Arthur Cordell wrote,
> The change needed is profound. So profound that I have trouble
>finding a place to start (this especially now when children are being
>taught computer skills in kindergarten so they can become part of the new
>'educated' workforce.)
Actually, my four-year old is quite comfortable turning on the computer and
booting up the programs he wants to play with. He types his name with much
greater ease than he writes (he's only learned to write five or six letters,
but he can type them all).
I went to two events at Simon Fraser University this week that bring home
how profound the education problem is. The first was a president's lecture
on the topic of economic fundamentalism. The second was a teach-in organized
by students and counter-culture youth.
The contrast between the two events was vivid but the common element was a
sense of paralysis. Although both events expressed criticism of the MAI in
particular and the general drift of neo-liberal policy in general, there was
no overlap between the participants (other than myself). In fact, it was
almost inconceivable how there could have been a meeting of the minds
between the two groups. The images of procrastination and narcissism occur
to me to describe the contrast.
This is going to sound paradoxical, but what both sets of "teachers" need to
do is heighten their sense of identification with the social order they are
presumably criticizing. Both the critical academics and the alienated youth
seem to have adopted stances outside of authority and responsibility. This
affect of powerlessness is particularly ironic for the academics because it
mirrors the warrant of powerlessness claimed by, say, U.S. Treasury
Secretary Robert Rubin (and made famous by Madame Thatcher's TINA, "there is
no alternative.")
There is an alternative. It is printed on an 81/2 x 11 piece of paper I've
been carrying around in my briefcase for the past couple of days. It's not
perfected yet, but the machine can be assembled with three cuts of an x-acto
knife and five folds. The machine induces either alpha or beta brain waves
depending on how it's being deployed. I guess you could call it virtual
brain surgery. I'm kidding, of course. Or am I? Who really wants to know?
Regards,
Tom Walker
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Vancouver, B.C.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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The TimeWork Web: http://www.vcn.bc.ca/timework/
