Watching children learn naturally, while following their own interests, is nothing short of astonishing. It shouldn’t be, of course. We shouldn’t be surprised that giving children freedom and autonomy, and trusting them to pursue passions most meaningful to them, would lead to deep and lasting learning. But Self-Directed Education is so rare in our widely schooled society that most of us don’t get the opportunity to see what learning without schooling (including school-at-home) looks like. Self-Directed Education, or unschooling, is strikingly different from schooling–in all of its various iterations.
Tag: knowledge
Trading Places
“What protection teaches us, is to do to ourselves in time of peace what enemies seek to do to us in time of war.” –Henry George When Donald Trump can propose tariffs on imported steel, aluminum, washing machines, and solar-panels without being roundly booed off the stage, one has to wonder if reason has any…
Ignorance is Easier
Being in utter darkness about why I’m not getting what I want is more comfortable than the knowledge that it’s because of some attitude or behavior of mine that’s out of whack. It’s easier to handle being treated badly by someone for no apparent reason than to find it it’s because I’m an unpleasant conversationalist.
Capitalism vs. Socialism: General Thoughts on Bruenig
Bruenig builds her case on quotes from famous, pre-modern philosophers, interspersed with philosophical jargon. She references virtually no facts from the last two hundred years. When people who agree with me make arguments like this, I cringe. How can anyone expect to figure out anything about the real world using this fruitless method?
Capitalism vs. Socialism: Reply to Bruenig
Since Elizabeth Bruenig has posted her whole opening debate statement, I thought I’d reply point-by-point. She’s in blockquotes; I’m not. Before I get started, though, let me say that personally, Elizabeth seems a gracious and kind human being. Still, even if I were an avid socialist, I’d be baffled by the way she tackles the issue.
Knowledge Judgment and Action Judgment
Knowing how to read and react to a situation, when to say/not say things, and other “soft”, social, and emotional intelligences. I’m not sure if judgement can be taught to someone who lacks it. Judgement can certainly get refined through experience, and someone who has it can gain highly specific forms based on contextual feedback. I’ve been using the broad catch-all word “judgement” to describe this trait for a long time. Yesterday it occurred to me that judgment manifests in two very different ways. Or maybe it has two levels.
Why Intellectuals Should Leave Academia
Professors and teachers: The best way to increase the quality and engagement of students is to separate your instruction from accredited institutions. Don’t complain about low quality students; they’re not there for you and mostly don’t care about your ideas. They’re there for a piece of paper they think is a magic ticket to acceptance in the world and they suffer through your class at a cost. You’re too good to deal with students like that who don’t value your work!
The Craving for Wholeness That Drives Our Actions
There’s a sense of incompleteness in our lives. We have felt it since adolescence, at least, if not since early childhood — it’s a feeling that something is wrong with us, that something is missing, or that we’re missing out on something in the world. It’s a feeling of disconnection or loneliness from others, a sense that we don’t fit in. A feeling of moving through the world in isolation, unfulfilled, without a sense of intimacy with others, without a sense of purpose in what we’re doing.
Hippies With Money
The fact that massively influential multimillionaires (sometimes billionaires) in the soon to be dominant crypto space spend time on Twitter calling each other names, using coarse language, and angrily arguing on live YouTube broadcasts is a radical deviation from past generations of leaders in business, tech, and finance.
If You Want to Preserve Your Freedom, You Need to be Armed
The gun grabbers would turn everyone—except for the politicians and their enforcers—into supplicant serfs, entirely at the mercy of their masters’ demands. They would deny us not only our most fundamental right to defend ourselves but also the tools necessary to overthrow the tyrants and demagogues who threaten our self-ownership with every breath they take.