8th
May
2008
Back in 1852, when the Free Education Act authorized Island communities to establish their own schools, proximity was everything. If the law said that schools could not be any closer than three miles from one another, then that’s how things would be. And if you couldn’t face the long mile-and-a-half uphill through waist deep snow, then you took the family horse. Exercise was part of daily life, and the local fitness club simply didn’t exist; it didn’t serve a purpose. Above all else, school was accessible.
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posted in education, history |
6th
May
2008
Let’s give credit to parents with children who decide (together) that post-secondary studies are a worthwhile investment. I mean that in both the literal and the subjective senses, because “me and mine” have been there and now the “mine and me” are considering the idea.
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posted in economy, education |
1st
May
2008
Do you have any robots about the place? No? Didn’t think you would. Let’s face it, the robotic faces presented in prose and cinema have been with us for decades, but the chances that something brought you a cup of coffee this evening after supper are slim to none. We’ve placed machines that react throughout our factories; the automaton “runs” the industrial world, but the metallic buddy is so far just a dream. We don’t know if androids dream of electric sheep.
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posted in education, technology |
23rd
March
2008
This afternoon I received an email from a friend’s progeny, looking for information on where to take a particular training course on the Island, and it struck me that time is doing some sort of surreal warpspeed thing. The last time I’d had a personal interest in that course was thirty years ago. My own children weren’t even “on the radar”.
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posted in education |
13th
March
2008
People like to take the familiar road home. We all know the jokes about “being on autopilot”; today I learned that it extends to our response in an emergency. The fire alarm sounds in your office building and people head for their usual exit, even if it means choosing to be in harm’s way.
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posted in education |
10th
March
2008
Let’s begin with a little exaggeration. How about: “This evening I was held prisoner, without food or water, against my will”. No, that raises too many questions. The reality is that I worked through suppertime, without eating, and I would have rather been at home for a birthday, and the doors were locked on the building because we were outside regular hours. There you go, I’ve managed to set a fictional scene and then deflate the whole thing into a heap of banal balloon rubber.
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posted in education |
9th
March
2008
When you have to learn an important life skill, who you gonna call? Not the nearest parent, if my progeny are an example of the new world. This evening I offered to demonstrate how to build a big lasagna. Note the italic active verb; around here we should have a permit from the city authorities. To my dismay, the kids didn’t care; supper was over so they weren’t in any danger of going hungry. This was a meal for a different day.
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posted in education |
1st
February
2008
I was the proverbial “fly on the wall” this morning, sitting in on a workshop for teachers. My actual role involved running a low-fi video camera to capture the effort for posterity, but since my selective deafness isn’t always controlled I also happened to be a passive listener. Interesting stuff.
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posted in education |
18th
January
2008
Those who are passionate are to be admired, I guess. I mean, if you aren’t “in the circle”, then the intensity these people have for their field probably goes right over your head. Pick any one of the topics available at sites such as about.com; somewhere there are people gathering, at this very moment, to celebrate “their” subject. Unless, of course, the subject is being alone, or hermit lifestyle 101, or something similar. But I digress.
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posted in education |
14th
January
2008
Buoyed in part by my declaration yesterday that schools weren’t as violent as some in the media would have us believe, I went back to class today. In some ways, I was the student, because we can’t help but learn from those in front of us. In other ways, my role was to inform, to elicit, to confirm, to “teach”. How easily we can wear the hat that fits the scene.
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posted in education |
