Crisis/Opportunity

The Chinese Character for Crisis includes the Character for Opportunity. It might actually be Danger = Opportunity. Or, it may or may not be true. Some say this is a "New Age" urban myth. Only those that can read Mandarin can be certain of the blended concepts here. No matter. In crisis there is often opportunity; that's the important thing.
Think of all the crises going on in your world, in your life, on the planet, in your mind. Nice to know that all are potential opportunities. That may be where the danger comes in. The danger of doing nothing. The danger of status quo. Complacency= no opportunity.

My top five crises:

War- not the answer, only mythology, terror, violence, breakdown of communication
Leadership-Help is on the way.
Present economic reality- make changes, give something back, drive less, move your ass, value the natural
Education-it's not what you cover, it's what you uncover; testing isn't teaching; harder does not mean relevant, curiosity, curiosity, curiosity.
Thoroughbred breeders- strength and stamina before all else. Greed makes winners lose. Greed is ugly. Greed dehumanizes.

Comments

Cameron McPherson Smith said…

>>
Education-it's not what you cover, it's what you uncover; testing isn't teaching; harder does not mean relevant, curiosity, curiosity, curiosity.
>>

these are all interesting, but this one will be floating higher than the rest for me. it;'s good to be reminded of these principles on occasion, even if only to validate my own teaching style, which does focus so much on material *not* in the text that i often wonder, "am i really giving them what they need?" then i read something like this, and think, "yes, i'm doing well for them". cheers, cameron

May 18, 2008 at 12:34 PM

Mr. Greene v. Mr. Brown

I want to tell you about something. Something I've carried inside myself for a number of years now. Perhaps if I were a different kind of person I wouldn't need to talk about it. I'm not. My need to tell it is stronger than your need to hear it. Because, however, there are a number of teachers and former students of mine who may read these meanderings from time to time, I need to tell this story all the more. About 7 or 8 years ago I was asked if I would allow a university PhD. candidate to observe an English class. At first I decided against it because I was scheduled to have a student teacher placed with me the second half of the semester in question. After some urging, however, at the request of a respected colleague, I agreed. Soon I was committing to extra meetings, signing documents and explaining to the class in question who the young woman who thoughtfully pounded away on a laptop in the rear of the classroom three times a week was. I knew that the topic of ...

The Quality of Optimism

I've returned to The Book of Qualities, by J Ruth Gentler once again to meet the needs of one of the senior students in my little Writing From Memory class I'm currently teaching in my local community center. This little volume personifies various concepts and personality traits. The particular student "in need" seems to be fixated on writing about her past relationships. Apparently, there were many. I'm OK with that. I only hope that she picks a few qualities that are as revealing about herself as those that might describe her Ex's. There is much to be learned by writing about a quality. The aforementioned book seems to have survived well over the years. I first encountered it and its author way back in the late 1970s. I took a journal writing workshop from her. Then, a few years later, her book came out and I introduced these writing exercises to my students. 11th grade Juniors seemed to do the best with it. ...

Non-Reader

"The man hasn't read a book in years." I keep hearing that about the current occupant of the White House. Maybe that's as it should be because recent studies say that claim goes for over half the population of this country. Scary but true. It's obvious that the President doesn't know the history of this country. Examples abound. Even for those who can forgive him for inventing the African country of Nambia (he referred to that the other day) the fact that he knows very little about American History doesn't seem sway his followers. Either they know nothing too or they simply don't care. Probably both. Yet, the notion of ignoring history and repeating mistakes looms large all the while. A former colleague of mine, who taught Language Arts for a lifetime used to have a large banner in her classroom. When kids came into this learning environment they saw a sign which read, "Unless We Read, We Live But One Tiny Life." I'd love to hea...

Daily Blues & Views

Search This Blog