/> WHAT WILL BE . . .© Farming is Falling, Effecting Food and Family © Be-Think: November 2004

Monday, November 29, 2004

HOLIDAYS: HOLLER, “HOORAY” OR HOLLER FOR HELP? ©

While listening to “Day-To-Day” on National Public Radio this morning I thought to ask of America, again: Are we divided or are we, as a nation, divine? If this holiday shopping season speaks loudly, is it hollering “hooray” or hollering for help?

Howard Davidowitz, chairman of the consulting and investment banking firm Davidowitz and Associates, spoke of this Thanksgiving holiday shopping weekend. Black Friday was said to be blustering; people are buying. Yet, Davidowitz asks, was this a weekend of wellness for retailers or was it weak and will this first shopping spree predict the future? He spoke of the blackness of Friday and then the return to a quiet possibly, red Saturday and Sunday.

Apparently, as he assessed the tradition of post-Thanksgiving shopping, he observed that this year there are the “classes and the masses.” There are those that buy cashmere and those that buy the less expensive man-made materials. The classes are shopping and their impact and influence is being felt in the decadent department stores. Sadly, department stores were once those frequented by the families of America. Today these stores are struggling. Department stores have not grown or prospered for six months. To maintain their bricks and mortar they must spend 35% [thirty-five percent] of their sales income.

Conversely, there is Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart only spends 17% of its sales to survive and even to thrive, and yet, twenty percent of Wal-Mart customers do not have a bank account! They do not have savings, nor do they have checking accounts. Wal-Mart did less well this holiday season than the department stores. Consumers and customers are not flocking in droves to the discount store. The spirit of giving seems greater among those that have the green to give. Fear not, fellow shoppers, Wal-Mart, though not experiencing the same seasonal exuberance on this Black Friday weekend will still survive and thrive. Typically, Wal-Mart profits are more than five times greater than those of department stores!

Knowing that department stores sales were strong in this, the first holiday shopping weekend, and knowing that Wal-Mart will continue to survive and even thrive, you may ask why am I concerned for America? Observing that the masses are barely making their bills and the powerful continue to profoundly prosper, I cannot help but wonder of the state of our Union.

I recall those that spoke of a United States of America during this recent Presidential campaign and criticized those that experienced a division. There are department store shoppers and those whose pockets are not deep, those whose prospects seem dark, dismal, and are denied by those that deem us to be united. I wonder and I ask. What is your experience and is your experience empathetic to those that do not share the same? Are you hollering, “hooray,” or hollering for help! Might we holler in unison or will we remain the “classes and the masses?”

Saturday, November 27, 2004

THE LUXURY OF LEARNING IS LOST ©

BE-THINK ©
It might be said that thinking is a habit; one learned when we are very, very, very young. We learn to think consciously or not. I believe that it is important to consider what we are thinking and how our thoughts will influence who we choose to be. As Will Rodgers suggests, “If you teach a lesson of meanness to a human or a critter, don’t be surprised if they learn it.” After a recent experience I ask, what are we teaching human critters? What will human critters be, what and how will they think?
The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives.
R. M. Hutchins [American Educator, Author, The University of Utopia and The Learning Society, Board Editor for Encyclopedia Britannica]

The words said were, “We do not have that luxury anymore.”  The speaker stated that she loved the luxury.  The luxury that she was speaking of is that of teaching in a manner that enlivens learning, engages, and ensures that students internalize information.  She was referring to her joy for teaching in a manner that creates learning, the learning that lasts for a lifetime.  Is it true that teaching in this manner is an indulgence; and that she is no longer able to partake in this possibility?  How sad. 


Now, to believe that teaching in this fashion is a “luxury” and that it is lost, never to return is a concept that I cannot, or more accurately, wish not to consider.  I cannot help but wonder; why does she feel that she no longer has this?  When, why, or how, did she lose what was once the objective in teaching?  How could or would she consider taking the time to guide learning, to give students an opportunity to truly learn, an extravagance?  I wondered why, and yet I knew. 
Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition. - Jacques Barzun


Days have past and the words still haunt me.  The idea saddens me.  I no longer wonder, for I knew then and sadly, I must now acknowledge that I do know.  I know, for I experience it each and everyday.  I read of it in the newspapers, in editorials, in professional journals, and in books.  I hear of it from friends, from family, from any, and many that have even the smallest sense of what is going on in our nation’s schools.  I speak with instructors, and others that are familiar with “education” as it exists today, and there is much concern.  The policies and practices that are present in our schools, throughout this Nation, cause much trepidation. 


Currently, I am employed as a substitute teacher, what some so sweetly call a “guest teacher.”  I have a Master of Arts degree in Education, with a focus on Instructional Systems.  I am credentialed in Psychology, Social Science, English, Art, Computer Concepts, and Computer Applications.  I taught at the University level, instructing in the Teacher Credentialing programs.  After receiving my degrees, my own formal education continues.  Therefore, you might guess that education is important to me.  It is!


As an educator, one that has had her own classroom, created her own curriculums, taught those that were training to be come instructors, as one that has recently “visited” classrooms that are not her own, and as one that has been a student, I recognize the need to be sensitive to authentic learning rather than to the appearance of academic achievement.  More so than academic achievements, a love of learning is what I would wish to facilitate.


I acknowledge that there are achievements today or the appearance of these; some students truly are accelerating academically, though I wonder if they are truly learning.  However, on any and many days, I experience, just as other educators do, that students, even in the best of schools, and even the best of students, no longer read the text for meaning; they simply search for answers, short and simplistic answers.  I not only experience and observe this; I ask students if this is true.  I listen to their admissions.  I hear their perplexing sighs when asked of their work and of their learning and their answers concern me. 


Students often share that they can master the art of test taking and yet, they do not fully understand the concepts.  They state that they do not know how the information relates to the subject, to their lives, or to the wider world.  They express that they can read and recite the words, and yet they do not comprehend the content or the context.  Oh, yes, they can answer questions, regurgitate the text; nonetheless, when you ask them to explain these in their own words, even those pupils that seemingly can paraphrase what they read tell me that they do not truly connect to the meaning.  When asked to probe more deeply, to present a parallel from their own lives, they express that they are lost!!! 


Teachers also express their own sense of feeling lost.  They are lost in imposed schedules and lost in a simplistic stress on standards.  They are saturated; they must create a credible trail, one that validates that the subjects are being taught well and that students are learning.  The trail, or the trial, is in the test results.  Students and teachers are now lost in statistics.  Today, in our nation’s schools the focus is on the visible and verifiable.  Yet, learning and facilitating growth are neither of these.  Nonetheless, in our frenzy to find validation for what we are doing or not, we wok to produce a product, our pupils scores present a pretense of success.  Genuine learning and true teaching are also lost.  It seems that gaining knowledge and inspiring instruction are now missing from our Nation’s classrooms.

In teaching, you cannot see the fruit of a day's work.  It is invisible and remains so, maybe for twenty years.  - Jacques Barzun
At times, the fruit of “teaching” is invisible for a lifetime.  For those that are forced, or feel a need to feed only formulas, facts, and the foundation necessary for gaining knowledge, never create what bares the fruits of learning.


This is true even in the best of schools.  I experience this in a community that is elite and highly educated.  Just as those in schools that are fighting to survive, learners and instructors are coping with the stress of scoring and testing strategies.  The level of angst is felt within all districts, dioceses, and in corporations that deliver educational services.  I am aware that, now, education is governed by rigid regulations.  There are ample frustrations filtered through the fulfillment of learning and teaching.  It seems that for many, it is just as Einstein expressed, “The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education." 


It is for this reason that I am sharing an account of a day in the life of an educator; I wish to advance awareness and to open a discussion for what many experience.  I would like to ask each of us to consider what occurs when we concentrate on the concrete.  I believe that when we do, we all lose much.  Students no longer have the opportunity to truly understand what teachers are attempting to teach; nor do they often love their growth.  We have also lessened the opportunities for instructors. 


From my own life history, I believe that if we do not love learning, then we do not choose to develop the habits that create a deep desire to investigate, innovate, or imagine, even on our own.  I believe that if we focus on creating a love for learning, a curriculum that demonstrates care for the student, for the subject, and one that is sensitive to the nuances of the process of progression, and then success will be guaranteed.


The secret of education lies in respecting the pupil. - Ralph Waldo Emerson [American Lecturer, Poet, leading exponent of New England Transcendentalism]


The other day I was teaching in a Social Science classroom.  I was working with students that I have worked with often over the last two years.  Frequently, their teacher requests that I assist in her absences.  She has shared that she values my desire and ability to facilitate understanding.  She has had many an occasion to observe me teach.  On this day, she asked that I have the class read and discuss seven to ten pages.  I was told not to go farther for she, the contracted teacher, would prefer to save the next lesson for another day.  As we read and discussed, I asked the students to reference a portion and then share, in their own words, the meaning of what they just read.  I know for myself and I have verified that this is true for others, many can read aloud and then not know what they read.  Therefore, I always ask students to take the time to breathe and begin to internalize the words that they read aloud.


Many in prosperous and professional communities, such as the one in which I work, can and do this well or so it seems.  I realize that appearances can be deceiving.  Often, when asked to provide a parallel, or if they understand what the words mean, when asked if they comprehend the ideas and the concepts, the meaning behind the words, students repeatedly admit that they do not understand these.  They cannot offer similar concepts; they are unable to relate the material to their own life experiences, nor do they truly grasp the greater significance.  Many, most, and often all confess that they can recite and regurgitate as expected or as needed to appear knowledgeable, yet they do not truly understand or internalize the information.


Therefore, I discuss the readings further, present parallels, share stories that suggest similarities between the lives of the students and the lives of those that they, or we, are studying.  These enliven the essence of the lesson.  As I do, and did on this day, as I ask questions that assist them in sensing the similarities between themselves and the text, I discover a captive audience, one that cares to learn, asks questions, offers comments, and is engaged.  I discover students no longer feel lost.  Learning looms large when I take the time to stimulate student learning.  On this day, as on many others, each of us, the students and I, feel enriched and enlightened.  These exchanges are educational; they create a joy in learning.  Students often tell me that these discussions, the drawing of parallels, are not only memorable, they help them to truly learn.


Then it happened, and I learned again, what I would rather forget.  In reviewing the day, I mentioned to the students’ teacher that we as a class were energized, the text was meaningful, and the discussion exhilarating.  However, we did not finish all of the pages she assigned.  She sighed deeply.  She expressed her dread for falling behind; the need to complete the curriculum as the calendar dictates, and then she said it, teaching in a manner that stimulates students so that they truly understand, well, “We do not have that luxury anymore.”  Sadly, the lesson learned is that what I do, what I did, what many educators do, and would prefer to do again, evoking authentic learning through deeper discussions, facilitating learning that lasts a lifetime, creating curriculums that are energizing and enjoyable for all, is a luxury, one that lost.  I wonder what have we created.

Tell me and I will forget; show me and I may remember; but directly involve me, and I’ll make it my own. - Confucian text
I do not wonder why this teacher, or why do many teachers throughout this nation no longer have, or feel that they have, the luxury to truly teach.  I do wonder why it is that now, capital and careers are more than important than learning.  I wonder and I ask; I ask those that profess, propose, and then impose policies that stress schedules, simplistic, narrow and naïve standards, to please explain this to me. 


I wonder why the rote, routine, rehearsed, and rigid is more reassuring to the masses than real learning is.  I wonder why scores, statistics, and strategies have supplanted an interest in our students.  I wonder why we settle for “standards” and no longer allow the minds of our students and teachers to soar.  I wonder when we will learn and when will our classroom objectives parallel those we have for our future.

Not long after my own writing, the Los Angeles Times offered another illustration of how students are shortchanged.  I offer this reading for your review.  Please review and reflect upon this report from the Sunday, November 28, 2004, Los Angeles Times.

Download shortchanging_students.pdf

Download shortchanging_students.txt

Download shortchanging_students.rtf

Download shortchanging_students.doc

Friday, November 26, 2004

BE-THINK ©

May I introduce the being and thinking behind this blog.

I am a person that chooses consciously not only to be; I choose to think. As a person that is choosing to investigate a site titled “Be-Think,” you too may be interested in the value of being and thinking. Possibly, you are probing, searching for a treasure. I believe that the treasure of our being increases when we contemplate our own thoughts [as well as the thoughts of others.]

It is my belief that our thoughts are the catalyst for our actions; as we think so shall we be. Sadly, soooo much of what we think is not as we say, or even what we say that we believe. Our truest beliefs are buried beneath the surface of what we say. How often do you say that you will succeed, and yet you suspect that you will not? How often do you find that while you state the affirmative, what you believe is less than? How often have you spoken of yourself as though you knew your self and then discovered that you did not? How often do you believe that you know what you yourself are thinking then later discover that you were in error? How often did you or do you truly admit to your own inner thoughts [and do you admit these to others or to yourself]?

What we truly believe is learned. We learn to think, to be, [to say, to do, to feel], and to believe as we do when we are very, very, very young, before we realize that there are other options. Sadly, some of us never reflect and realize that the truth for others is what they learned to be true. Nor have we reflected and realized that this too is true of us.

In this site, I hope to offer opportunities, open minds, and stimulate thoughts that avail other options--options beyond those that you, I, or we might already know. I hope to travel beyond, to travel together, to take us all on a trip that is never ending. My desire is that our expedition is intellectually, emotionally, physiologically, psychologically, and spiritually expanding.

Mike Pinder, of the Moody Blues offers, as I believe. In 1968 he wrote . . .
Thinking is the best way to travel . . .
From “In Search of the lost Chord”

While thinking is the best way to travel, at least it is for me, I know and trust that what we think and what we do with these thoughts affects our being. I offer a thought that affects me eternally. I believe that it is one of the most meaningful thoughts ever expressed. Horace Walpole is the author of this assertion; he is the father of the Gothic Novel. He lived in the 16th century, yet, for me, his wisdom is timeless. His father was the first Prime Minister of England and he himself was a Member of Parliament. He writes . . .
For those who think, life is a comedy.
For those who feel, life is a tragedy.
Horace Walpole [Father of Gothic Novels, Member of Parliament]

I believe that we all feel and if we choose to think through the feelings, we will find such folly, funniness, and fun. Therefore, I ask you to please travel with me, think, and be better and better, the best, and then even beyond! For, as Shakespeare states . . .

We know what we are, but know not what we may be.
Shakespeare: Hamlet, IV, c. 1601