deadline for this year (May 2010), here's a website that might be of help. We'll let it speak for itself:

"Are you struggling with your TOK studies? Just can't make head or tail of what TOK is all about? Worried sick about ever being able to write that essay or stand up in front of the whole group and do a presentation?

We are here to help all you IB students out there with your TOK essays and presentations and other related issues regarding your IB studies.

We don't know of any other help site like this - click 'Our Services' to see the full range of help we offer..."

It's a paysite, so you'll have to be ready to invest in your education. From the look of the sample marking, however, it appears as though the one-to-one on-line essay tuition on offer is excellent value for money. Let us know.

Examples

Human Sciences and Education (Part 1)

Is the present secondary state education system letting down our young?

According to this article, 'The Reader Gets Angry', the answer is un unhesitating and unequivocal 'yes'.

Before moving onto the arguments and the objections to them, let's clarify some assumptions. Common sense tells us that education should be free to all and everyone should have equal access to it regardless of race, creed, colour. These oft-repeated principles of equality and freedom are very powerful almost to the point of banality. Now we know, don't we, that nothing is really free - someone, somwhere pays for what others may regard as being free. Based on this idea, let's add to this another assumption: education is a political tool that can be used (or misused) to shape the minds of a generation of youth. It is a tool, moreover, whose power is usually centralised in the hands of the existing Government. This can have its advantages, but it can also be dangerous as the article suggests.

Government shapes its education policy based on certain key values associated with those principles of equality and freedom mentioned earlier. As is often the case with the realm of Ethics, this often leads to a clash of values and raises the question: who decides on which values should determine the delivery of education? Government? So here's another key question which leads to our final assumption: if education is centralised in Government and Government makes policy based on its perception of what is and is not educationally valuable, who actually makes sure that these values get promoted in schools? Answer: Government civil-servants provide the educational framework which embodies its core values and pass it on to the school managers who enforce (if you permit this extremely emotive word) it upon the teachers. And teachers either disagree with this approach to education (which is relatively rare these days) or, as the article suggests, become 'fatalistic'. There are two main consequences: first, the advent of mediocrity in school managers and teachers alike, inherited from the bureaucracy of Government institutions. Second, the students always suffer in the end.

Let's look more closely at the article itself and the comments posted on the website on which the article was originally published, in order to unfold some of the values embedded in our thinking about the purpose of education. What we find are two sets of educational values: those promoted by so-called 'educationalists' (usually Government civil servants or other pawns of Governement agencies) and those that are closest to our own sense of being teachers with a vocation.

The core values of education (according to 'educationalists')

1. Anti-intellectualism : This is what happens when the educational system is structured in the same way as Government organises itself - every aspect of thinking and working is micromanaged until it becomes mechanical, deadened.

• inaccessible ('intellectual') literature or even teachers should be avoided in the classroom
• language structures not needed in the day to day communication of the work place should not be taught in the classroom
• 'learning by doing' is the best approach in the classroom and linguistic learning should be sacrificed - the 'manual labour' or 'apprenticeship' approach
• instructions play a more important part than explanations
• knowledge is irrelevant to teaching
• grammar is obsolete and has no place in teaching

2. Inclusion : This is the guise in which the principle of egalitarianism parades itself in education - it means, in short, that everyone has the right to be treated equally, even if (and especially if) this means dragging down educational standards to the lowest common denominator (are we getting close to communism?)

• all kinds of difference must be negated in the classroom - it must be an 'inclusive' environment
• treat students as infants or invalids and make them rely on teacher like a child relies on a nursemaid or babysitter (effectively, this is what the teaching role becomes - ask anyone who has covered a lesson for an absent teacher)
• the pursuit of topicality is paramount - cultural references should be limited to popular and celebrity culture and idolised as such an not questioned in any way
• Avoid class discussion or note-taking since it can exclude those who can't or don't want to take part in exchanging ideas and interpretations

3. Classism : This manisfests itself in the divergent expectations we must have of students as inherent in the various 'initiatives' through which teachers are to support them.

• avoid expecting too much of students - do not expose them to abstract ideas
• illiteracy is something precious that ought to be preserved - it keeps the masses unthinking and unquestioning so they cannot or never want to change things
• minimise the ability gap between the highest and lowest achievers (even though this conflicts with the setting of students in some schools)
• 'gifted and talented' students set them apart from low-achievers who can never raise themselves to this level
• students' minds cannot (and therefore should not) be changed
• students' backgrounds are their fate and these cannot be overcome

The core values of education (according to the 'vocationalists')

1. Growth : students must be encouraged to be the best that they can be and to create the best possible society in which to grow and adapt.

• education ought to expand one’s horizons
• students should be introduced consistently to new ideas
• study involves internalising knowledge, making a body of knowledge one's own
• students must be encouraged to work hard
• open-mindedness
• students must be shown how to raise themselves to equality not to sink down towards it

2. Creativity : students must be encouraged to experiment, to make mistakes and to fail in the classroom before they go into the world.

• words, grammatical structures, are a way of modelling our world - students should be allowed to play with language
• students should be trained to think for themselves, to question everything
• inspiration through sharing, decent discussion
• building a 'community of enquiry' ('Philosophy for Children')

3. Eloquence : students must be given strategies to make a unique mark on the world in a way that is at once expressive, elegant and graceful.

• encourage reading for its own sake and the use of dictionaries to empower students to speak and write well
• prioritise self-expression as a means of giving students a way of standing up for themselves, sometimes against the world
• promote honesty and integrity, care and confidence

There is a world of difference in these two sets of values. In simple terms, the former leads onto the path of misery, for students and teachers alike; the latter leads onto the path of happiness.

Moreover, while the former enables Government to control the minds of the masses; to create a ready-made indolent and bovine workforce and to perpetuate their own power (why else would anyone desire to promote unthinking, unquestioning behaviour in youngsters?), the latter goes some way towards enabling our youth to free themselves from any attempts to possess and pack their minds into little boxes; to navigate the world on their own terms and, above all, to have the strength to be themselves in spite of being judged by everyone around them.

Examples

Human Sciences and The Arts

'How you are controlled, Part 1'

We cannot find Part 2 - but it's out there somewhere.

These videos appear to be a perfect illustration of our recent 'TOK Manifesto'. In case you hadn't already figured it out for yourselves, TOK is all about questioning things and exploring ideas that make you question everything.

The clips have been posted on youtube in two parts under the heading 'How you are controlled'. They are a part of of larger film called Phase 3 made by a group of individuals who run a website called http://www.wakeupproject.com/. The group defines its approach as being part of a movement called 'The New World Order' which itself, it is suspected, is driven by a passion for creating conspiracy theories.

But we'll let the videos speak for themselves. If you you want more, then go to the website to see the rest of the film so you can make up your minds...

TOK Websites

http://findhorn.blogspot.com/2009/11/responses-010-2010-2011.html

From a brief scan through this blog, it appears that the writer is a former teacher of TOK and as such has prepared some helpful notes as to how to answer the prescribed questions relating to the ToK Prescribed titles of 2011. Unlike us, this website covers each of the ten questions! There are also some hints as to how to write a TOK essay which you might find useful (click here.) Remember, the notes for answering the questions, as well as our own helps, are only one possible suggestion and should only be used as a springboard to your own thoughts and arguments.

New Year's Resolutions

It's about time, isn't it, that we came up with some resolutions about what we're trying to do with this blog and these could, couldn't they, become a kind of mission statement or manifesto of our main values in education.

So here we go - this is what we hope we have achieved for you so far and hope to achieve for you in the year(s) to come:

1. Think for yourself and not the thoughts pre-programmed into you by others - whoever they may be.

2. Be yourself and not someone formatted into those little boxes that people like to put you into - whatever they may be.

3. Speak up about the things that matter to you, but do so eloquently, confidently and courteously - however that may be.

4. Feel free to agree and disagree with others' viewpoints, but do so in the spirit of decent discussion (see point 3).

5. Be honest - first of all to yourself - to others about what's on your mind - there's nothing to be afraid of.

6. Be open-minded - put aside your bises, prejudices and preconceptions so that so can engage with others on an equal and creative basis.

7. Avoid being constantly judgmental - it takes so much energy and only projects bad energy, so save it for more creative and constructive projects.

8. Question everything - so that you never take for granted what anybody says or does - everyone has a hidden agenda.

You'll start to see these listed at the head of the blog home page from now on - lest we forget!