The concept of figuring something out seems to be genuinely foreign to a lot of people. You can call it a failure of education, failure of parents, failure of society, whatever. But it’s really damn creepy how many people don’t grasp the concept of deductive reasoning. It’s not just that they’re bad at logic; it’s that they don’t even know what it is.
Tag: education
The Myth of Institutionalized Learning
This weekend conversation exposes the deep, underlying myth in our culture that children cannot learn unless they are systematically taught. Whether in school or school-at-home, children can only learn when they are directed by an adult, when they follow an established curriculum, when they are prodded and assessed. How could a child possibly know how to identify plants if it wasn’t part of a school-like lesson?
75 Times Around the Sun
Yesterday I observed the 25th Anniversary of my 50th birthday. On the original occasion, I opined that, like Merle Haggard, I could say “my life’s been grand!” I said at the time that I had lived a great half-century, therefore no matter what happened to me after that I could say that most of my life had been grand. The facts of the matter are that the continuing quarter-century has been even grander.
The Right to be Left Alone
You don’t have a right to be supplied goods and services. You do have a right to engage in voluntary commerce. I have a right to be left alone. When you attempt to force me to fund your consumption, you are violating my rights. When I refuse to go along with your scheme, I’m defending my rights, not violating yours.
How to Get Young People to Take Good Advice
Young people have a very hard time taking good advice for two reasons: Most good advice is based on delayed gratification, which requires a long time horizon. Most young people do not have long time horizons. Remember back to when you were a young whippersnapper. The days seemed to drag on. A week was an…
Why The Revolutionaries Are (Also) the Villains of Les Miserables
I recently rewatched the great 2011 film adaption of this movie, and I frequently dip back into the film’s excellent song soundtrack. But after some observation, I have a controversial opinion on the revolutionaries: while they are revolting against an unjust system, they’re not much worth our sympathy. There are a few reasons why the revolutionaries are also villains (of a sort) of this story. These also happen to be some of the reasons why in most wars, the revolutionaries are just as guilty as the state they’re revolting against.
An Atelatheist Exposes the Religion of Statism
Yes, belief in the State results in buildings being built, people molested due to “laws”, and other physical effects in the real world, but those are no more proof of the existence of the State than churches, inquisitions, martyrs, or charities are proof of the existence of God. People who believe something do things based on that belief. Such is the nature of belief. Beliefs have effects on the behavior of people who believe, even when the belief is in something imaginary.
Hard-Won Homeschooling Freedoms Are Under Threat and Must Be Defended
I sometimes wonder about the courage it took those earlier homeschooling parents to remove their children from school before it was fully legal, to chart an alternative education path for their children when they were often the only ones on that road. I sometimes wonder if I would have had the same courage.
How to Compromise on the Government Question
The libertarian philosophy posits absolute liberty among consenting individuals. Don’t want the government? You shouldn’t be forced to pay for it or live by its rules. Want the government? You should voluntarily pay for it and voluntarily live by its rules.
Thinking Outside of the Box
The box that has failed throughout history is called politics. Most solutions have been sought through the ballot box with little success. I believe that the ideology of Voluntaryism is that very “outside of the box thinking” that must be studied, understood and then implemented by the masses in order to accomplish the goals of peace, freedom, harmony and prosperity that we all desire.