Experts?

ACCREDITATION: - Scholastic regimentation from the post WWII period has accelerated to the point that Canada won't let an Olympic figure skating medalist teach or coach young Canadians the errors and damages of the present system. She could earn more in the U. S. or other places but she is willing to do this for free if they would let her. How would Einstein or Bucky Fuller become professors in today's structured adherence to accepted models of learning? Canada is held up as a fine example by the U.N. committees which evaluate governments throughout this world. Last week the support staff went on strike in our schools of Toronto.

Here is part of an article by Jim Coyle in the Toronto Star:

Tough times teach those who have eyes to see

I spent a few hours in the emergency ward the other night with my 11-year-old, owing to a cut he acquired as a consequence of the prevailing mayhem in a houseful of boys. {Such an easy way of sloughing-off other issues.}

As we waited, he seemed intrigued by what went on around him. How could the triage nurse be so cheerful? Why did the man with chest pains get rushed right in.? What made the woman ahead of us in the suture room slit her wrists?

{No answers to come, and no coping skills taught in our media or schools. No awareness of the alternatives and soulful causes that would motivate people to help each other.}

He said he was amazed, watching the parade of ill and injured, that doctors and nurses could work under the pressure they do and make so few mistakes. {He is not interested in exploring the reality of how many mistakes are made, and probably hasn't read Ivan Illich's book 'Limits to Medicine'. He doesn't want to hear about the lack of family violence questionnaires in schools and hospitals which might prevent a growth in family violence and the cycles of attendant violence associated with incest. I have sent him letters and called, to no avail. Is he making a case for the 'status quo' at the behest of his employer and their political cronies?} A miserable night had turned into something educational. And I was reminded that, given the right attitude, little is wasted in life's economy, that difficult moments usually bring lessons.

It was the notion I'd been tossing around about the disruption in Toronto schools last week and what kids could learn from it. For teaching often occurs when we least expect it, not in the lecturing but in the living, not in the theory but in the behavior {So true.}. In fact, the person with the wisest observations in this respect might have been Justin Trudeau, son of the former prime minister, who was in Toronto last week to speak to teachers {He teaches in British Columbia and is an ardent and eloquent example for good behavior, to be sure.}.

'How can you teach character?' he said. 'Well, I don't know that you can teach character. I think you need to teach with character. You have to model character, you have to demonstrate character. That's how we learn.'

{This does not obviate the need to build a joy of learning or encourage socialization through tolerant consideration of comparative religion. It does not contradict the 'co-operative education' programs that research shows should focus on group projects, results and less testing for competency in early life, to be followed by more testing for creative and worthwhile learning and productivity as well as emotional coping skills later. It doesn't mean that what is being done is anything much better than 'glorified baby-sitting' to produce 'followers' who fit the needs of industry and society. It doesn't mean that teachers learned how to teach, as Kaoru Yamamoto points our in the 'Social Sciences Encyclopedia' put together by the Kuipers in 1995.}

In that sense, there were many lessons to be learned during the strike. The first of these was courage. And the ones who displayed it were the strikers themselves, the support staff whose walkout eventually closed the schools for a week. They're the workers in the system who earn the least, people for whom even a week without pay is painful, who will take years to make up the wages lost. Yet, knowing this, they still struck.

{Where is the modeling of behavior for the kids to emulate? Should they emulate the poor downtrodden and uneducated janitors? Should they wonder why the parents didn't get together and do the work to keep the schools clean? Should they have policed their own schools or organized to keep them clean so they could still attend the school and learn the things that excite them? Where are the real ethics to learn character from in these simple strikes for something other than what will make any real changes ? they only ask for money!}

... As angry as parents were at the disruption, it strikes me they should perhaps be grateful to the strikers for modeling the values that, presumably, we most want our children to absorb - self-respect, the willingness to stand up for themselves and the work they do, honouring principles even at a personal cost, courage.

Another useful lesson, there for the learning during the work stoppage, was that of civility.

As the garbage piled up in their schools, as washrooms were fouled beyond use, it must quickly have become apparent to the students - as it does to their elders in the looting that inevitably follows police strikes - how thin is our veneer of civilization...

It may well be worth a class or two, now that they've resumed, discussing why and how this happens and what it means." (1)

Yes, we all need to respect the workers and know that our students are being force-fed pablum that will make them drones for a system that accredits only certain paladins who endure the wishes and structures that exhibit so little compassion for cleaning up our messes. Yes, the journalist makes an interesting story out of the plebian strife but does he actually examine the soulful roots of respect for each other and how parents seek easy answers rather than accept responsibility for the education of themselves and their charges? If we paid janitors more than teachers would more respect occur? If teachers were paid on a non-union scale based on results and attendance of free choice by those who wished to learn what they are teaching, would teachers earn more that politicos or paladins of business? When will education and the soul's growth be held in higher esteem? This is 'different-thinking' that Michel Foucault might well encourage.

Do doctors who graduated forty years ago keep up their skills, and do herbalists perform a better function in health maintenance? Is there a benefit to making more people able to become doctors in a hierarchy that includes chiropractors and nurse practitioners doing what they can to help us at lower pay? Is the AMA interested in controlling the number of competitors in their 'old boys club'? What amount of education does it take to make a really good lawyer? Is education as important as other skills not being taught? Have you met many ethical lawyers who actually tell you about their failures or foibles? What is the necessary qualification to become a politician and who really knows enough to vote when they won't even address the important issues? There are more efficient and effective ethical systems that have proven themselves over long periods of time. Elder councils who answer to the needs of people who know they too will have the opportunity to perform these roles are worth re-evaluation. Porto Allegro, Brazil involved the people in a true participatory experiment that many thought would fail - it has succeeded. Asoka had real ecumenical and truly spiritual goals we can learn from. Words like 'democracy' or 'representational government' do not ensure ethical bureaucracies with true compassion of an equal nature.

A sheepskin or a diploma does not accredit a person or ensure they know what they are doing, and why. 'Experts' are often salesmen from a few miles away who have a slide show that highlights only the things we want to hear. The 'chit system' of education might allow students to find educational environments that work FOR them. If it works for each person - then it will benefit society as a whole. The top-down Platonic model that seeks to homogenize us into classes of some nefarious structure (whether communistic, democratic or fascist) is not creative application or maximization of resources.

World-Mysteries.com guest 'expert'
Columnist for The ES Press Magazine
Author of Diverse Druids
Activist for resouce application management and an end to nations or
organizations that only benefit the few.

---

Dole, Kemp, Trusting People

Many in the peanut gallery of society are so quick... Read More

George Bush--A New World Order

When this president's father was in the Oval Office, he... Read More

An ROI on National Security

Do you find it interesting that people complain about the... Read More

US Army in Catch 22 on Gays Issue

Many of those who wish to fight for our country... Read More

UAV Materials and Thoughts on New Technologies and Keeping Up With Our Opponents

Possible UAV materials are infinite: Foam, Composite, Balsa Wood, Plastic,... Read More

Predator or Prey; Hunter or the Hunted; Teacher or the Pupil; Winning or Losing?

This is a thought on the study of Home and... Read More

Dismal Performance of the NSA

The NSA failed the American people and allowed the attack... Read More

Philosophical Thoughts from a Road Warrior; Part II

Continued thoughts while driving down the road in a huge... Read More

Why the United States just doesnt get the United Nations

For years I have been amazed as I've listened to... Read More

Religion, Wars and Civilization

Many are quick to point out the benefits of religion... Read More

US Government Regulators and Aides with AIDS

All government regulators or diplomat who are in high risk... Read More

Medicade Scam; Worse than You Think

You are not going to believe what is going on... Read More

Is Congress Going to Lay the Groundwork to Include Education with the Steroid Legislation?

As of late steroid use in sports has been the... Read More

Retirement Age Will Have To Be Raised Since People Are Living Longer

With people living longer we have some problems as those... Read More

Cops Want To Increase Marijuana Punishments?

Leave it to the Columbia City Police Officers Association in... Read More

Wartime Prisoners and the Will to Fight; War is Hell, Let?s Win Alright?

We learned some lessons in these last few wars. For... Read More

Competition Laws

A. THE PHILOSOPHY OF COMPETITIONThe aims of competition (anti-trust) laws... Read More

Droughts, Dirty Water and Disease

When we go through periods of droughts we also have... Read More

Jihad Will Continue

The Jihad against the Western World will continue. It will... Read More

Trains and the Flow of Fuel

Fuel costs seem to rank high in surveys of US... Read More

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act Was created on July 30th 2002, by... Read More

A Look Ahead to 2008 (Part I)

Just as everyone has breathed a sigh of relief at... Read More

What are the benefits of Nuclear War again; I must have missed that point?

Indian and Pakistan and nuclear war. What does the world... Read More

Paper Industry

The paper industry in the US is hurting. Due to... Read More

The United States Government Owes Arthur Anderson 16 Billion Dollars

Since the court case was over turned against Arthur Anderson... Read More

Is Reinstating The Draft Such a Bad Idea?

In his bid for the presidency, John Kerry pronounced a... Read More

The Blessings of the Black Economy

Some call it the "unofficial" or "informal" economy, others call... Read More

The Distributive Justice of the Market

(1) Each person is to have an equal right to... Read More

Government Overregulation of Broadcast Content Could Backfire

Rush is right! The government's stepped up bid to regulate... Read More

Screening Trucks and Containers Coming Into Our Country

We presently have adequate sniffer devices in this country to... Read More

FTC Fixing SPAM?

Is the Federal Trade Commission really stopping SPAM? Is the... Read More

George Bush and the Iraq War - Down on Downing Street

You, the reader, should be aware of my affluence of... Read More

Great Melting Pot Indeed

An interesting conversation that I thought I must share with... Read More