So obvious?!?

9:13 PM. I met (e:flacidness), but hours ago. He wasn't where expected to be. In the interim I replaced borrowed books and decided to learn a language, another stupid white language. Kennenlernen baby, aber nicht wirklich so. War ebenmals so dissatsifastisch gewroden. But the puppy was cute. Trying to think of now makes me wish for the good old days. Sweeping out the stable, and such.

When you forget to close the door behind you, does your aunt ask you,

"were you born in a barn!?!"

Mine does. I'm trying to resurrect the phenomenon, with heretofore little success.

Only 9:18, plenty of time for fun.

and no, I'm not talking about Condi!

[inlink]paul,[/inlink] The rice-bag was 25 lbs. not 15!!!
And after buying all that Indian convenience food, we ended up actually using the recipe book and making some tasty Balti Chicken and curry vegetables (thanks (e:lilho) for your generous contribution, not to mention the dishes). Today I shoveled the new driveway for the first (last?) time. We've traded very wide for very long, I can't decide which one I prefer. Went skiing in the park today. It was like slogging through sand, and for the first time ever I actually slid backwards down a hill (3x). Hopefully once it sets, and some other enthusiasts get to it, it will be much nicer.

U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper has ruled that evolution textbooks in Georgia can no longer bear a sticker informing students that evolution is just a theory. In his ruling he stated that the placement and wording of the sticker gave the misleading impression that evolution was merely a "hunch" instead of a scientific theorem which has undergone rigorous tests and proofs. Atheists around the country were overjoyed initially but stunned to hear of the religious right's next step.

"We only wanted to inform children of the non-provability of evolution," said Atlanta city representative, Chris Christiansen, "but now it's all-out war. We would have been happy to stop at evolution, but now we're going to tell students the truth: Jesus can't be proved with science. And since Jesus is truth, science can't define truth."

A whole new round of textbook stickers are being proposed. With even more forceful messages, attacking science in general. Below is an example.

and who woulda thunk it, we found nuttin'.

"The search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has quietly concluded without any evidence of the banned weapons that President Bush cited as justification for going to war, the White House said Wednesday

The Iraq Survey Group, made up of some 1,200 military and intelligence specialists and support staff, spent nearly two years searching military installations, factories and laboratories whose equipment and products might be converted quickly to making weapons."

You mean our president made us go to war under false pretexts? I can't believe it. But, at least, the country is rid of one very evil man [size=s](and thousands and thousands of innocents)[/size].

On another note, the United States Of Europe is making headway on its constitution. The EU Parliament has endorsed the document and now it will be sent to the 25 member-nations for ratification, several by referendums. Personally I can't decide if this whole EU is a good or bad thing. I am glad that it's giving the US another super-power to recon with (one with many positive differences to boot), but I hope that it doesn't end up homogenizing the diverseness that makes the individual countries so great, and hope that the real progressive social movements don't get hog-tied by the corporations that will also have freer reign within the Union.

In an attempt to free myself from my self-inflicted prison of boredom, I decided to read a book that I bought awhile ago called Serpents in the Garden : Liaisons with Culture & Sex. It's by The Nation contributor, Alexander Cockburn (who also has a website called Counterpunch ), whose articles I have found interesting in the past. The main reason I bought the book is that it has a list of the top 100 books of the century, and I'm always on the lookout for interesting books. The book itself is pretty good and is divided into 5 subsections: Culture, Music, Art and Architecture, Sex, & Death. The essays are from various sources and most are interesting, a few very much so.

I got a couple books off the list to start with and just finished the first one, Deschooling Society by Ivan Illich. As the title suggest, the main thrust of the essay is to explore what schooling really is and to convince us that it is not only unnecessary, but harmful to society. To be quite honest I am apparently so institutionalized that I had never seriously considered that school could be anything other than benevolent. Sure, there are problems with the way schools are run, with what they teach, and with whom is taught, but with the whole idea of school? Illich starts with the question, how much of what you consider to have learned in your lifetime came directly from school? When I asked myself that question I had to agree that relatively little of what I consider useful knowledge was imparted to me through the institution of school. With this in mind we should consider then what exactly is the role of schools?

Illich believes that schools are primarily indoctrination machines. They teach us how to behave in society. They teach us that learning can only be accomplished through schooling. They teach us to value certificates and degrees above actual practical knowledge.

"Everywhere the hidden curriculum of schooling initiates the citizen to the myth that bureaucracies guided by scientific knowledge are efficient and benevolent. ...[It] instills in the pupil the myth that increased production will provide a better life. ...[It] develops the habit of self-defeating consumption of services and alienating production, the tolerance for institutional dependence, and the recognition of institutional rankings."

Schools are also not available to everyone to the same degree and quality. They serve to keep the gap between rich and poor, learned and unlearned open and ever widening. And once you have school those who have been schooled are ever aware of their privilege, and those without of their lack, schooling keeps everyone locked in their positions while at the same time promising opportunities for advancement.

Schools keep secret (or institutionalized) knowledge secret. No one is allowed to skip ahead of the planned path. No one is free to choose their own path to knowledge, or even which knowledge to seek. Mandatory schooling gives children no choice in their own development. It deprives them of what each of us as humans feel is our right: free will. Why are children dehumanized in this way? Why do we pretend that children of 12 and above are unable to form even the most basic of notions of self-interest? Why is it okay to lock these people up in buildings for eight hours a day without regard to whether they want to be there or not? Maybe our answer nowadays is something like, what else do we do with them?

Illich proposes a system of "learning webs." These are systems in which people who want to learn are paired to people who have the knowledge. He envisions some kind of computer database where users could register skills they have and ones they wish to have and which would spit out contact information for meeting to take place. The book was published in the 70s when this might have seemed somewhat complicated but with the web now I don't see why (e:Paul) couldn't program something himself (this of course disregards the digital divide...). To me, it seems that the hardest part would be the necessary paradigm shift away from authoritarian teaching institutions and empowering certificates. Nowadays you can't walk a dog without some sort of license, everything has become institutionalized, subject to some higher authorities guidance.

Illich acknowledges that with deschooling would come many other changes (in fact he believes it is the most important part of any progressive revolution) in society. In utopian fashion he imagines a world where action is valued over making, where living is a matter of people and not objects. I agree that the world he describes is a better place than the material-oriented place we live today, and it saddens me to see the reality that 30 years of "progress" has had on education and culture in general in America. We are pouring more and more money into an educational system that is failing more and more children. We are placing ever more emphasis on the pieces of paper given those who have the access and patience to sit through years of compulsory and voluntary education. We are even saddling university graduates with unprecedented amounts of loans which ensures their direct entrance into the corporate world.

My thoughts used to run towards a more socialistic kind of school, where it was compulsory to a certain degree, than became a choice (at which level both vocational and liberal arts are offered), but remained a service rendered free of charge from the government. But it would remain an institution in and of itself, which now I question. Does learning need to happen only under professional auspices? Is compulsory education a benefit to society? These are my questions now, and I need a bit more time (and maybe some more reading, the next book on my list is called "Growing up Absurd") for my thoughts to settle.