Paul Saffo remarked that Samuel Johnson identified two types of information, that which you knew and that which you knew how to get. Saffo continues that in light of the Internet, Worldwide Web, and technology, we are now cursed with a glut of information, so we need a third type of information — that which matters.
Category: Nobody Asked, But
Don’t You Know What Socialism Is? II
Earlier today I posted the above graphic in the Facebook group, Another 2000+ Libertarian Quotes.* On reflection, I could have taken the word, “legislative,” out.
Consolidation
I went to a “consolidated” high school. Franklin County Consolidated High School still bore that label when I transferred to it, in its second year. The process adjective was soon dropped as the little previous schools were forgotten. Names like Elkhorn, Bald Knob, Thornhill, Peaks Mill, and Bridgeport preceded that ugly, stark consolidated moniker. Economies of scale were sought. Franklin County beefed up its bus fleet, too. Many students now spent more than an hour a day riding on buses.
The Idea of Trust
“To be a good human being is to have a kind of openness to the world, an ability to trust uncertain things beyond your own control.” — Martha Nussbaum
Factory Schools
One sometimes wonders what planet these school admins came from. They are so focused on growing the system that they don’t realize there are other, independent trends unrelated to their process-bound goals.
Unschooling at the Institution
I had to consider how I had lasted through my 12 years of servitude and continual higher ed since then. The secret is that I never took it seriously. I was so busy educating myself that I had too little time to question my enjoyment of my environment. Never in my scholastic career did I see myself as not being self-owned, not being self-directed.
Don’t You Know What Socialism Is?
Economists may insist on a strict definition saying that socialism is where the state controls the means of production. I would respond, what could be more of a means of production than the labor force, 99% of which comes from public schools in modern, industrial states?
Tone Deaf in a Bubble
Maybe POTUS isn’t metaphorically tone deaf, but I doubt it. He gets an idea, ignores significant negative feedback, reiterates the idea, does not retreat from the idea. Then he assembles a group of traumatized students and does a focus group on his ideas, doing all the talking, not listening. He is not interested in feedback, he is interested in appearing as though he is seeking feedback. Actually, he’s in a bubble, and no one else knows what movie is showing on the screen inside the bubble.
Book Lists
When you task a dozen people over 50 with the idea of each picking her or his favorite novel, you need to get ready to get dozens of titles added to your reading list. Most of us, between 60 and 90, come from some of the last reading generations.
A Vanishing Point
I worry about the degree to which we let things get out of control, plunging to a vanishing point. In Douglas High School, in Parkland, Florida, we built an optimum security detention center for more than 3000 inmates. What could go wrong? Well, if a number equal to 1% of the day detainees of the school were of a bent similar to that of Nikolas Cruz, that means at least 30 potential perturbers are related to the school at a given moment.