21 replies to this topic

[Bella-Angelique]

Reaching self obsessed people is usually only possible if you present to them a threat that exists to them.
Being self obsessed they will actually listen even if they do not entirely believe to information not already contained int heir tight little universe of one.

Once this is planted in their mind it can take root and grow from their own self worship nurturing it.
This can be done in any conversation. It has been the backbone of political operatives for centuries and it does work.

They will tune out anything that appears to be a lecture or any brief statement stated in an earnest manner.
What they will latch onto are brief statements said it a casual matter of fact manner as if it is old news that all the world already knows to be true. Their ego demands that even if they do not believe it that they should at least know about it since everyone else seems to. It grows from there.

This is what is called a grass roots movement and is the only real option of any oppressed or endangered people.
It is used to spread lies most often but it can also spread the truth.

[Zaus]

I would like to say that human behavior, especially that of large city states has lost all of its connections to nature.

We dont live alongside nature, we tolerate nature as we see fit and eventually burn it down, pave it, and build endlessly to satisfy our needs.

As far as psychological development goes, how is that the human race is technologically advanced, yet lacking spiritually, emotionally, physically, and mentally???

This seems to make no sense, until you realize that nature has been handed to us. We can make fire with the flick of a thumb, we have electicity and water at our fingertips also. In the end i can only assume man has lost common respect for all the things that came before him, because he does not understand the trials of his ancestors.

Now though, we are at a scary point, if the grid goes down indefinitly, what will people do to survive? They cannot go to the woods and be able to survive, Imagine being stuck in the woods with 25 other people and no-where to go, could those 25 people have the collective knowledge to be able to grow crops, hunt and keep the troupe fed. Make shelter and be able to give medical attention to those bitten or attacked by wild animals?

[Kafkaesque]

The thing about humans is the ability to compensate for fields we have difficulty in. I myself have an I.E.P. for Arithmetic. How do I make up for it? I suppose having a College graduates reading level in the eighth grade is most definitely an advantage.

  Humans are too influenced by events occurring around us, leaders that do not know what they are doing. "What you cannot enforce, do not command. - Sophocles" We honestly need to think for ourselves, we need to speak out for what we believe in.


Not only that , we do not seek knowledge. Teachers show us aspects of life through various subjects, yes - but only if we will to learn them. Americans settle for mediocrity, and choose not to excel forwards and set foundations for their families. "With regard to excellence, it is not enough to know, but we must try to have and use it." - Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics

  I would indeed love to post more, but it's late.

Edited by Drayno, 08 May 2008 - 02:08 AM.

[=Jak=]

Self-assurance to any Single commitment taken
by you can change the world.  But you should
be honest to that oath.

Each one if committed to any single oath.  
Soon we can see the changes.

[Quill]

But have humans ever really achieved the state of "living in harmony with nature?" Some would point to the Native tribes, but not all native cultures were successful, some have disappeared because it is believed they overtaxed their natural resources. (Parallels?)
It seems that several people have concurred that an inflated human ego is getting in the way of balance and that something major event would have to bring us to our knees to realize it. But what then? We always seem to get back up, back to the place we fell from. How many times do we have to fall to understand?

Edited by Quill, 08 May 2008 - 03:34 PM.

[Roughneck]

Quill on May 8 2008, 10:34 AM, said:

How many times do we have to fall to understand?[/font]

When we realise it is natural to be as such.

The only reason why we're bound to the shackles of this world is because we have not yet found a way to break them.  When we begin to colonise other planets, I think we'll finally accept that it is our nature to expand and consume and stop pretending we can live harmoniously with the environment when the environment always has and always will destroy stagnant species, either through forcing adaptation and evolution, or extinction.  You either expand or you die out- and to expand, we must devour resources of every kind.  It's no different in nature, where non-human species have been known to destroy natural habitats to feed their growing hunger of expansion, we just happen to do it on an industrial scale.  Granted, if that consumption and expansion is not kept in a stable check, it can grow wildly out of control and result in backfire, where instead of surviving because of consumption and growth, you die.

Ultimately, if we had instead still functioned under primitive tribal culture, and remained stagnant to that way of life, we would just be guaranteeing our species' extinction.  After all, we evolved into this state from less complex social structures.

[lmbeharry]

John A Spera on May 6 2008, 04:22 PM, said:

Interesting observation in reguard to testing for intelligence. I myself have the gift of dyslexia. I am the classic "C" student yet some testing will rate me with an unlimited potential for accomplishment. I understand that you work in the field of education. From what you have said I do think that you encourage thought and reflection from your students. Yet most of the material that is taught is about absolute truth and validation. History, math, and reading skills are directed at a student profile that has not changed in 60 years. I am 65.

How can I ask this question is a truly respectful manner? What has the educational system done to identify and cultivate the Einstein students in our culture? The many ADD and autistic children that are here with us at this time. They are seen as problems for the System and not as the gifts that they truly are.

I hope you can appreciate why I have asked this particular question.

John

Hi John, I've been away from this thread. With regard to your question: What has the educational system done to identify and cultivate the Einstein students in our culture?
My response (from my limited experience teaching in the U.S.) is this. The U.S. education system, as I think we all know, is doomed. Seemingly, powerful entities want to keep the majority of Americans as unthinking drones (ala the Matrix film where people who spend their lives plugged into the system - reacting to stimuli and producing energy to propagate the same system). And, you know what else, even the most elite of American academies had dumbed down. I wrote on another thread (or maybe above on this one) that the private academies are no longer teaching Greek and Latin as required subjects. This is a travesty to me. It is in these Greek and Latin classics from which spring the foundations of Western political thought and philosophy and Natural Sciences.
The most obscene element of American pedagogy? The system does not respect its teachers to reward them appropriately. Think about an alternative: a system which actually pays teachers enough (from the junior high level) to recruit Master's of Science and PhD's to teach and cultivate the next generation...

With regard to gifted students - all the more problem - lack of quality teachers! Even if I wanted to teach in America, why should I? My higher education cost over $250,000 US in today's money. I went corporate and on a $30,000 a year salary, I still could not pay my student loans. Had I been a teacher? My pay would have been $18,000 and I mightn't have been able to feed myself and a family either.

I left the U.S. I have been an expatriate for about four years now. My only regret? I owe $30,000 in student loans. That's my only regret in life! The way I figured it, the U.S. could cover the expense with my Social Security benefits from my retirement. I won't claim any benefit...

But therein lies the problem. I'm no socialist - far from it. But I do believe in saving for the future. The U.S. system must stop corporations from stealing the wealth of the country's producers for the benefit of a very few "management types" (in my view these are the true socialists - who enrich themselves at the expense of those that are actually producing the wealth), maybe Americans could afford to send their progeny on to higher education without hocking their lives away. And, maybe then, more Americans would have the economic freedom to teach the next generation. Think about America's current socio-economic system: 1) birth (an expensive proposition; uninsured parents have to borrow money to even bear a child); 2) public school (some are really great, some are piss poor - and often it depends on your neighborhood - again, a measure of family wealth); 3) college or university (an expensive proposition for which the student and/or the parents need to borrow more money); 4) employment (the first ten to fifteen years of which go to pay off the aforementioned student loans); 5) buy a home (as a means to save for retirement or college for progeny); 6) retirement to a condo box somewhere. Is that a life? Where's the adventure? Where's the continuing education and self-fulfillment? The whole thing sucks - in my view...

Gifted students - we know that we must cater to them individually - and find challenging ways to stimulate learning. Computer software is great. As I mentioned above I am trying to sort myself out on Mathematica. It's half programming in C and half thinking in mathematics. But again, the U.S. system must evolve to accommodate these students - otherwise all is lost. And all is being lost right now.