Texas Making Use of an Online News Database

The Texas Education Agency has made a deal with the New York Times. This deal will allow for the use of an electronic database.

This database is different than a typical database. It isn't based on MYSQL or Oracle programming knowledge, and won't be used by IT professionals or database administrators (at least most likely). No, this database is for the kids. In essence, the creation is an interactive portal that will search news articles - all the way back to 1851. If a student wants to write a paper on the Gettysburg Address, for instance, he can pull up the paper's entire text, and, the various news stories written about it to gather relevant information. Students can also now access modern content, stories, related multimedia, and source content related to all of the news recorded over the last 150 plus years.

Texas also plans to eventually use the database to deliver vast amounts of varied educational content to schools all over the state. The $1 Million contract, which initially purchased statewide use of the portal, might change based on usage numbers (though these increase are likely to be very slight).

This is a small footnote in the ongoing story of weeding out textbooks. Books are getting old and outdated faster than publishers can release them. Information technology principals change every day, databases across the world are updated, and hardware improves with the times. With an up to date, valid news database such as this, Texas will have the opportunity to provide quality information for children in their public schools for decades to come. At least that is what Anita Givens hopes. Given's is the agencies chief of textbooks and technology. She states that the "statewide license allows for economies of scale that we just don't see in any other kind of agreement." This makes a lot of sense for Texas.

Down the line, this project will open up the opportunity for "ePortfolios," where students can display their classroom projects and writing assignments. They will even be able to store large multimedia files and band/choral performances with this new technology. This plan most excites Robert Scoot, who says that the ePortfolios are "going to be a pretty big deal in a few years... It's an opportunity for teachers and students to show what happens on every other day besides test day."

This program should help to save money in the long run - at least that's what the state is hoping. "It's a system to organize future content," Scott said. "Stay tuned. We'll be adding more apps."

Is Sex Sacred? Fathers and Boys in the News - Profane Sex by Default

Two prominent news stories in the past few weeks may seem at first disparate, unrelated and quite historically and culturally removed from each other. However, to my mind, both raise serious issues of attitudes towards sex and children in any society.
One story involves the tawdry revelations surrounding baby-faced Alfie, the boy said to have conceived a child with a fourteen year old girl, at the age of just twelve. Although at the time the news of the birth 'broke out' there were whispers that there were other, slightly older and more physically developed contenders for the title, no longer poor Alfie's, following the results of a recent DNA test. To give Alfie credit, he proclaimed his willingness to take responsibility for his actions, even though he did not understand the meaning of the word 'financially'. Perhaps one of the financially astute grown-ups capitalising on the cherubic features of 'father' and child could have explained. Max Clifford, who took on the role of publicist, or the girl's father, who appeared in public wearing a devil mask?
Masquerading behind the face of Christ, it could be said, were the priests exposed as having sexually abused many boys in Catholic institutions in Ireland, between the 1930's and 1990's. Children who were truants, deemed delinquent in some way, or the progeny of single mothers were amongst those sent to these establishments, presumably for their own good and protection.
So what do these stories share in common? Both have elements of a vulnerable underclass, child protection issues and therefore, the matter of prevention being an important strategy in the task of protection. On one hand we have a group of disadvantaged children being used for the gratification of adults who were supposed to care for and educate them both spiritually and academically. On the other we have gratuitous sex among older children, in the context of high rates of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease, particularly, though certainly not exclusively, amongst a low educated, low-aspirational section of our society. A void also seems to be the common ground here. What needs to be put in its place?
John Banville, who grew up in an Irish Catholic institution run by the Christian Brothers, wrote in the New York Times recently, "What happened to them within those unscalable walls was no concern of ours. We knew, and did not know. That is our shame today."
The shame of Alfie's story is that we know, are told too much, and do not seem to know, or want to know, what to do about it. Our teenagers function in what has been described as a 'porn culture', without much, apparently, being presented to address the balance in our largely secular society.
Having personally experienced some of the down-side consequences of a Roman Catholic convent school education. I am therefore, not advocating a return to the ignorance, dualism, guilt and idealism of such traditions, nor do I want to take the fun and freedom out of sexual expression. I am proposing that we offer our children a much more wholesome view of sex, that places it firmly in the context of loving relationships, holistic health and wellbeing. Viktor Frankl, the Jewish psychiatrist who survived concentration camps in World War II, noted an absence of sexual perversion in the camps. In the face of extreme and total deprivation, sex ceased to become a concern, and that, apart from a longing for food, generally, Frankl said that it was the 'higher emotions' which manifested in the inmates' dreams. In his magnificent book, 'Man's Search For Meaning', he says:
"Love is as primary a phenomenon as sex. Normally, sex is a mode of expression for love. Sex is justified, even sanctified, as soon as, but only as long as, it is a vehicle of love. Thus love is not understood as a mere side effect of sex; rather, sex is a way of expressing the experience of that ultimate togetherness which is called love."
I cannot think of a better way to explain the connection. And if we seek to emphasise to our children that, apart from having the physical equipment and skills, sex is a pleasurable act which requires trust, responsibility and respect, if not love, it may be elevated, if not to the sacred, then at least above the profane.

Globalization, Online Education and the Role of the Internet

Online ticket booking for nights out, online chat rooms to socialise, online newspapers to keep up to date, online dating to meet lovers, online concerts to watch music, online shopping for weekly groceries, online universities for online education ...I could go on.

Considering that the Internet is a fairly new introduction to modern life, it is amazing to see how much it has developed in such little time. The Internet has gone from being a new and exciting commodity to an essential tool of 21st Century Life.

We are able to update the Internet instantly. Unlike print, the Internet is fluid, information is not bound into physical print never to be changed. This is why online newspapers have proved so popular with readers. They are able to check the news for developments every few minutes, always being rewarded with another snippet of information or a new breaking news headline.

The Internet has proved itself to be a powerful factor in the spreading of globalisation. Hundreds of countries, states and islands share the same bank of information, dipping their heads into the giant pool of the Internet and receiving the same electric shocks.

Scottish boys can race cars with kids from California and Italians can flirt with Brazilians on i-life. At the same time teenagers in New Zealand are listening to obscure Chinese musicians via My Space. All through the amazing medium of the Internet! It is even possible to attend university courses on the Internet by reading lectures and listening to podcasts online in an educational revolution. Imagine no more classroom lectures!

Of course it has been a matter of debate about whether or not this kind of globalisation will be a force for good or a force that brings something more damaging.

Many people believe that the Internet will help eradicate any sense of national culture and identity whilst some people argue that this would be a good outcome.

It is useless to try to stem the tide of progression and to do so would be to hamper science and the nature of humanity itself. It still remains to be seen what the effect of the Internet will have because it is still growing and developing, a technology that develops society whilst being simultaneously developing by society.

As I was saying before, companies are tapping into the market with online universities. Universities are partnering up with innovative businesses to create tailor-made online courses aimed at people who want to gain more qualifications but whom may have been in the world of work for a long time already. This not only has the effect of enabling individuals to potentially earn more than before but it contributes to countries as a whole by offering the adult population further education.

Why Teaching NLP in Mainstream Education Would Greatly Benefit Societies

The inventor of the idea of sex education being taught from early grades in mainstream education thought that it'd be beneficial to societies in the same way as I've been maintaining for years that teaching NLP from early grades in schools would. So how? What payback would governments get in the long term if they invested in the implementation of this idea?
For starters, since NLP studies and models human excellence, achievement, success, betterment, and the differences that make the differences between the excellent and the rest, its purpose is not bad in itself. If on one hand we talk about and grapple with societal problems with marginalized communities, delinquency, crime, the widening gap between the rich and the poor, and diminishing [or complete lack of] respect for the roles of the police, courts, authorities, and prisons, but on the other hand leave the fortunes of the benefits of teaching NLP from young age on the table, isn't that a great waste?
So what would the benefits be of teaching NLP in schools?
NLP would teach people to understand and implement the principles of CLEAR communication from an early age. Just as it is with learning a foreign language or a musical instrument, so it is with learning NLP skills and the skills to communicate clearly. The sooner one starts, the better for one's future. NLP skills and clear communication would prevent misunderstandings in people's personal and professional relationships. In personal relationships this would help toward decreasing divorce rates, lightening the load for the courts and the police [attending to incidents of domestic violence etc.], where costs would be saved for all of us in taxation, and the quality of police service would increase, because the police members would not be overwhelmed by excessive paperwork on too many cases that could have been prevented in the first place. In professional relationships NLP and clear communication skills would prevent misunderstandings that are costly to businesses in time, money, energy, and reputation. Lengthy meetings, job interviews, and negotiations that often turn out to be ambiguous or vague and don't produce results anyway would not be an issue. Productivity, efficiency, staff morale, and motivation would increase and everyone would benefit on both sides of the shop counter.
NLP would teach people respect. Respect for our environments, respect for our ways of doing things, respect for our differences in ways of doing one thing, respect for our capabilities and different sets of skills, respect for our differences in what we believe and most and least value and why, as well as respect for who - and how very different - we all are individually and culturally. Respect is important, yet many people lose it very quickly - if they ever had it in the first place. And without respect there's apathy, violence, destruction, and wars... Just look at the news - the news that sells best and travels the fastest is bad news. The London UK riots of September 2011 could not be a more beautiful example of lost respect for everything by the thugs who never had respect in the first place and instead just had big mouths and the attitudes that the world owed them a living. The wars over oil causing diplomatic manipulation by certain countries is an example of lack of respect for many things - how could manipulation and respect ever go hand in hand? To me, they're mutually exclusive! Or take wars over religious differences between - or even amongst - many countries of the world present or past. Isn't any war an example of a lack of respect for another's religion? If I practise religion A and you practise religion B, and I come to you and force you to convert to religion A, how is that my respect for you and what you believe? If NLP was taught to children from their elementary school age, they would know no other but to exercise respect for others their environments, behaviors, beliefs, and identities.
NLP would teach people to observe and question, rather than take things on the face value and put up with them against their will - brainwashed. Giving ourselves time to observe eliminates jumping into snap conclusions which are based on our interpretation of a situation and thus may have nothing to do with how the situation really is. Observation can spur creativity... photography, sculpture, architecture, and many other visual art forms are based solely on this principle. Observation is a great source of learning.
NLP would teach people acceptance of each other's cultural, religious, and social differences. Have I mentioned me wanting to convert you to religion A without accepting the fact that your religion B might be what you prefer and might be as good as my religion A? Why would I be so manipulative as to want to convert you to my ways of life? Because I'm not willing to accept you as you are, and I'm not willing to accept that your opinions, religion, and ways of doing things might be valid as well, albeit done differently from mine.
NLP would teach people work ethic. Now this phenomenon of work ethic is something that many young people of today in some countries of the world more than in others don't even know, as opposed to have lost [as some would say]. They don't know what work ethic is for two primary reasons. 1. since they come born into a world where every conceivable material object already exists and can be obtained, they have no incentive to work to invent new ways of improving the world - everything's laid on for them. Reason 2 is that since survival is so easy in the developed parts of today's world, and many parents spoil their children by buying them everything the children dream up, the children have no idea of the value of the objects they get showered with by their well-meaning parents, nor do the children have any idea of the value of money and earning it. Since NLP teaches respect, acceptance, the differences that make the differences, and modeling success, work ethic would have to be a natural byproduct of people's ways of life if NLP was taught in mainstream schools from early age.
Would implementing teaching NLP in mainstream education cost governments and the taxpayers? Since nothing in life is free and there's always a price to pay for everything one way or another, yes, it certainly would. But the principle "spend money to make money" from the governments' point of view, as well as that of the "upfront investment in quality will turn out cheaper in the long term" would most certainly apply in this case. The operational costs of teaching NLP in schools would turn out to be money well spent if the money were to buy healthier, happier, more respectful, more responsible, and more productive members of societies. What's your opinion?

Media Education: A Necessity

NECESSITY OF MEDIA EDUCATION
Introduction:
Ever since the media world has come into existence, new ways of its influences in its daily life has been seen. What was considered to be a boon has been realized to be a bane in many ways. The use of the media is often mired by controversy too. Here are a few quotes which makes us ponder about media's role and its influences. These quotes were by famous people and perhaps signify how media has deviated from its intended path to another completely new one.
"Our job is to give people not what they want, but what we decide they ought to have."Richard Salent, former president, CBS News.
"We live in a dirty and dangerous world. There are some things the general public does not need to know and shouldn't. I believe democracy flourishes when the government can take legitimate steps to keep its secrets, and when the press can decide whether to print what it knows."Katherine Graham, Washington Post publisher and CFR member. Thus we see that a similarity trend arises. People seem to interpret the use of media in their own ways, ways which will be of benefit to them. People with the power in their hands feel as if they are the authority to decide what to show and what not. When the press has an agenda, it is bound to be not wholly fair and just, as it was originally intended to be. Somewhere, down the line, human emotions, human wants, human intentions, greed, selfishness has come around to prohibit the working of a free press. Just as a utilitarian economy is a dream, a free just press is also nothing short of that.
The very essence of creating the press has been tarnished. As Hugo Black, Supreme court justice of The United States had rightly said:
"The Press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of the government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people."
The media has failed to deliver in its promise of impartial reporting, unbiased writing and true delivery of facts to the public. In this scenario, believing in the facts of the Media and acting upon them can not only be hazardous but may be injustice to the one on whom the action is being taken. The influence of media on young minds are even the more so. This is because young minds are just getting to understand the world and how it functions. Young minds thus can be moulded more easily than adults who have formed more or less fixed opinions on a variety of issues, going by experiences, circumstances and need and wants.
Today's world is as different from the yester years as chalk and cheese. The world today has hi-end products and a new definition of lifestyle. A consumer culture exists now which was unimaginable even a century ago. In this scenario comes the various forms of print - the digital, the print, the audio and the internet.
The internet and the television are the most influential among these. Both of these mediums not only gives us a plethora of knowledge but also enables us to see and visualise them. As the spread of the internet and the television medium reaches new heights, so are the malices of media influence too reaching mammoth proportions. Television channels and internet sites explode you with all sources and sorts of knowledge, which by its sheer quantity, makes you unable to grasp it.
The Influence of Media
Media influence started first in the West mainly because technological advancements in the world were first made there. In this regard, the western people have more experience than the East about media influence and their culture has been subject more to the whims of media influence than has the Indian society. Thus, if we look at the Western countries, we see clearly the marks left by media influence. There are authors like Jerry Mander who in his book 'Four Arguments for The Elimination of Television' have even said that the television is an evil which needs to be destroyed. It is no doubt seen that media forms especially television and internet produces devastating psychological effects on the minds of the people, especially those who are young.
It has been seen through many psychological studies that viewing too much of television effects thinking and behaviour at levels that even we may not know of. Slowly, as India advances, the problem of media influence is grappling us too.
In America, television has literally a huge effect on students and the youth. In fact, in some instances it is said that the first learning tool and curriculum for students is actually the television. That is their primary world from where they learn everything about the world, its ways, is morals and its ideals. Teaching, schooling and parents advices come next. The television as well as the internet has audio-visual instances which can keep the youth hooked and he does not feel them to be 'preachings' which he must follow, rather he thinks of them as a source of enjoyment and automatically the values and ideals in the television programmes become imbibed in his character. The problem here is that of the quality of the media sources and their contents. It is perfectly natural that television sources may not give the correct knowledge about places, people, history, economics, etc. Yet the youth and people get 'influenced' by what they see in the television or read in a newspaper and retain those thoughts and ideas, even if we do not at first subscribe to these ideas.
We inherently tend to have an 'influenced spot' in our brain of what has been told or seen by us through the media, though we may or may not believe it. This can be explained through a simple childish concept. When we were children, many of us didn't believe in ghosts. Yet when any of our friends who believed in them, told us that ghosts existed and narrated ghost stories, we were afraid to go out in the dark for some time, even though we still believed ghosts didn't exist. This was because though we did not believe in ghosts, somewhere or the other, an imprint of what 'others' said was implanted in our brain and we were influenced. Same way, people are influenced by the 'others' who are the different forms of media here.
New role models in fashion, eating, drinking, travelling - they all come up in our lives due to the influence of media. Media even shapes attitudes of ours in matters of relationships and sexuality. Thus in many ways, media tells us 'How to look at the world' rather than 'This is the World'. If this 'How to look at the world' is not right, then it can have catastrophic consequences, not only for the individual but to the world at large. For example, if media teaches and advocates violence, youth of today may be influenced to commit violent acts. This would be detrimental not only to him but to the society at large. And if many youths follow suit, the stability of society itself would come under scrutiny.
Thus, we need to know how exactly should we tackle the problem? Though media is intended to give us news and information as well as provide us with entertainment and advertisement of products, today our world is centred across this media. And if there is no coinscience behind the running of this media, then it would be detrimental not only for our right to get the reality of things but for the society at large to live peacefully. Whatever the media dictates, contain values, beliefs, morals and ideals which are shaped up by the economic and political conditions of that time, and may not necessarily be correct.
Media Programmes and Media 'World'
The virtual reality of the medi world is such that the real world has not taken a back seat. The virtual world is more addictive, you can have many shots at it, and you are always the dictator there. The youth are hooked on to video games where they are the masters and all others weaker than them. Moreover, these video games teach violence, illegal racing, murders, thefts and what not! For children as below as six years, there are cartoons like Shin Chan which have the concept of love and girlfriends. For a 12 year old, the programmes for them contain instances of sex and drug abuse. Family relationships and partying come into the programmes soon as the child reaches his teenage years. All these influence the youth to think that all these are accepted practices in the society and that all people do it. In fact many of the arguments these children have with their parents is based on the fact that "Other people do it, so why can't I?".
Impact on Indian Children:
India is a country which is relatively newer to face the problems of media influence and its repercussions. Yet, there are plenty of problems which can be seen throughout the nation due to media influence. A young child's mind is moulded by the media pretty easily. With rapid modernisation and replacement of old beliefs and tradition with younger ones, India is going through a phase where the importance of media influence cannot be ignored.
For starters, the problem and repercussions of watching too much television are now coming up. People tend to be influenced so much by the audio-visual stimulation and those rapidly shifting images that they keep hooked to the television for hours. This has many negative effects. Due to the continuous movement in front of the eyes, the mind actually gets a lower level of concentration and the person has difficulty in concentrating. They cannot even perform a single task for long and become restless.
The need for new products which first become 'wants' and then 'necessities' also cannot be underestimated. Many youth and children have even committed suicide because they have not been given the things they consider 'necessary' things in life. The 'necessary' things are decided by media influence. Companies advertise their products to make them seem 'cool' to the children and youth and then they seem to just want them to increase their 'status' in the society.
Media even helps the youth to make role models. If the media are not responsible to give the real worthy people the limelight and give limelight to the best golfer in the world who cheated his wife for several other women, or make good stories of a drug addict celebrity people will then take these things for granted. And if they make these people their role models, they would see nothing wrong in perhaps being disloyal or smoking cigarettes.
The situation is such that if any youth has been left untouched by this media influence then he or she is made a social boycott within that group. He or she is excluded from that group and is mocked at for not having 'even that simple knowledge'. Perceptions develop within them that the culture they prefer is great or the language they prefer is great while the other languages or cultures are inferior. It becomes so ingrained in them that it even comes at an unconscious level and people don't understand that they are looking down upon something because of media influence.
The media too supplies programmes which cater to the needs of the people. The people want conflicts, clashes, quarrels and spicy stuff for content. So shows like Big Boss and Roadies is paving the way which teaches no morals but violence and bitching and the human nature at its wild best. If people continue to accept these programs then there is bound to be a culture change too, and violence and aggression will come back in a more powerful way into the society.
Sex and romance is now on the minds of even 10 year old and Bollywood movies and spicy tabloids helps the children to gain access to materials that are unsuitable for them easily. They, at their tender age, get easily swayed by these things and sometimes even commit acts which they shouldn't. It has even become a status symbol now among the youth to have a boyfriend or a girlfriend, the roots of which can be traced back to the media influence on these people.
The Importance of Media Education
The media boom threatens to bring in new values by supplanting the exiting ones. Both family and school which are primary sources of information now become the second important one. This has what happened in the West and this is what is now happening in India. Families are changing and relationships too are undergoing sharp changes in India. Children are getting more addicted to violence and drugs and their behaviour and attitudes at school is also changing in an unprecedented manner. Thus if ever there was an opportune time to introduce media education in India, this is the time.
For imparting media education, we would have to shed the attitudes that are indulgent, passive, resigned or even antagonistic towards the mass media. Though media is undoubtedly powerful yet parents and teachers are not powerless to act against it. Many actions can be taken in this regard. Though media will be bound to exist and also it is no solution to regard all media as crap, yet discussion among parents, teachers and students should aim at developing a more informed perspective on mass media. This would help people to understand and use the media in a more measured and conscious manner. This is what is known as 'media education'.
Parents and school can help restrict media activity as well as impart media education in the following ways:
At Home: The parents are responsible to see that children's access to media is regulated and monitored. What they see and when they see, both are the duties of the parents to monitor. Parents need to be aware the influence and exposure to media the child is receiving and how much she could receive without sustaining psychological distortion.
At School: Here is the place where the effects of mass media can and must be neutralized. The schools could develop a course on media education which would create and understanding and working of the various media forms in the world and their influence. Moreover, in schools the power of specific media may also be harnessed in a more purposive manner. The schools can even make the children see programmes which are interactive and make them develop a liking habit for them instead of media programmes which distort culture and are harmful. Libraries of good 'media content' can be created too. In developing their curricula and modes ofinstruction, schools need to include the media environment itself as an object of critical study, while also using recorded audio-visual programmes and other modern media as a means of communicating subject matter in a vivid manner to students.
If we do not start moving now in the direction for curbing media influence very soon, every other people will be influenced every other way by these media programmes and there will be points of clashes all around. This pervasive power of the media in the world is what calls for 'media education'. Media education would develop an intelligence which is capable of using the media for definite purposes without falling prey to its limiting and distorting influences.

How Do You Educate Your Special Needs Child for the Real World When they Grow Up?

Educating your special-needs child is extremely important, if they are to ever grow up and participate in the real world. There are many learning disabilities that children will grow out of, and they will be able to overcome in order to live normal lives, active lives, and participate fine in society. Of course, there are some things which are almost impossible to predict, which just goes to prove that your special-needs child's education never really stops.
The other day I was discussing this with a very nice couple whose special need teen was not really cut out to go to college, and they didn't graduate HS in the regular class, nevertheless they got the appropriate education for their particular child, and they would have to continually work with their offspring to prepare them for the real world. Luckily, there are other social services available to help them through this process, but life will always be somewhat of a challenge.
There was an interesting piece not long ago, on FOX News titled; "TSA Admits 'Bad Judgment' After Disabled Man Subjected to Airport Pat-Down" which was published on June 10, 2011. The news segment noted;
"A Detroit father told FOX that the TSA singled out his special-needs son for a pat-down while the family was headed to Disney World. The TSA admitted was a case of bad judgment. The Detroit Metro Airport took his son Drew, 29, and asked him about the padding underneath his pants, which turned out to be adult diapers. Drew, who is severely mentally disabled, had trouble understanding the agents' orders because his family said he has the mental capacity of a 2-year-old."
When the father intervened to explain, the TSA folks said to step back, let them do their job, they knew what they were doing, and not to interfere. Perhaps, you can understand how difficult this was for the family, but it gets back to my main point, and that is; just because your child can understand how to perhaps count money, dress themselves, do limited cooking, and perhaps live on their own, doesn't mean they are prepared for all the things that might occur in their lives.
In this case it turned out to be quite an event, and perhaps a traumatic one for the mentally disabled individual. Maybe the biggest problem here is that many people in our society do not understand how tough it is, but maybe some good will come out of this story in the news, and remind us all, that these special needs folks are also members of our society, and we need to look out for them as well. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.

New Education

This was the title of one of my very recent speech at a local business school, where I literally went mad, shouting and screaming at professors and teachers to help them realize what we all are doing to the future of our students!

I am a corporate trainer and have nothing to do with the educational systems and models. However, my pain is obvious and apparent, and so thought of sharing it with you people... I can only wish that I am taken positively, and even if this is not the case, I personally won't mind much.

This article has to do nothing with any of my deliberate research - it is very spontaneous, blunt and "as I thought" kind of stuff.

To make things look more professional, I have included several quotes to help you realize my pain.
We are living in the world that was never so unpredictable, materialistic, fast-paced and crazily growing. Everything is changing, and changing with immense pace. What is true today will be an obsolete literature tomorrow.

The bad news is that Education system in Pakistan is as good as the democratic or the religious state of this very country - Confused, Haphazard and typically ad-hoc. The good news is that this system is not that good in any other part of world, so as we can consider them the bench mark. US, UK, Germany, France, India, Singapore and all others... we all are sailing in one direction.
The first and the greatest flow in educational models is the judgmental approach... the approach which tells student how good or bad they are. The misery is that most students take it very seriously. Shame on us as teacher and facilitators to do such a crime. If the creator never did it for humans, how dare can we do it to our fellow-beings.

Another concern, that has been disturbing my mind is the amazing "irrelevance". What is taught at schools - Primary, Secondary, Higher Secondary, Colleges, Universities... what so ever - it has to do little or mostly nothing with the real world. Educational syllabus is structured, predictable and provides an outline - Real world is insanely unpredictable, least structured and has no boundaries. How, by any means, can we prepare the youth of today for the challenges of tomorrow with such a syllabus. Food for thought: How many schools include Reader's Digest as the part of their syllabus... A teacher asked me why to do so - I screamed, "Why Not!"... At least it has a connection to what the child sees outside your "Prison look-alike" schools. Think about it as well... University students having laptops with a Wi-Fi connection, where they search the taught topic, come up with the most recent literature available, and discuss it further. It may sound odd to many, but you know what - it will be a hell to many of us around [so called teachers], because than we know - they [our students] will beat the living hell out of us!

I have been reading and listening about ever increasing tuition fees of schools at all levels. Honestly, I don't mind it, as I know, it's just the beginning. Educational and Healthcare cost will further rise by many folds in near future... my complain is only that by charging such a hefty amount, what's the use if these schools are producing nothing but clones... In my opinion, if a school system can't ignite the spark in the kid to be him / her self - the school system should be immediately adjourned. Today, when I recall my best teachers, it is true for them that "They made me fall in love. They helped me figure out who I was."

Our toughest "learning achievement"-mastering our native language-does not require schools, or even competent parents. It does require a desperate need-to-know. Great teachers are great learners, not imparters-of-knowledge. Great teachers ask great questions-that launch kid's lifelong quest of discovering more. The world is not about "right" & "wrong" answers; it is about the pursuit of increasingly sophisticated questions-but the misery is that we increasingly reward answers, and penalty is the very fate of questioning individual. Shame Shame! Please note... The Three Most Important Letters ... WHY?

Richard Paul, Director, Center for Critical Thinking says, "We need to shift the focus of learning from simply teaching students to have the 'right answer,' to teaching them the process by which educated people pursue right answers."

Now consider what Jordan Ayan had to say in his book, AHA!... "My wife and I went to a [kindergarten] parent-teacher conference and were informed that our budding refrigerator artist, Christopher, would be receiving a grade of Unsatisfactory in art. We were shocked. How could any child-let alone our child-receive a poor grade in art at such a young age? His teacher informed us that he had refused to color within the lines, which was a state requirement for demonstrating 'grade-level motor skills.' "

Schools are busy participating in the massive suppression of creative genius... If you are reading this article, and belong to any senior level position with your school - try this, and you'll testify my words (not 99 but 100%)... Go and ask, "How many artists are there in the room? Would you please raise your hands. FIRST GRADE: In mass the children jump from their seats, arms waving. Every child is an artist. SECOND GRADE: About half the kids raised their hands, shoulder high, no higher. The hands are still. THIRD GRADE: At best, 10 kids out of 30 would raise a hand, tentatively, self-consciously. By the time you'll reached SIXTH GRADE, no more than one or two kids will raise their hands, and then ever so slightly, betraying a fear of being identified by the group as a 'closet artist.'

Now if this happens to you, come and meet me - as I will personally congratulate you for participating in this mass 'creativity destruction campaign'.

For what I had to say, and what I have to say about the school system, a substantial amount of testimony exists from highly regarded scientists like [Nobel laureate] Richard Feynman, Albert Einstein, and many others, that scientific discovery is negatively related to the procedures of school science classes.

One last word - "Learning is never divorced from feelings." Children learn what makes sense to them; they learn through the sense of things they want to understand.