Sum of Good Government

A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor and bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government.  Thomas Jefferson 


Sorry Tom.


(Other posts on Government) 

Skepticism

There is no harm in doubt and skepticism, for it is through these that new discoveries are made. - Richard Feynman 


Mr. Feynman does not qualify his statement whether he is talking about ideas, or facts, or principles or theories. Skepticism is good except except over your well thought out principles, because it can only lead to mediocrity at best and insanity at worst.


(Other posts on Principles) 

Business Dreams

Too often, I hear about businesses that just might be a dream come true for their owners, but hardly for the people they seek to recruit or the customers they hope to snare. - Seth Godin

Make your product or service a dream come true for your customers if you want any chance for your dream to come true.

(Other posts on Business)

Less Than Mediocre

Only the mediocre are always at their best.  - Jean Giraudoux 


None of us are "always at their best." So the mediocre are often worse than mediocre.

(Other posts on Achievement) 

Free Hearing

To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker. - Frederick Douglass 


You have a right to not listen but you do not have a right to not be bothered by what you hear.


(Other posts on Rights) 

Augmented Post

Sometimes I have more to say. From a previous post:


You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you're finished, you'll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird... So let's look at the bird and see what it's doing -- that's what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something. -Richard Feynman


Memorization is not education.


Memorization is not education but sometimes it is required in order to be educated. I have found while tutoring high school students having trouble with math that the root of their trouble lies with the lack of having ever learned addition and multiplication tables. I guess the thinking is that this memorization is not so important because we have calculators for these mundane tasks (teaching social interaction takes precedence).


Let me give you a somewhat real example: You walk into a convenience store to get a soft drink; they have 16 oz drinks for 79 cents or 64 oz drinks for $3.25. Quick - which is the better buy? Are you going to whip out your calculator? If you have memorized your multiplication tables and how many ounces are in a pint the problem becomes much simpler to do in your head. (If you are still struggling - the 16 oz drink is a better buy). If you have never memorized you multiplication tables it become impossible to mentally calculate that 4 time 16 is equal to 64 - or that 16 oz is a pint and 64 oz is a half-gallon which is 4 pints because there are 2 pints to a quart and 4 quarts to a gallon. That you have memorized these mundane facts allows you to not only solve the problem but lets you practice your reasoning skills - a very valuable skill.


If a student spends just a few minutes a day memorizing addition and multiplication facts then they are better able to learn to reason their way through a problem. By learning to reason they are not only better equipped to solve math problems but also life's problems. My students generally go from the bottom of the class to the top of the class within a month or so - not because they are geniuses but because they have tools to use. Not only have they become better math students but they become better people. Learning to reason is the education but memorized facts are the tools.


Here's a list of facts every kid should be required to memorize:
Addition tables
Multiplication tables
Inches in a foot
Inches in a yard
Feet in a yard
Feet in a mile
Pints in a quart
Quarts in a gallon
Ounces in a pint
Pounds in a ton
Pounds in a pint
Boiling point of water (Fahrenheit and Celsius)
Freezing point of water (Fahrenheit and Celsius)
Amount of a First class postage stamp
mm in a cm
mm in a m
cm in a m
Inches in a meter
ml in a Liter
Seconds in a minute
Minutes in a hour
Hours in a day
Work days per month (approximately)
Days in a month
Days in a year


The next time you are talking to a high school student ask them some of these facts, you might be surprised at how little they know. Think about how little time is needed to learn these basics which may very well make them better people.

Experimental Actions

A thinker sees his own actions as experiments and questions--as attempts to find out something. Success and failure are for him answers above all. - Friedrich Nietzsche 


Better than acting randomly.


(Other posts on Thinking) 

Seeing and Doing

Intelligence is quickness in seeing things as they are. - George Santayana 


I would add:
Creativity is seeing things as they might be.
Wisdom is seeing what ought to be.
Heroism is making things the way they ought to be.


(More posts on Intelligence) 

Small Problems

No problem is too small or too trivial if we can really do something about it. - Richard Feynman 


If it is a small problem and you can do something about it then why not fix it?


(Other posts on Problems) 

True/Untrue

We never fully grasp the import of any true statement until we have a clear notion of what the opposite untrue statement would be. - William James 


This is what is so wonderful about story telling (fiction, plays, movies, etc); the juxtaposition of right and wrong.


(Other posts on Truth) 

Overripe Fruit

You Americans are so gullible. No, you won’t accept Communism outright; but we’ll keep feeding you small doses of Socialism until you will finally wake up and find that you already have Communism. We won’t have to fight you; we’ll so weaken your economy, until you fall like overripe fruit into our hands. - Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchevv  


Listen to the source (especially you who govern).


(Other posts on Government)   

Broken Men

It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. - Frederick Douglass 


This is why I have spent so much time on education lately.


(Other posts on Education) 

Augmented Post

Sometimes I have more to say. From a previous post:

The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated. - William James 

Hence the need to teach people to do things worth appreciating. "Love me for who I am" only works for a while without positive actions.

Beware of the argument you will encounter: "I could have done this ............ but I didn't." The implication is that the speaker should be rewarded/admired/praised because they could have done something much worse than what they did. Should you admire someone because they didn't rob a bank today? Hardly. Justifiable admiration comes from good deeds not lack of doing bad deeds. Then you have those who do nothing - should they be admired? Again, hardly. No more admiration is due than to the rock which sits on the ground rather than hitting you.

This argument generally crops up when someone has made a mistake. We all make mistakes but it is the action we take to rectify the mistake which deserves admiration.

What Good is a Pot?

We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds what we want. – Lao Tzu 


Sorry to take exception this time Lao, but a plain pot has less value than a well decorated pot to most folks. So what we want is not just a pot to hold something but to adorn our lives with as well.


(Other posts on Art) 

Future Fear

Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present. - Marcus Aurelius Antoninus 


Provided you have learned to reason - if you haven't, be afraid.


(Other posts on Fear) 

It Happens

Our errors are surely not such awfully solemn things. In a world where we are so certain to incur them in spite of all our caution, a certain lightness of heart seems healthier than this excessive nervousness on their behalf. - William James 


Shit happens.


  

Wise Competence

Fathers and mothers have lost the idea that the highest aspiration they might have for their children is for them to be wise... specialized competence and success are all that they can imagine. - Allan Bloom 


Being wise will lead to competence and success.


(Other posts on Wisdom) 

A Better Course

In life, as in chess, forethought wins. - Charles Buxton 


Use the events of the past to teach yourself a better course in the future.


(Other posts on Preparation) 

Living in the Present

There's no present. There's only the immediate future and the recent past. - George Carlin 


So much for living in the present.


(Other posts on Time) 

Augmented Post

Sometimes I have more to say. From a previous post:

You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you're finished, you'll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird... So let's look at the bird and see what it's doing -- that's what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something. - Richard Feynman 

Memorization is not education.

Why do many teenagers get into trouble? I think the difference between those that do and those that don't is primarily due to education - not genetics or environment. To further refine this statement - what kind of education is the most important factor. Mr. Feynman gives an example of education which will not prepare a kid for an easier transition to adulthood. Faith based education also fails in this regard. I'm not talking just about religious education but also education given by the parents and teachers which suffer from the "because I say so" attitude. In the one case faith in a religious text and the other, faith in a person of authority, is the cornerstone of the approach. Part of growing up is rebellion against authority. If there is nothing to rely on other than this "faith" the teen is left unguided. 

So what kind of education will stick with the teen during this difficult transition? Learned and integrated principles. Note that I included "integrated" - perhaps the most (if not only) important factor. You can teach a child principles like "stealing is bad" by telling them so but by integrated I mean they also know; why;  what it means to themselves and others; where the principle comes from; what it is connected to and why it is connected. These are essential to integration. Certain tools are required for this integration to occur:  reasoning and logic. Where do these tools come from? Education of course, but if you are going to rely on the school system to teach them you are sorely misguided. Parents teach these things and it take a lot of time - but you've got a dozen or so years, or perhaps I should say you've only got a dozen or so years!

Newborns are very quick to use their apparent ability to reason very early. It goes something like this: I'm hungry; Hunger makes me uncomfortable; Crying gets me fed; Therefore crying gets me fed. It works for them. At a little older age if no other alternative is available then they try throwing a tantrum when they would prefer fast-food over their vegetables. If it works for them then what you get is a young adult who refines the tantrum. My alternative would be to ask the kid for a good reason why fast-food should be chosen over vegetables. To start with you may have to settle for less-than-perfect reasoning but as time goes by require more and more precision. Junk food once in a while won't kill a kid but inability to reason may.


Side note: I really don't like the excuse "She's just a kid." I've taught the basics of Einstein's Theory of Relativity to ten year olds with greater success than to adults. Why teach Relativity to ten year olds? It is a perfect example of stepping outside your realm of experience and finding out that things may not be the same as when you are on familiar ground.


Teach principles. Well founded principles and logical reasoning will go a long way towards protecting against mistakes. Without principles there is little to guide behavior based on emotions. Emotions come from the subconscious and for a time during the transition to adulthood you can expect behavior based solely on emotions. Where do emotions come from? Emotions are an instantaneous reactions based on previous experience. If you teach "Thou shall not steal" as a commandment from an authority, when the time comes that authority is rebelled against then all that is left is the emotion "I want."  Teaching "Thou shall not steal" because it is a violation of another's property rights; I also have property rights; I don't like to have my property stolen; Property rights are the basis of freedom; I want to be free because I'm old enough to know everything; If I steal I may loose my freedom - leads to the emotional response "Stealing is yucky." This is what I mean by integrated principles. The parents goal in teaching integrated principles is so the emotion "I want" leads directly to the thought "Damn, I better go to work to make money so I can have."


There is a place for faith when it comes to teens but the faith should reside with the parent, not the child. If you have done your job well you should have faith your child will make it through the teens and become an enjoyable adult.

Experience Ideas

The great difficulty in education is to get experience out of ideas. - George Santayana 


That is why education at home is so important, where ideas can be applied to experience.


(Other posts on Ideas) 

Being Appreciated

The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated. - William James 


Hence the need to teach people to do things worth appreciating. "Love me for who I am" only works for a while without positive actions.


(Other posts on Achievement) 

Relative Truth

There is one thing a professor can be absolutely certain of: almost every student entering the university believes, or says he believes, that truth is relative. - Allan Bloom 


Unfortunately the universities do little to assuage this belief.


(Other posts on Truth) 

Partial Faith

You know, my faith is one that admits some doubt. - Barack Obama 


Kind of like being partially pregnant.


(Other posts on Religion)

Learning Names

You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you're finished, you'll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird... So let's look at the bird and see what it's doing -- that's what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something. - Richard Feynman 


Memorization is not education.


(Other posts on Education) 

Indigestion

The mind is like the stomach. It is not how much you put into it that counts, but how much it digests. - Albert J. Nock 


How much is digested depends on the quality of the material ingested.


(Other posts on Learning) 

Augmented Post

Sometimes I have more to say. From a previous post:

The petty economies of the rich are just as amazing as the silly extravagances of the poor. - William Feather 

 Having money or not does not make you wise.

Whether it be petty economies or silly extravagances I think very often people are confused over the difference between symbolism and appearances. That you replace a light bulb with a more energy efficient model (when you can afford the old one and it won't make two hoots worth of difference to the planet) is mere appearance. It is not a symbolic gesture because it is intended to convey "look at how wonderful I am" as opposed to providing a path to a thought that is held dear. The signers of the Declaration of Independence toasted their accomplishment, which was indeed a symbolic gesture and it could (perhaps should) be repeated today with no loss of meaning. The symbolism (the toast) will cause the thoughtful to reflect upon the subject and further integrate its importance into the subconscious. To repeat the light bulb replacement only makes the act more common-place.