It's funny to look at education from this perspective. I was born and raised in Brazil, and I'm still living here. One of the things we often do to undervalue ourselves is point to the supposed lack of quality in our educational system, usually comparing it to countries in Asia like Japan, South Korea, and Singapore (as well as a supposed lack of "manners" or "integrity" compared to Europe or the US).
It's as if we were punished or cursed for being lazy, or too focused on "street smarts" rather than the "true, important things."
Anyway, I came across your writing while looking for good reads in English here on Substack. My English may not be good enough to fully grasp all of your thoughts or to interact properly here (or maybe I'm just internalizing the "inferiority complex" of my country, as a well-known Brazilian writer once pointed out), but I'm glad I found you, and I'll do my best to keep up with the posts and get my own stuff going too.
I would like to offer my thoughts from a reader's perspective here. I read a lot of your word vomits for a few months last year and I feel like it's somehow easier to read casually. If I see a Substack notification, then my inclination sometimes is to bookmark it and make time to read it. In a sense it is not casually consumed unlike less polished works. I don't know it that's a me thing or if other readers feel the same. Work that is produced casually seems easier to also consume casually somehow
"Follow your bliss" comes to mind here. When you follow what you enjoy—deep down, not, say, pleasure for distraction's sake—I'm sure what comes out is a perspective/frame that we as readers enjoy!
2. I just wrote an essay with an overly simplistic frame, a reader issued a superb correction with a citation to a physics paper that destroyed my frame. I read the paper, understood it basically, brushed up on my physics in order to fully understand how owned I was, and then was so excited by this and had SO much fun that I'm invigorated to be wrong on the internet about physics again. Wow! The best part of my day today was posting a badly framed essay on Substack.
3. re: how do we frame things in school, how do we educate, how do we build cultures for each other. Here are some personal notes of mine, where I described which parts of Montessori I was most drawn to, after reading a few of her books.
Which parts of Montessori am I most drawn to:
1. Becoming true non-violent "interpreter" of the child, to attend to their great sensitivity and intelligence
2. Liberation of child from shackles of survival/society (in other words, the creation of agency, skill, confidence, joy, and the virtues to live the gold life)
3. Get out of the way so children can complete their cycle of activity
4. Experimenting w/ the absolute frontier of work environments for children (this one excites me the most!)
5. Cultivating a deep satisfaction of the soul. A social and cultural flourishing. Removing all roadblocks to satisfaction of the soul. Allowing children to learn how to satisfy their own soul at all ages.
6. Removing stupid ideas of fatigue and burnout. Realizing that you aren't fatigued while working on your own passions and satisfactions. You're fatigued when you are forced to do work that is not energizing. You're burnt out when you keep being forced to work even when you're at your limit
7. Helping and unblocking all limits to "The Absorbent Mind"
8. Discovering, documenting, and building systems to support "the natural laws" of children
9. Help man build himself
10. Cultivating an environment where there is a genuine LOVE of mankind and our fellow man. A love for the spirit of man, for the spirit of these children, for the spirit of coworkers. A belief that this whole interconnected system works on the spirit of each person, and that we must love each other and cultivate that spirit if we want to succeed in our task.
11. On Mental Starvation -- when you are starved wrt life of the mind, it can cause defects. Depression, malaise, lying, stealing, etc
The treatment is neither harshness nor sweetness nor reason. The solution is mental sustenance. They are starving and need to eat! In other words, they must find work which satisfies their soul.
We are at the cusp of a golden age of pedagogy, and we still mostly tinker at the edges rather than rebuild the core.
- I want to rebuild & experiment with rebuilding the core in a practical setting
a part of this post reminded me of https://longform.asmartbear.com/avoid-blundering/ , also talks about chess ;)
It's funny to look at education from this perspective. I was born and raised in Brazil, and I'm still living here. One of the things we often do to undervalue ourselves is point to the supposed lack of quality in our educational system, usually comparing it to countries in Asia like Japan, South Korea, and Singapore (as well as a supposed lack of "manners" or "integrity" compared to Europe or the US).
It's as if we were punished or cursed for being lazy, or too focused on "street smarts" rather than the "true, important things."
Anyway, I came across your writing while looking for good reads in English here on Substack. My English may not be good enough to fully grasp all of your thoughts or to interact properly here (or maybe I'm just internalizing the "inferiority complex" of my country, as a well-known Brazilian writer once pointed out), but I'm glad I found you, and I'll do my best to keep up with the posts and get my own stuff going too.
I would like to offer my thoughts from a reader's perspective here. I read a lot of your word vomits for a few months last year and I feel like it's somehow easier to read casually. If I see a Substack notification, then my inclination sometimes is to bookmark it and make time to read it. In a sense it is not casually consumed unlike less polished works. I don't know it that's a me thing or if other readers feel the same. Work that is produced casually seems easier to also consume casually somehow
"Follow your bliss" comes to mind here. When you follow what you enjoy—deep down, not, say, pleasure for distraction's sake—I'm sure what comes out is a perspective/frame that we as readers enjoy!
a few things I thought of as I read this:
1. You would enjoy watching Alan Kay's "Education That Takes Us To The 22nd Century"
https://tinlizzie.org/IA/index.php/CrossRoads_2017
2. I just wrote an essay with an overly simplistic frame, a reader issued a superb correction with a citation to a physics paper that destroyed my frame. I read the paper, understood it basically, brushed up on my physics in order to fully understand how owned I was, and then was so excited by this and had SO much fun that I'm invigorated to be wrong on the internet about physics again. Wow! The best part of my day today was posting a badly framed essay on Substack.
That comment was here: https://andrewjrose.substack.com/p/please-stop-debating-and-just-go/comment/110360982
3. re: how do we frame things in school, how do we educate, how do we build cultures for each other. Here are some personal notes of mine, where I described which parts of Montessori I was most drawn to, after reading a few of her books.
Which parts of Montessori am I most drawn to:
1. Becoming true non-violent "interpreter" of the child, to attend to their great sensitivity and intelligence
2. Liberation of child from shackles of survival/society (in other words, the creation of agency, skill, confidence, joy, and the virtues to live the gold life)
3. Get out of the way so children can complete their cycle of activity
4. Experimenting w/ the absolute frontier of work environments for children (this one excites me the most!)
5. Cultivating a deep satisfaction of the soul. A social and cultural flourishing. Removing all roadblocks to satisfaction of the soul. Allowing children to learn how to satisfy their own soul at all ages.
6. Removing stupid ideas of fatigue and burnout. Realizing that you aren't fatigued while working on your own passions and satisfactions. You're fatigued when you are forced to do work that is not energizing. You're burnt out when you keep being forced to work even when you're at your limit
7. Helping and unblocking all limits to "The Absorbent Mind"
8. Discovering, documenting, and building systems to support "the natural laws" of children
9. Help man build himself
10. Cultivating an environment where there is a genuine LOVE of mankind and our fellow man. A love for the spirit of man, for the spirit of these children, for the spirit of coworkers. A belief that this whole interconnected system works on the spirit of each person, and that we must love each other and cultivate that spirit if we want to succeed in our task.
11. On Mental Starvation -- when you are starved wrt life of the mind, it can cause defects. Depression, malaise, lying, stealing, etc
The treatment is neither harshness nor sweetness nor reason. The solution is mental sustenance. They are starving and need to eat! In other words, they must find work which satisfies their soul.
We are at the cusp of a golden age of pedagogy, and we still mostly tinker at the edges rather than rebuild the core.
- I want to rebuild & experiment with rebuilding the core in a practical setting
---
Interesting. The quotes about Singaporeans (tests and gullibility) , do you have stats on that, or references. I only ask for interest.
I already linked them! But here again in case you missed it:
tests: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programme_for_International_Student_Assessment#Ranking_results
scams: https://www.straitstimes.com/world/14-trillion-lost-to-scams-globally-s-pore-victims-lost-the-most-on-average-study
Thank you