Reified Randomness…

Reification. The process/reasoning error of which is defined as viewing an intangible, immaterial concept as a tangible, quantifiable, measurable construct. As the human species and our seemingly insatiable curious tendencies develop, we tend to create reified, societal, cultural, constructs and objects, perhaps the most prominent being intelligence, which serves as the focus of this post.

Defined as our collective experience, capacity to learn and adapt mental sets, etc. what truly is intelligence? How can such a truly intangible, reified concept be so ingrained in our society, specifically our education? As I often ponder about this world, our existence, the human capacity, and the abstractions that are so fundamental, yet seemingly  irrelevant (I typically spend much of my “free” time wondering what reality is, how our species collectively has developed, and what truly is the purpose of this reified cyclical “thing” called life, but I digress…) I find intelligence to be specifically interesting. Why has the human species defined intelligence, among other conceptual constructs? It is purely an instrument of distinguish, exemplifying the mental diversity of our species/society? More so, we see the significance of IQ Tests and standardized measures of “intelligence” dwindle, exemplifying, to me at least, that reified concepts are largely unquantifiable despite their integration into our societal organization.

Though, from a computational perspective, have we quantified “intelligence?” Machine Learning, statistical modeling and dynamic, parallel programming would perhaps have support for a different definition, as collection/threshold of information/knowledge, and the dynamism to apply such to presented, experienced-based problems, this definition, reified or not, has no direct, range of quantifiable values, but certainly could explain some of these aforementioned immaterial abstractions, and emphasize the role of the developmental environment in the development our mental capacities.

Overall, as I read over this post, I recognize that this is merely an array of questions, a display of my (some would argue “our”) own ignorance of our species, capacities as an entity, and cannot help but wonder, what does anybody who happens to come across this post think? Are reified concepts legitimate or purely demonstrations of our attempts at justifying, rectifying, and explaining our experiences, natural differences, etc.?

the “golden ticket” phenomenon

Perhaps one of the most interesting observations I have made recently, is that of productivity, in and out of school, as well as the relative efficiency of teachers and school as an entire entity. If you look at the timestamps on my most recent posts, and this post, you will recognize a large gap in the time of conception. The more productive I was (in regards to blogging,) was during my Winter Break, when I wasn’t drowned (literally) in homework, furthermore during this time period, I extensively programmed (Python, all the way!), and was acquainting myself in the fundamentals of neuroscience, specifically cognitive and computational neuroscience. All of this in three weeks, whilst getting ample sleep, a REM Rebound (since I had amounted a rather insurmountable amount of sleep debt during exam’s week and the preceding days), I felt amazing… Then school started again…

Now while I do not “hate” school or despite it’s very existence, as many of my peers actually do, I find it (along with many others) in need of reformation and change, in both tangible and intangible ways, with this post focusing on the more intangible ways, inclusive of the mindsets and approaches teachers/educators and administrators should adapt. To begin, I am going to discuss, the seemingly “Golden Ticket” mindset of acquisition to college, that many students share. Many students (including me at one point) think that in order to get accepted into college, you just have to acquire sufficient grades (A’s) and take the most austere and arduous classes (AP classes, specifically). This is not necessarily true and while grades, test scores, are quantifiable data that is somewhat analyzed in the college recruiting process, it is not the “Golden Ticket.” But what if I am in band? Sports? Participating in band, varsity sports, etc. further enhances your resume, especially if you show dynamism and commitment to such, or are a athletic or musical prodigy, however, I feel there is something more that we need our children to develop, a sense of interest (I am attempting to rid my vocabulary of using the overused, insipid, “passion” term) in a subject, whether it be the liberal arts, chemistry, programming, etc. and ownership and dedication to that interest. Perhaps one of the best examples is that of the popularized young, application developers and programmers that roam this Earth. Here, they developed a immense interest, pursued it and brought it to fruition, in some form, or for example, this blog, a culmination of my interests… This is what our children and students should develop, however there are multiple hindrances to adopting this mindset, development process, etc. Typically, these children who have developed such interests (mine being computational/cognitive neuroscience), may not be the best students in their classes, “best” being defined as overall averages, homework completion, etc. As they are typically enveloped in pursuing their interests (as they should be…), furthermore, I feel that colleges (at least good ones) are searching for someone to break the mold, of the 4.0 GPA’s (unweighted) and club presidents, and actually have something interesting in their resumes, something of which makes you want to meet them, converse, discuss; an interesting person. Now this is where contention happens, especially prevalent in my school…

We are drowned in homework, homework in quantities of the most ridiculous sorts, in which most days, I have more homework, than I had instruction time, and this is not from procrastination. Now, whether this can be attributed to poor teacher efficiency, too short of instruction time, I feel it is a combination of the two, but that is besides the point. By the time I am done with soccer practice, I have an immense amount of homework to complete, and no true time to explore my true interests, leaving burned out by the end of the week, coupled with an insufficient amount of sleep, and I am physically listless by the end of a school week. Additionally, instruction time is wasted on rote memorization and the homework is merely reinforcement of such, with no significant learning or acquisition occurring. Thus, I am a strong proponent in less homework, extended school hours, so students can truly embrace their free time and discover, explore, truly “learn,” and experience, akin to the real-world, outside of school. Even further delving into this, I believe (as mentioned numerously in previous posts) that our curricula should involve the teaching of how to “learn,” and teaching students on self-discovery, and pursuit of their interests, as it defines them, comprises them, and prepares them. For example, a student immensely interested in the inner-workings of neurons and the causes of M.S. (as their Aunt has been recently diagnosed with such), could use their free-time to collaborate, learn, discover, using the information-prolific Internet, about the disease, and who knows, find a cure… They are learning important life skills, most of which are not even acquired within school. However, if this student was bogged down with homework, especially homework of the most insipid, rote nature,  it would truly be tragic and caustic, in the sense that now self-interest exploration would be prevented, as their grades would surely drop (because they were busy analyzing the Nodes of Ranvier opposed to memorizing the answers and dates to a History Exam), their parents intervene, and a cataclysm of consequences ensues…

As displayed (hopefully), grades and school memberships are not everything, there is no “Golden Ticket” to your Ivy League school, no algorithm for acceptance… Despite such, if you truly find your interests, pursue it, collaborate with others (professors, teachers, other students, etc.), then you will most likely increase your chance at being accepted, by standing out from the crowd, being an interesting, and even happier person, that enjoyed their high school career, then being burned out, lethargic, in attempt to be amongst the sea of thousands of other 4.0’s, generic club presidents, etc. Of course, this is purely my opinion…

From an academia perspective, I believe that by truly exploring and by schools teaching students “how to learn,” “self-discovery,” and given the right influences and experiences, then students will blossom.          

Why do we compete?

         Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of society that I have been analyzing, of which is related to the productivity, performance, and capabilities of our species, is our necessity to compete and compare with each other. For example, when presented with a score or standardized measure, from a contextual perspective, we care less about the score, unless juxtaposed to that of another individual. “You did 5 points better than (__Insert Name Here__)! Good Job” seems to mean a lot more than “You did 5 points better than your last score! Keep on improving,” thus leading me to question, does competition promote success, innovation, and progress? This assumption sure is definitive of many industries, f.e. Twitter vs. Facebook or vs. Google+ (in which some ways are completely different in their purpose, implementation, and audience), and is used as a motivation for progress, as many would argue, without competition “we” wouldn’t innovate… However, several studies, events, and actions contradict this “perspective” or better yet, mindset, which only competition and comparison ensues in productivity and innovation. Perhaps one of the most notable examples, or soon to be notable examples, is that by which defines and structurally comprises the widely re-known, and prosperous school system of Finland. Of which, exemplifies that competition is not institutionalized and implemented into the system in hopes of the production of dynamism or progress, but rather “cooperation” [is] between schools, teachers, principals, etc., no competition between the progress of schools, teachers, etc., leading me to believe that our society’s “problem” (indeed, sometimes our desire for competition and comparison can be more of a hindrance than its intentions at being a benchmark purely for comparative purposes, I’ll be going into this later…) is going to be a bulwark at any true revolution of our school system, as well as having other social, economic, and political implications…

The Mindset

Instinctively, one might instantaneously associate this “mindset” with that of the American culture, as our society typically does promote competition, comparison, through mediums such as athletics, school, etc. While I am in no position to address the global scale of this mindset; however, I do feel there is a dominant emphasis specifically amongst the realm of American culture. This is where the connection can be made, in regards to the methods and problems within our Public Education System (that stem from this “mindset”) as well as methods and problems for the psyche of the “individual” person.  In relation to the revolution of our School System, I believe that by retracting focus from objectifying competition and promoting comparison as methods of motivation and progress, via less standardized testing, better teaching evaluations (no more seniority “bonuses” or “pay by performance”; they are treated with status and respect, better “overall” pay/compensation, etc.)… Furthermore, detracting focus from adapting students to curricula and broad-based testing/evaluations, independent, specially adapted curricula should be implemented in order for more efficient development of the student. I feel that by changing this “mindset” and as a subsequent result, these fundamentals in the American Education System can be changed, leading to a more productive, independent, and prosperous school system at its roots…

Why… this Mindset? 

Another interesting aspect to look at this “mindset” from is that of the personal psyche of individuals, and self-improvement/ personal development.  The underlying reason, I think that “we” think that we are in constant competition with each other is because our society has emplaced us in such positions. As the world and its Peoples become more connected, specialized, and populous, we objectify concepts of development through money and prospects of money (i.e. employment). Therefore, in order to “officially develop” (defined by being recognized for your efforts) you augment in pay and must compete, compete with an x amount of others for an n amount of jobs (where n < x in all instances); thus competition. Now whether this is bad or good, I would assume in most aspects, both… Competition for the individual typically provokes and motivates people to enhance themselves, try new things, learn, etc., but it also can come at a cost, whether that be “stress” or unemployment at times of economic hardships, etc., thus leading me to conclude that a society will always have competition in some form or another, whether it range from the individuals that comprise the society, the industries that make the societies’ economy, or the politicians that “compete” for legislature, etc. leading me incapable of truly contriving what a realistic “society” without competition would look like, think about it, can you imagine a society without competition? (Keep in mind, that competition could be eradicated if every individual in the designated society was self-motivated purely off of intrinsic interest and motivation, and were able to provide (food, shelter, the necessities) based off such interest, but I am trying to be as realistic as possible). Feel free to comment about it, I am interested in your guy’s thoughts… Do you think competition is necessary, good, or bad?

Teach yours students… Not just your discipline…

There is a foundational and fundamental problem that is plaguing our education system, and is derived from the methodologies of which our students, our succeeding generation, is taught. Our teachers are trained to be specialized within their designated curricula, whether that be English Grammar and Composition, or Biology, or even Human Geography, and there is nothing directly wrong with such, as a teacher should be well versed in their curricula that they are expected to teach to children. However, an indirect problem results from this specialization in only their designated curriculum, they become “regurgitat-ors” of material, teaching their curricula only, and not teaching their students. Wait? What?! Isn’t teaching your material to your students the same thing? Not exactly… While a teacher may repeat, recite, or regurgitate material from a medium (typically a textbook, or pre-composed Slideshow presentation), they aren’t necessarily teaching their students, typically recognized by the exams and test evaluations at the end, in which, despite the presentation of the material, no actual learning or cognitive memorization and understanding of the material occurred. Now this, is a problem…

What teachers must do, is understand how the human species thinks and the brains’ systematic processes of memory, of which are fundamentally based of “chunking” material and creating associations and connections with past experiences. This can be done by providing relevant or more simplistic examples and applications of the material. Also, the presentation of material, in “chunks” of three, four, five, pieces of content at a time, will benefit the facilitation of the learning processes. Furthermore, they must cater and adapt the material the students, digitally (heres that term again…) and specifically, because one learning strategy may be effective for one student, but not the other. These learning strategies could range from “hands-on” activities, or just basic Jeopardy Review Games. However from even just a rudimentary understanding of these processes, our teachers will become more effective, and as a result, be teaching not only their discipline (Science, Math, English, Social Studies, etc.), but also their students…

Industrialism…

What…Industrialism… Huh?

Industrialism, a term used to describe the patterns of an economic or social institution in which is built on or based on manufacturing processes, is plaguing our educational system. The architects, designers, and/or facilitators of our Public Education system are not evolving with the demands of society, economically or socially. However, before I delve into the contemporary argument of our Industrialist Education, I feel it is significant to go into the history of Public Education in our country. In a brevity, Public Education in America has it’s more formal roots when Thomas Jefferson suggested a compulsory, public education curricula and system for our rather “young” country, whereas prior to such, public education was typically confined to religious teachings. However, it never really fully developed into anything representative of our current system until after a century of development. This is where the problem of “Industrial” Education comes into play. By the 20th Century, our schools were designed to produce “manufacturers,” non-specialized, uniform, conforming young adults to work the plethora of factories and manufacturing industries that comprised our augmenting, industrialized economy (at the time). So, in order to accomplish such, our curricula became standardized, children were taught all basic subjects, limiting and hindering creativity, rapid specialization, and promoting conformity; thus creating factory workers.  Unfortunately, our education system did not develop in conjunction with our economy, as our economy progressed to being a tertiary-based, service-providing, (with manufacturing jobs becoming commodities undertaken overseas); our education system is still producing “manufacturers,” and not the innovative, creative, and specialized workers of the modern, developed economy. There is a plethora of evidence pointing to this, this phenom of educational stagnation; this Educational Disparity, for example:

•  We produce children/students in “batches” or what we call grades. There is the Class of 2012, 2013, 2014, etc… Whereas some kids from early grades may be just as capable as others in certain subjects and vice versa…
• Our curriculum still comprises a basic foundation for a hierarchical “core” of classes: English, Science, Mathematics, etc. with little emphasis or allocation for specific specializations, perhaps in fields such as the humanities or arts.
• Despite immense economic paradigm shifts, our education system has hardly progressed (as a whole)…
• We live in cycles, or in a cyclical pattern, whereas Industrialism and Industrialist-based entities are linear or beeline…

Thus, concluding, we need to close this disparity, we need to re-innovate, re-imagine, and revolutionize our education system for the current,  and more significantly the future. Promoting not an industrialized, standardized approach, of which is long gone to various countries overseas, but the ingenious, creative, and uniqueness of each individual student, and their respective passion, interest, pursuits, as well as providing the proper conditions and tools for such to thrive, especially within our Public Education System, or in the schools that comprise such. We must revolutionize and invent a curriculum beyond that of Industrialism, promoting discovery and the abstract/fluid thinking. Here beyond Industrialism is the key to our educational disparity, and thus, here is where we must look…

New type of learning… Internet Learning

I have recently made an realization, a realization of direction and dynamism, relevant to how the future and even the youngest of the contemporary generation will be exposed to learning and benefit from the abundance of access the Internet and the platforms it has created. Internet learning will be the future, and I feel digital learning/ content consumption is going to cannibalize having single-function, tangible copies of content (i.e. books, magazines, textbooks, etc.). However, I have only made this realization recently, and prior to such, despised this learning progression. I am enrolled in a virtual school class and initially disliked it, feeling that it was not as substantial as the physical school, nor did I entertain the reading of content via tablets or designated e-readers, until this realization. An education can now be accessed and acquired by the nearly-ubiquitous (in developed nations) Internet. Knowing this, the creation of a universal, online school, where grade school children can get personalized curriculum and teaching is the future, now whether this medium be through existing foundations such as Khan Academy or state-based schools such as Florida Virtual School, I don’t know, though these are the catalyst’s for the future of teaching and personalized learning alike.

Furthermore and away from an academic perspective (formalized schools), we must teach our children to efficiently utilize the most information-powerful tool of the century; the Internet, teach them to use it for guidance and promote the teaching of programming, self-sufficiency, and self-discovery through the plethora of resources made available through the Internet. Irrefutably, I feel this is the future…

We are looking at it all wrong…

As children envelop through a plethora of historical information, delving into the intricacies of the past, what are we really learning? Are we maximizing the potential of which History can teach us? As I advance through the various levels of history and social studies, I continually believe that we are, indeed, examining it wrong…

Perhaps the most indicative notion of the fact that we are teaching and subsequently learning history all wrong is how it is approached in the classroom. Typically, as I have analyzed, we are taught history via “rote memorization” (purely remembering standardized curriculum-important dates and events) and just reading the provided textbook, no engagement, application, or relevance; ensuing in the disinterest and redundancy that characterizes American Education, especially from the perspective of the students.  Instead of purely remembering when Columbus initially sailed (1492, by the way) or when the “Great Schism” occurred (1054…), we should look at its implications to contemporary times and use convergent thinking methods to facilitate making “connections.” These connections are where it all happens… the true learning and realization that there remains significance in the past. By making connections from past events to modern events, of which are very similar (typically), you can view different perspectives, methodologies, and solutions to problems; promoting a more astute and generally “creative” (capacity defined by convergent and divergent thinking processes) society/students.

Examples of such “convergent” thinking methods and applications to history include:

– Examining the distribution of Christian societies, Jewish societies, and Muslim societies over time, the events that their distribution has caused (i.e. Crusades, Jewish diaspora, etc.) and make comparisons, analyze, and evaluate…

– Analyze the occurrence of genocidal actions amongst history and their geographic location, look at the provocations for such, notice similarities, use such information for the prevention/proposal for the prevention of future genocidal acts…

 

By changing the curriculum to focus more so on making comparisons, analyzing changes over time (The course of AP World History handles this fairly well) and evaluating the diversity that entails history, we can make these classes worthwhile and beneficial…

RSA Animate: Changing Education Paradigms by Sir Ken Robinson

Check out this link… It is a very interesting video on the dynamic and shifting nature of Public Education. Sorry I cannot embed the video…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

 

 

Why being wrong is not all that bad…

“Wrong!!!” the teacher roars as you sulk in your chair and envelop in self-contrived thoughts of stupidity. The thought of being wrong, being seen being wrong is daunting, intimidating, and everyday I am in the classroom children are increasingly resistant to answering or asking questions for fear of being wrong or being stupid. Though, there is a difference between making a mistake and being completely incorrect, with mistakes being more tolerable than blatantly being wrong as a result of disinterest, lack of paying attention, etc. Regardless and without a doubt, asking questions, elucidating, and discussing is integral in any productive classroom setting, and with the reduction in such, a declination in productivity ensues. While children are responsible for reviewing and preparing for the material, one should not feel oppressed in the asking of a question, as asking “Why?” can be just as a beneficial as a lesson itself. To put this in perspective I am going to provide the following personal example:

My favorite class at my school is AP Psychology, and not purely because I am intrinsically interested in the material, but because I am wrong the most in that class, resulting in me to learn from my mistakes and become a more astute student.

So, while I am not a proponent of being wrong, when you don’t understand something, do not be afraid of being wrong, because, chances are, there are others feeling similarly and you are more likely to remember the one or two times that you were wrong (and the correction for such), than the hundreds of times you were correct…

Digital Re-wiring… of our Brain

This post is a socio-cultural aspect exemplifying the impact of videogames on our society, especially amidst the social and emotional development of American children and teenagers, more so males than females. As expressed by numerous Social Psychologists, specifically the venerable Philip Zimbardo, videogames, have an immense impact on shaping the future of American Education. Digital, multi-functional, and immersive technology is incidentally, the future; as the time American teenager spend with videogames and such devices augments, if any hope at changing and successfully re-kindling American Public Education is present, we must not ignore this fact… As, the nature of videogames “re-wire” American teenagers brain to become digital (multi-functional, lessened attention span, more acute sense of times; thinking in “seconds,” not “minutes” or “hours”). What’s so bad about that? What is maligned about this “re-wiring,” is that of when these children get in the classroom. The curriculum and methodology within the classroom is analog whilst the subjects being taught are digitally wired, meaning that our classrooms are boring, uneventful, non-captivating, interacting, or “fun,” leaving our children with a distaste, boredom, and exhaustive perspective of school. They are bored because they are not being digitally stimulated, with curricula that immerses them, engages them, and becomes digital within and of itself. Thus, with the proliferation of such digital technologies, applicable to both genders, our generations became increasingly digitally focused, a pattern we must recognize if we want to be dynamic in our educational revolutions.

The main point of this post, in essence, is that in order to prescribe academic change, we must understand how children think, how they develop, and remove our hindsight bias, by implementing a digital, not analog,  curriculum in classrooms spanning across all educational levels. 

Simplified Point: You want to be prosperous in the classroom, then adapt the curriculum to the children (individually and digitally), not the children to the curriculum…