tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16693931.post4404413942515577958..comments2024-02-12T17:31:58.684+01:00Comments on Jonstraveladventures: Schools Kill CreativityAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11667852535983804885noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16693931.post-77418667061380816542007-08-05T21:07:00.000+02:002007-08-05T21:07:00.000+02:00A fair summation of where the world is at, Jon, an...A fair summation of where the world is at, Jon, and it is pleasing to read such optimism and enthusiasm.<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/article2826183.ece" REL="nofollow">Boom in blogs gives Africans a voice on the web</A> is an article in last week's Independent profiling the increasing numbers of bloggers in Africa.Benjaminhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14569723790804783220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16693931.post-10131076744846102542007-08-01T11:26:00.000+02:002007-08-01T11:26:00.000+02:00Actually, he did but I thought the lessons were no...Actually, he did but I thought the lessons were not too bad. Now that many of my friends are teachers I understand how hard it is to stay motivated when you are having to teach within a system that you think is crazy. Not much fun!<BR/><BR/>Ben, good to hear from you again and thank you for your insights. Yes, it's interesting to look at the current political climate from the perspective of the last thousand years. <BR/><BR/>The pace of change of global politics and especially technology make this time unlike any other and though there are definitely parallels to the past, I'm sure that we will see more shifts in the bases of power in the years ahead than those we have seen before. <BR/><BR/>Perhaps the voice of the people, through the increased connectivity and communication channels will change things in ways we can't imagine.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11667852535983804885noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16693931.post-43658981585804908312007-07-31T10:47:00.000+02:002007-07-31T10:47:00.000+02:00Hi Jon.I think that we look for freedom, as childr...Hi Jon.<BR/><BR/>I think that we look for freedom, as children, from our masters. At first, these masters are in the home in the form of mum and dad. They attempt to mould us into copies of them. We learn to tackle society just as they did.<BR/><BR/>So my mum taught me that power lay in knowledge, that the answers were in books. I went to school and, while I found most subjects pretty easy, I can't say that any of them interested me much. Maybe I opted for geography because I had an inkling for travel and escape. I could never see the meaning of mathematics but I still achieved a grade B at A-Level. None of the syllabus interested me frankly and it's so strange and half-delightful, Jon, to - like you - come to history now.<BR/><BR/>I read about Magna Carta and the English Civil War and I look around and I'm living merely at...<BR/><BR/>Like I see Brown and Bush smiling on the front of a newspaper, getting in golf buggys on TV, and I realise these are just the latest kings. It's hard to explain.<BR/><BR/>I didn't see it before. I thought 'Urgh, how horrible it must have been to live in the eighteenth century with typhoid and pouring your toilet from the roof into the street below'. As a youngster, I thought 'How lucky I am to live in the clean and new, modern world'. But I don't. I just live at this present moment in time and it's just... it's weird, it's like I haven't ever lived in the future but somehow civilisation as we know it seems sort of archaic to me. Or maybe former times, the last 1,000 years seems much closer than it was before. Hard to explain.<BR/><BR/>Fundamentally I excelled at school because I was middle class, because I was bourgeois.<BR/><BR/>I agree that 'school kills creativity'. I agree with Picasso that children are great artists. This guy, Sir Ken, is quite funny. One slightly wonders at his small critique of global warming which passes quickly into an advert for the 'ultimate driving machine'.<BR/><BR/>I agree with your criticism of the government. I think Mr Brown's raft of new measures or changes in institutional structures of working practice, funding etc is ludicrous. Because on reading the small print there seems little difference to Blairite policy so it is the taxpayer effectively funding changes implemented primariy for the purposes of spin, in order that Brown may distance himself from Blair.<BR/><BR/>Anyway, I should get off my soapbox before I get voted into parliament or Big Brother or something.<BR/><BR/>Think I'll send you a short e-mail on other matters, actually.Benjaminhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14569723790804783220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16693931.post-11382438651405525832007-07-30T10:19:00.000+02:002007-07-30T10:19:00.000+02:00Well you're lucky I didn't teach you for A-Level. ...Well you're lucky I didn't teach you for A-Level. errrr rightAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com