Saturday, November 28, 2009

What's wrong in Nacirema? Make war to make peace.

Medieval times were gruesomely violent. So, the European monarchs had the idea to send the most bellicose and fiercest knights to a war outside their territory to calm down and take it no more against their own countrymen but against the infidel and try to establish peace somewhere else… for a good cause: religion! The pursuit of spirituality can always be used as a good cause for war…rarely for peace.


So they decided to go on the Crusades… for more than two hundred years! Approximately from 1080 to 1300.


Does it sound familiar?

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Right, duty or privilege?

Do I live in a country where we need to reward kids for attending school so they would want to attend? What is my future when I’m “elder”, “senior” or any other euphemism I can think of it?
NPR broadcasted a news about paying students for good grades.
Acting that way, what are we teaching the future generation of adults, those adults that are going to be our community leaders tomorrow?
• All you do, even if it is for your own direct benefit should be rewarded.
• Education is not worth unless there is a reward for doing it.
• “Please, come to school because without you we won’t have enough money to continue this business”
• Yes, education is a big o’business!! You are the client: no client, no money, no job!
• Make sure you do business with us, so we can keep our jobs.
• We are willing to do whatever in order to keep you. Give you a video game box, TV, computer, feed you junk, so you feel really “comfortable” coming to school. In other words, we are willing to spoil you, feed your addictions, make you obese, and let you be on the couch watching TV like a potato, so we can run our business.
• Do nothing (even if it is for you) unless there is a value to it. Make sure you expect a reward, otherwise, don’t move a finger.
From this context, is education a right, a duty or a privilege?