Briefly

I am more convinced than ever that the school system used in most of the world today — based on the old Prussian model — is holding children back from learning how to educated in a truly integrated way. And the obsession with technology is making schools worse, not better. If I had to set up a school (or just one classroom) today, I would ban technology and replace it with a very bright teacher with wide latitude to teach what the students needed to learn. Computers and other technology would be nowhere to be found, but there would be plenty of books. A smart and curious teacher who is trusted to open the eyes of the students would accomplish more than any pre-fab computer software or the ability to access information through an online search. Having computers and quick access to information actually makes learning more difficult, because it teaches children to be able to provide information without understanding context or connection. If students aren’t taught to be curious and then to make connections — and then to think about what they observe — it won’t matter how much information they have access to. Information is useless if you don’t know how to think or how to organize information, much less what to do with it. The right teacher would facilitate that far better than technology. We are handicapping children by sending them to well-meaning school programs which are easily outperformed by those bright kids using the “unschooling” model popularized by the late educator John Holt.

The photos were on a site which covers sports, but the feature had more to do with the body of a scantily clad woman than anything else, even though the woman used to play college volleyball. I’ve seen things of this nature a thousand times and they always repel me. I spent a few minutes tonight thinking about the reason why I have this reaction. I have nothing against former Marshall University volleyball Kayla Simmons, but this depiction of her reminds me of so much of what I hate in modern culture. Simmons might be a brilliant and talented woman. I have no idea. But I do know that she is choosing to promote herself as a sex symbol of sorts for social media fame — and I know that what I want is absolutely nothing like this. The kind of woman I want would run from this sort of depiction of herself even if she had the world’s most perfect body, because she wouldn’t be eager to share her body with the world and she wouldn’t want to be stereotyped as a sexually attractive bimbo. The woman I want is brilliant, competent, compassionate, driven and has character. Simmons might have all those things. I honestly don’t know. But promoting yourself this way suggests you are the fantasy that most men want — which is exactly the opposite of what I want and need.

I did something hilariously stupid a few minutes ago. I had just finished showing a house and was going through the place turning all the lights off when I became frustrated because I couldn’t find the light switch to turn this remaining light off in a bathroom. After searching and fuming for at least three minutes about my inability to figure it out, I finally noticed that there was no light to turn off. That’s a skylight in the ceiling instead. I felt pretty stupid, but I had a good laugh at my own expense. Sometimes, we’re not nearly as bright as we think we are. Remember to laugh at yourself. It makes mistakes more bearable.