LOVE ANGELES

The Best Education is Not School?

Via USA TODAY 

Brangelina argue that the traditional outdated public educational system (at least currently in the USA) is not what they prefer for their kids. Rather, they have a vision for homeschooling coupled with real life experience. I get it, I support it and I couldn't agree with them more. Obviously, most people cannot a) bring their kids with them to work and b) afford the private and/or home schooling options. So what are some other options for the everyday family out there, assuming a revolution within the public system is still way off? What do you think?   

Letter from the President of UC Mark Yudof

I just received the following letter from the President of the University of California school system. As a UCSD graduate and a California resident, it pains me to cuts of this magnitude happening within the public education system. I understand that the economic crisis will continue to yield cuts where we need them the least, yet, perhaps in the biggest picture, there is a silver lining. Perhaps this is the toughest early phase of the grandest type of education reform, an education revolution at every level...

Read the letter from Mr. Yudof below:

Dear UC San Diego Friends,

Today, Governor Brown presented a State budget proposal under which, for the first time, the State will be investing less in the education of University of California students than the students themselves pay through tuition. This is a historic marker of disinvestment in public education that should be disturbing to all Californians -- whether they have family members attending a UC campus or not. The proposed budget will cut the taxpayers' commitment to the University by half a billion dollars, reducing the level of  State support for UC to 1998 funding levels (in nominal dollars). The number of undergraduate students at the University this year is 175,000, compared to 116,000 in 1998-99 twelve years ago.

Undeniably, the State's economic and budget crisis has forced the Governor's hand; the proposal is, as he calls it, "a tough budget for tough times." The University will stand up and do all it can to help the State through these fiscal challenges. There can be no business as usual.

To that end, I will be giving each of the campuses' Chancellors specific budget reduction targets and directing them to develop and report back to me within six weeks their plans for meeting them. The systemwide office will do the same. I will then present The Regents with a detailed scenario of the steps required to absorb a $500 million reduction -- a budget cut that will lower the State's per-student support to $7,210, compared to the $7,930 paid by students and their families.

Today I am issuing an open letter to Californians, elaborating on these issues in greater detail. If you haven't already, I invite you to read it at http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=483652793378

The stakes for the University -- and California -- have never been higher. In the coming weeks, we will need everyone who cares about and who benefits from the University of California to urge the Governor and their State legislators to support public higher education. Please join us on our advocacy network at  http://ucforcalifornia.org/uc4ca/home/

Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely yours,

Mark G. Yudof

President, University of California

Book Review: "DailyOM Learning to Liveby Madisyn Taylor"

Source: DailyOM: Wouldn't it be great if we were born with instruction manuals? Each one would be different based on what we needed to learn, but the basics would be the same: how to create healthy relationships, how to deal with sorrow and pain, how to reach our goals, and how to know what we want to do with our lives when we grow up

DailyOM: Learning to Live is the next best thing to a personal instruction manual: a guiding light to reassure us that we're on the right path, and to help fix us when we feel broken.

ABOUT THE BOOK: In this new book, based on the popular Website DailyOM, co-founder Madisyn Taylor seamlessly weaves together her award-winning inspirational thoughts with her achingly honest personal story, revealing the inspiration behind many of the DailyOM messages that touch millions of people every day. DailyOM: Learning to Live is the next best thing to a personal instruction manual: a guiding light to reassure us that we’re on the right path, and to help fix us when we feel broken.

College Is Only Good for Helping Rich People Get Richer

Source: GOOD - A college degree is still the best predictor of wealth in America.

But new data reveals a painful truth: During college, students not only do little work, but learn virtually nothing while they're there.A recent GOOD column argues that college is overrated. Unfortunately, this is dead wrong. The economic returns to a college education are increasing. There is a wealth of academic data on this. But it’s easiest to see from the first graph in this Economix post from the New York Times. If you want to be well-off in America, college is pretty much a prerequisite. In fact, over the last 20 years, the “college premium”—or wage bump you get from going to college—has increased. The question is, why?

If you were to ask colleges, they would tell you that they are helping to develop skills and capacities—human capital—essential to a modern marketplace. This is a good story. It is a story that makes sense, and it is one we want to hear. It might not be a bad thing that the rewards of going to college are increasing. That means that our society is cultivating an increasingly skilled population that is helping to create social and economic value.

But unfortunately, this is a lie, a fable that colleges are telling themselves and that we graduates (and professors) like to believe as we pat ourselves on the backs.
The truth is something much more worrying, and even horrific. The truth is that students hardly work in college, and that they learn almost nothing while they’re there. College is a place where already advantaged youths spend four years enjoying themselves, and upon completion, they receive considerable rewards for having done almost nothing.
Don’t believe me? Well, I ask you to do two things: First, if you’re under 35, think about what you did in college. What did you learn? Do you use those skills in your job? If you’re being honest, the answer is, that you didn’t do much work and you didn’t learn very much. Still don’t believe me. Let's look at the data.

In their recent work, Philip Babcock and Mindy Marks have shown that study time of students has fallen from 24 hours a week in 1961 to about 14 hours per week in 2003. And this isn’t explained by having a job during college, choice of major, the kind of school you attend (elite vs. non-elite), or technological innovations that make studying easier. Basically people in colleges are working a lot less. Almost nothing can explain the decline in work hours except an increase in leisure. Read more at GOOD.

A Speech Every American High School Principal Could Give

Source: Dennis Prager - "To the students and faculty of our high school, I am your new principal, and honored to be so. There is no greater calling than to teach young people.

I would like to apprise you of some important changes coming to our school. I am making these changes because I am convinced that most of the ideas that have dominated public education in America have worked against you, against your teachers, and against our country.

First, this school will no longer honor race or ethnicity. I could not care less if your racial makeup is black, brown, red, yellow, or white. I could not care less if your origins are African, Latin American, Asian, or European, or if your ancestors arrived here on the Mayflower or on slave ships.

The only identity I care about, the only one this school will recognize, is your individual identity -- your character, your scholarship, your humanity. And the only national identity this school will care about is American. Thisis an American public school, and American public schools were created to make better Americans.

If you wish to affirm an ethnic, racial, or religious identity through school, you will have to go elsewhere. We will end all ethnicity-, race- and non-American-nationality-based celebrations. They undermine the motto ofAmerica , one of its three central values -- E Pluribus Unum -- "from many, one." And this school will be guided by America 's values.That includes all after-school clubs. I will not authorize clubs that divide students based on any identities. This includes race, language, religion, sexual orientation, or whatever else may become in vogue in a societydivided by political correctness.

Your clubs will be based on interests and passions -- not blood, ethnic, racial or other physically defined ties. Those clubs just cultivate narcissism -- an unhealthy preoccupation with the self -- while the purpose ofeducation is to get you to think beyond yourself. So we will have clubs that transport you to the wonders and glories of art, music, astronomy, languages you do not already speak, carpentry, and more. If the only extracurricular activities you can imagine being interested in are those based on ethnic or racial or sexual identity, that means that little outside of yourself really interests you.

Second, I am not interested in whether English is your native language. My only interest in terms of language is that you leave this school speaking and writing English as fluently as possible. The English language has united America 's citizens for more than 200 years, and it will unite us at this school. It is one of the indispensable reasons this country of immigrants has always come to be one country. And if you leave this school without excellent English-language skills, I will have been remiss in my duty to ensure that you are prepared to compete successfully in the American job market. We will learn other languages here -- it is deplorable that most Americans only speak English. But if you want classes taught in your native language rather than in English, this is not your school.

Third, because I regard learning as a sacred endeavor, everything in this school will reflect learning's elevated status. This means, among other things, that you and your teachers will dress accordingly. Many people inour society dress more formally for a meal at a nice restaurant than they do for church or school. These people have their priorities backwards. Therefore, there will be a formal dress code at this school.
Fourth, no obscene language will be tolerated anywhere on this school's property -- whether in class, in the hallways or at athletic events. If you can't speak without using the "F-word," you can't speak. By obscene language I mean the words banned by the Federal Communications Commission plus epithets such as the "N-word," even when used by one black student to address another, or "bitch," even when addressed by a girl to a girlfriend. It is my intent that by the time you leave this school, you will be among the few of your age to distinguish instinctively between the elevated and the degraded, the holy and the obscene.

Fifth, we will end all self-esteem programs. In this school self-esteem will be attained in only one way -- the way people attained it until the state of California decided otherwise a generation ago -- by earning it. Oneimmediate consequence is that there will be one valedictorian, not eight.

Sixth, and last, I am reorienting the school toward academics and away from politics and propaganda. No more time will be devoted to scaring you about smoking and caffeine, or terrifying you about sexual harassment or global warming. No more semesters will be devoted to condom-wearing and teaching youto regard sexual relations as only or primarily a health issue. There will be no more attempts to convince you that you are a victim because you are not white, or not male, or not heterosexual, or not Christian. We will have failed if any one of you graduates from this school and does not consider him or herself inordinately lucky -- to be alive and to be an American.

Now, please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of our country. As many of you do not know the words, your teachers will hand them out to you."

Peace Education

Source: Intent.com - Let us begin by considering why we need Peace Education. If there is violation of peace obviously there has to be some conflict. Most conflicts are caused by some clash of interest which is social, economic or political in nature.
Situations of conflict arise when there is domination of one by the other along the lines on class, caste, gender, nationality, religion, race or age. The process of education is supposed to enlighten us so that we may rise above these differences and be sensitive to other human beings. Education is supposed to make us more civilized and we are expected to work towards an egalitarian society. It is hoped that because of receiving education we'll become so humane that we'll overcome the tendency to dominate others.

However, this is not happening as a result of the modern education process, which we hold very highly and enthusiastically wish to include others in its fold who have been left out. We wish to universalize the education system assuming that it will be an enlightening experience for everybody. Most of the biases that have been mentioned above which provide cleavage lines amongst human beings do not go away easily because of modern education. In fact, some of them, like that based on religion and nationality, are likely to get stronger. Educated people have been seen to be more communal and nationalistic in an aggressive sense than uneducated people. Educated people also seem to develop a strong class bias towards less privileged people of the society. The tendency to dominate others too becomes stronger. Because of the process of competition that the human being is subjected to during education he picks up tricks to manipulate and stay ahead of others. Corruption, for example, is a product only of the educated society. The uneducated have nothing to do with it. So we see educated people in responsible public positions exploiting the common people who are not as well educated. One is tempted to advance the argument that by educating everybody we can make sure that nobody will take them for a ride. However, this is like the deterrence logic of nuclear weapons. We want to take simple, sensible and sensitive human beings and convert all of them into clever and manipulative individuals with little concern for the society and hope that they'll use their education for preventing exploitation by others. Instead, if the emphasis was on developing a socially responsible individual who'll be more sensitive towards fellow human beings and will be guided by a spirit of cooperation rather than competition, we could have headed towards a more humane society. The present education system cannot lay the foundations for a humane and peaceful society. It'll only give rise to more conflicts and violence.

Competition clearly is something which distorts the human personality. It makes him more insecure and behaves in a manner which is disrespectful of fellow human beings. It makes him individualistic, careerist and less sensitive towards the outside world. Except for his profession he does not contribute in any useful manner to the society and even in his profession he is not honest with himself. Competition is something which must be done away with altogether. In any case, if we're trying to reach every child and think that education is every child's right then what right do we have to fail a child midway through the process. In fact, if it is every child's right to learn then it is the responsibility of the society to provide education to a child according to the child's convenience. He/she should be allowed to learn whatever he/she feels like according to his/her aptitude and at a pace with which he/she is comfortable. However, it the convenience of the market and the not the individual which guides our education system. If education is to be taken as a process of enlightenment then it has to be kept beyond market considerations. 

Yesterday I had a chance to spend some time with children of Salsabeel Central School in Thrissur. They were telling me that they look forward to the strikes organized in the State by various organizations as these are occasions when schools are closed. Even from our own experience we can say how as a child we used to look forward to rainy days, some national holidays or even hoping for mild fever which will give us an excuse not to attend the school. Most of the children do not enjoy the process of modern education. It is a burden for them and they would like to get away from it at the first possible opportunity. We can remember the relief that we felt after completing any set of examinations. If you talk to any set of children we'll find that examination is something that they don't like. How may we hope that we'll produce a group of human beings who'll be sensitive and responsible to the society after they've been through a process that they have not enjoyed? I think most of the important things that I have learnt even during my school and university days have been outside the classrooms and text books, in informal settings, which did not require any examinations to be taken. Human being performs best in an environment in which she finds herself most comfortable. Examination is not something they like and therefore it must be completely done away with. It is the need for the market or the ruling classes. But it is dehumanizing experience for most of the human beings. Learning must be de linked from examination. If the purpose of examination is only evaluation of how many the children are learning, the teachers can prepare a report on the children even without conducting an examination. A teacher who spends time with the children, sometimes even more than the parents, knows the ability of student’s best. We must trust her judgement. In any case, the process of examination that takes place now is not a real indicator of level of learning. The teachers and the students don't complete it in the most honest manner. It has become a big farce and involves huge expenditure coupled with tension at the home of students. The parents make unrealistic expectations from their children and the children go through a traumatic experience, sometimes resulting in fatal incidents and in other cases giving birth to inferiority complex in individuals for the life to come. It is an artificial situation completely unnatural to human beings which doesn't do any good to human beings.

Peace education would be aimed at sensitizing the human being to rise above artificial divisions created by the society among ourselves which are basis for disputes and also rise above narrow vested interest - social, political or economic - to lay the foundations of a just human order or a more humane society. Until our education system incorporates this as part of curriculum, we will have to make efforts outside of it. For example, a Global Peace March was held after the nuclear tests in 1999 from Pokaran to Sarnath to explain that true security was derived only in relationships of trust and not on the basis of a dangerous weapon. Similarly, a Communal Harmony Peace March was organized from Chitrakoot to Ayodhya in the aftermath of communal carnage in Gujarat to preserve peace and harmony in society and prevent Gujarat like incidents happening in U.P. in 2002. More recently, earlier this year an India Pakistan Peace March was organized between Delhi and Multan to strengthen the process of peace and friendship at the people to people level between the two countries. Such marches provide ample opportunity to talk to the common people and discuss in an informal setting how to strengthen or preserve the social fabric based on peace and harmony. It is an education for marchers as well as common people. Collectively, people figure out ways of sensible ways of living avoiding conflict. These marches have been great experience for people participating in them sometimes changing individual view points for life to come. The real life learning during these marches about communal harmony or India Pakistan friendship could not be obtained through any text book course.

Also, interacting with school and college students on issues of nuclear disarmament and peace has been a very fruitful experience, especially after screening some relevant documentary film. The signature campaigns, which have also been used to raise funds for these activities, have usually attracted tremendous response after such interactive sessions with students.

Love, Sandeep.

School Fights No More Thanks to David Lynch & Meditation (Video)