November 7, 2005

• Topic: update

  
  

  

  
  

  On Fri. I took a day off from work to drive down w/ my parents and one of my sisters to Virginin, for my cousin’s bar mitzvah.  This is a side of the family I don’t see very often because of the distance, but it was a great weekend.  Not only a fun family road trip, but very enlightening about my roots.

  
  

  

  
  

  The Bar Mitzvah is the Jewish coming of age ceremony, in which a boy (a bat mitzvah is for girls) reads a portion of the Torah, which is a scroll containing the 5 books of the Old Testament.  After reading the Hebrew, they then give a brief explanation about the portion.

  
  

  This portion was about Noah and the Ark, followed by the story of the Tower of Babble.  My cousin, in his speech about the Tower of B., explained, “The reason we have so many different languages today, is because God was angered by the desendants of Noah who were trying to build a tower into the sky to dethrone God.  He turned their one language into many, so they couldn’t understand each other, hence, the Tower of Babble.”

  
  

  He continued: “I think communication is very important.  In fact, I think it would be cool if all the people in the world spoke only one language, so we could all communciate together, and so I wouldn’t have to take a foregin language in school.  But then again, we wouldn’t have so many different accents, and translators wouldn’t have jobs.  So I guess it’s ok.”

  
  

  Bloody brilliant!!!!!

  
  

  

  
  

  Topic: School

  
  

  

  
  

  On Thur. I went to go see a speaker on the topic of progressive education.  The speaker was Alfie Kohn, who is considered the leading critic of standardized testing in America, and has written and spoken extensively on topics such as testing, parenting, developmental psych, and several realted topics.

  
  

  

  
  

  The talk took place at the Calhoun School, located around 83rd st. and the West End.  It was my first time inside a Manhattan NYC school, and the building was beautiful.  The school considers itself to be progressive, which comes from its policy of written evaluations and no grades, as well as a general philosophy and practice of class collaboration vs. individual competition, and learning about topics in an interdisciplanary manner, rather than isolated and unmemorable subjects.

  
  

  Speaking to just a few parents re-ignited my passion for the subject, as these parents, in their mid-to-late 30′s, we overjoyed w/ how their children were thriving in this school setting.  I’m fortunate to have found out about this event through a friend who I was fortunate to have met at a conference for an AERO (Alternative Education Resource Org) meeting this summer, which was supposed to be the last time I thought about progressive education or the things I had written about the topic, because I had just become so burned out and frustrated by it.  But…one person, Roger, who read my book, fell in love w/ it, and he happens to have several good connections in the NY area. 

  
  

  For starters, my book is now being used at Ithica College, a course about academic writing.  One section of my book in particular, which highlights the book Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, discusses what college would be like w/ no grades and no degree. “BUT THAT’S WHY WE’RE HERE!”  Wrong.

  
  

  Roger is also working on a project to faciliate exchanges between mostly wealthy white students who attend private schools, and their counterparts in the public school system.  He has students from the different schools write essays and exchange them to learn how things are different for people in a different situation to their own, but living and attending school almost right next door.  Really interesting project, and there is talk about running an elective at the Fieldston School, an “elite” private school in Da Bronx (Riverdale), about all issues education and college…such as rankings, prestige, gap years, majors, etc.

  
  

  If you do a goodle search on “College Daze” what you’ll find is a link to Suze Orman’s website YOUNG, FABULOUS, AND BROKE (known as YF&Bers).  Until recently, I didn’t even find her show relevant to me.  But personal finances is an enormous part of life, not meaning you need to be rich, but meaning your ignorance of knowledge of the subject can have a great affect on whether or not you can live the lifestyle you want to live. 

  
  

  She has a whole blog which, like myself, argues that college is failing to prepare students for the real world.  And in her case, it’s in a very practical way.  Colleges are not ensuring that its paying students are graduating w/ a working knowledge of personal finance.  Recognizing this, some states are adding personal finance to hs curriculums.

  
  

  Some of the posts people left on her site are interesting.  They talk about the need to learn something useful like personal finance, “instead of something like geography.”  Well…since I’m interested in geography, I’d say, let’s teach both, since they’re both relevant.  When you invest in a home, what’s the #1 lesson? Location, location, location.  Everything can be shown to be relevant in our lives.

  
  

  On another note…further reading of Thomas Friedman’s book, “The World Is Flat,” has made me more interested in technology than ever before.  In the next few weeks, I will make efforts to read those who are concerned by the effects of globalization, but I think Thomas Friedman does a good job reporting what is going on, and pointing out pros and cons of varoius things.

  
  

  For example, in discussing the proliferation of technology, he makes note of how it can negatively affect individuals and communities.  People can spend all day on a computer playing games, just as easy as they can spend it soaking up knowledge on wikipedia.  People can spend all day having “lol” conversations with friends, just as easily as then can exchange ideas w/ caring people on Xanga.  People can become isolated and computer dependant, as well as they can strengthen relationships w/ friends abroad through skype, a program that allows you to make phone calls through the internet for free.

  
  

  And, the reality is, this is the direction things are heading.  So…while I want to be informed about the negative effects of globalization, I don’t want to be a ludite, criticizing technology or waxing nostalgically about “a better time,” when we didn’t have all these gadgets and gizmos.  Instead, I’ll embrace technology, and use it to bring nostagia back into our lives, burning cd’s of old music, reading the history of my roots, etc. 

  
  

  Of course…I do appreciate time w/out technology.  Winding down the day, I like at least an hour, alone, with a book, and dim lighting.  I like getting together w/ friends and having good conversation.  Just today…while crammed like sardines on the Long Island Railroad, I was treated to an entire conversation between two men in their late 40′s, talking about their old neighborhoods in Da Bronx and Brooklyn, talking about the architecture and design of their homes, talking about local schools.  Simply because the way we do things has changed, does not mean we’ve become any more or less human than in the past.

  • 11:30 am
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