My family has been on our unschooling journey for going on six years now. Within that time I have had the opportunity to meet countless other unschooling parents, families and people raised with unschooling, both online and in person. What I have learned has revealed to me bit by bit the superstitious nature that is the belief in the necessity of school, or other forms of compulsory education.
Tag: science
Trump’s Americanized Fascism
Sure, Trump says: “In America, the people govern, the people rule, and the people are sovereign. I was elected not to take power, but to give power to the American people, where it belongs.” But that cliched claptrap cannot withstand scrutiny. “The people” neither govern nor rule. Only persons act, and only certain persons rule. There is no way everyone can rule — unless all people individually rule their own lives. That’s not what Trump means.
Words Poorly Used #106 — Consensus
It rears its ugly head again. I’m talking about the populist tendency to subsume the existence of substantial discord by uttering a stupid statement containing the word, “consensus,” or its equivalent.
Potential is Not Enough
The more potential you have, the greater the demands you need to place on yourself. It’s not enough to feel flattered by your theoretical ability to do creative work. Potential is there to be actualized.
First, Do Not Destroy Scarce Resources
If there is one lesson that everyone should learn from studying even the most elementary economics, and if there is one major intellectual gift that sound economists gave humanity, then it is precisely this vaccine against Orwellian superstition, according to which destruction contains any productive value.
When Life is Good to You, Don’t Apologize
It’s possible to sympathize with people who don’t have your advantages or assets without apologizing for the results of your hard work or good fortune. You’re not going to make the world a better place by hanging your head in guilt every time something good happens to you.
Incentives or Imposed Instruction?
On the one hand, you believe it’s not from the benevolence of the butcher that we get our meat, but by his regard to his self-interest in a market context. On the other hand, you believe that children have no regard for their self-interest and do not respond to market incentives so must be forced and directed to do what’s good for them and by extension society.
Cognitive Bias #4 — Overconfidence
Self-appointed experts, aka politicians, seem to be the worst. Here’s an example: Everybody I talk to, and I talk to a lot of people, say that there is climate change. So, I have educated myself about it.
Words Poorly Used, Another Devil’s Dictionary #2
Pardon — a POTUS ploy used to un-catch a caught henchman so that said henchman may hench again. Political Ego — a power more potent than a thousand suns, but which will resist all attempts at harnessing for good until the end of time.
“Faith” Is Your Attitude Toward Reality
The faith that actually matters is how you are predisposed to judge reality and to act. If you cultivate that, it will prepare you to act almost automatically for the good – particularly in crises, when it’s especially important that s