tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post5046093279506065192..comments2024-03-28T12:10:26.197-07:00Comments on One Cʘsmos: Give Liberals a Child to the Age of 27, and They Will Give You Back a Bigger ChildGagdad Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-81215479128018986472015-10-18T09:09:31.612-07:002015-10-18T09:09:31.612-07:00Now there's some contrast; as stark as between...Now there's some contrast; as stark as between the living and the dead. Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-55995550084688835822015-10-18T08:31:49.602-07:002015-10-18T08:31:49.602-07:00Yes, I'll take the un-colleged Washington and ...Yes, I'll take the un-colleged Washington and Lincoln over our two most overeducated presidents, Wilson and Obama.Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-89864691403964411572015-10-18T08:25:08.543-07:002015-10-18T08:25:08.543-07:00One of the worst side effects of the degree fetish...One of the worst side effects of the degree fetish is the idea that without a degree, you cannot be 'Educated'. Lincoln is laughing/crying from his grave.Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-34914798820887818772015-10-18T07:42:55.539-07:002015-10-18T07:42:55.539-07:00Or as if they learned nothing from the Wizard of O...Or as if they learned nothing from the Wizard of Oz: "pay no attention to that man behind the curtain of tenure." Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-11747494546364346572015-10-18T07:28:43.197-07:002015-10-18T07:28:43.197-07:00As I've mentioned before, I can excuse my fath...As I've mentioned before, I can excuse my father, who only had an eighth grade education, for romanticizing college and seeing it as some great transformative experience. What I cannot understand is my generation -- the most overeducated in history -- doing the same. It only highlights the point that on balance the boomers learned nothing from all that college. Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-36222565646362164252015-10-18T06:05:26.735-07:002015-10-18T06:05:26.735-07:00Former school teacher John Taylor Gatto has a lot ...Former school teacher John Taylor Gatto has a lot to say about this in his " weapons of mass instruction". <br />Ive always hated the dewey decimal system in libraries.. so cold and inhuman. <br />Gatto has an entire chapter devoted to examples of young people doing adult things as young as 11.<br />I think captain cook enrolled in the navy at 11.<br /><br />And examples of people who became rich without going to college, or hardly... steve jobs, richard branson.<br />Its truly criminal to be cutting teens away from enterprise and making them beleive the only road to success is ticking the right boxes. Juleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10119193175145977768noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-74029898096141301842015-10-17T07:45:07.148-07:002015-10-17T07:45:07.148-07:00Now, to steal or thwart a child's imagination ...<i>Now, to steal or thwart a child's imagination is a serious crime, because without it, life is hardly worth living.Art, beauty, love, religion, even truth itself all disclose themselves in this transitional space.</i><br /><br />Indeed. One of the great delights in life is watching little imaginations blossom; they are the very essence of Surprise.<br /><br />As to the stealing and thwarting, it seems that most of what passes for children's entertainment these days is intended to do exactly that, to say nothing of education.juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-34658220949786138702015-10-16T18:31:32.166-07:002015-10-16T18:31:32.166-07:00Yes. If your offspring reaches the age of adulthoo...Yes. If your offspring reaches the age of adulthood and has to, say, call the police because there was a mouse in the dorm room, you have failed as a parent. juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-20489200361454401802015-10-16T15:35:05.888-07:002015-10-16T15:35:05.888-07:00Related: the fragility of college students.Related: <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/nation-wimps/201510/where-did-colleges-go-wrong" rel="nofollow">the fragility of college students</a>.Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-41828612484144588262015-10-16T13:33:09.725-07:002015-10-16T13:33:09.725-07:00Reminds me of what Chesterton said -- that there i...Reminds me of what Chesterton said -- that there is a form of insanity that involves losing everything <i>but</i> one's reason. Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-5214001186454475682015-10-16T12:37:28.733-07:002015-10-16T12:37:28.733-07:00Mushroom said "Failing to engage the imaginat...Mushroom said "Failing to engage the imagination means a failure in education."<br /><br />Absolutely. The notion that you can even <i>have</i> knowledge, without imagination, is... insane. I think probably literally.<br /><br />It's certainly at the very least, stupidifying.Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-15480316588596178232015-10-16T12:03:03.767-07:002015-10-16T12:03:03.767-07:00Failing to engage the imagination means a failure ...Failing to engage the imagination means a failure in education. History, science, math, especially geometry, oddly enough, engaged mine.mushroomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07651027035577798096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-60951360086403083102015-10-16T11:33:57.456-07:002015-10-16T11:33:57.456-07:00But there certainly must be a dominance of left br...<i>But there certainly must be a dominance of left brain over right in order for ideology to be superimposed over experience.</i><br /><br />Now that you mention this, it is evident in so many areas from global warming and economics to race and religion. mushroomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07651027035577798096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-19458947415848065062015-10-16T11:14:04.863-07:002015-10-16T11:14:04.863-07:00Someone had a good quote from Sowell the other day...Someone had a good quote from Sowell the other day -- something to the effect that if you want the impossible, then only liars will suffice. Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-61637521332444044242015-10-16T11:07:01.229-07:002015-10-16T11:07:01.229-07:00"In fact, Dewey was explicitly anti-right bra..."In fact, Dewey was explicitly anti-right brain, as it were, in that he had no use for the child's imagination.<br /><br />Now, to steal or thwart a child's imagination is a serious crime, because without it, life is hardly worth living. Art, beauty, love, religion, even truth itself all disclose themselves in this transitional space."<br /><br />Yep. But of course Dewey was only able to do what he did, because so many others had already had it done to them. The push to jettison imaginative literature (which included everything from Homer, to Cicero, to Plutarch and the Bible) from education, began around 1800. They wanted only facts and skills and logic and efficiency - <i>'Scienceishness!</i><br /><br />"Esolen notes in passing how Charles Darwin claimed -- big surprise -- "that poetry meant nothing to him. He had no ear for it, and he noted its loss with mild regret."<br /><br />Likewise, "John Dewey had no poetry in his heart," except that in his case he "never noticed the lack.""<br /><br />In a completely unsurprising non-coincidence, Rousseau, before he became popular by declaring Civilization to be an evil, sought popularity by peddling his own system of musical notation that would do away with Harmonies.<br /><br />We seem to be getting beaten by people with half their brains tied up out back.<br /><br />How does that happen?Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.com