http://democraticeducation.org/index.php/blog/ Teenager Kris Sage attended a democratic school and is now a full-time community college student. He sounds off on seeking a meaningful education and fulfilling life. en kristofersage@gmail.com Copyright 2009 2009-12-27T00:33:17+00:00 http://democraticeducation.org/index.php/blog/article/are_there_things_that_should_be_mandatory/ http://democraticeducation.org/index.php/blog/article/are_there_things_that_should_be_mandatory/#When:23:33:17Z
I made this post to ask a question: what do you think should be taught to every student in the country?

Some that seem good to me:

I think people should be taught how to talk with people who have mental health issues or are going through intense stress. Knowing how to communicate when emotions are high and volatile seems like a life skill that people should have. In learning those skills, I've found it helps me know when I'm having stress related issues and how I can cope with them. This is something that's useful in all areas of life.

This is based more on a personal pet peeve, but I think they should teach how to handle dogs in school. I saw a recent animal planet poll that said that 30-40% of American households have children, but 60-70% have dogs. Going off of observation, most of the people I've seen with dogs do things that they'll immediately teach you not to do in basic dog classes...pull on the dogs leash, yell at the dog repeatedly, let the dog pull the leash, raise their voices and sound excited when meeting a dog, touch a dogs head...it just seems like if two thirds of the people in our country go on to have a dog, we should teach kids in school how to be good dog owners. A single ten-week class in tenth grade would probably be sufficient to make you a good dog owner for the rest of your life.

The third thing that comes to mind is to teach critical analysis skills in school. On one hand, critical analysis would make the current form of public education unpopular...but the capacity for critical and logical reasoning is what I think makes democratic society work. I think our country could go far and be much stronger if it was a basic skill of adults and young adults to question, examine, and analyze things.

What do you guys think? Are there things you would add to the list? Would your list look different? Do you think anything should be mandatory?]]> DemEd in Real Life, Philosophy of Education 2009-12-26T23:33:17+00:00 http://democraticeducation.org/index.php/blog/article/the_nature_of_ideas/ http://democraticeducation.org/index.php/blog/article/the_nature_of_ideas/#When:03:47:46Z
To me, this means that public school in its current form is sacred to most Americans. The faith put in it is such that there isn't always an open mind when alternatives are suggested. It may not be a religious institution, but in my opinion, there is no practical point to distinguish between something that you are religiously faithful towards and something that you simply will not question. Blind, intractable faith is the cornerstone of both religion and things held sacred by people.

I'm not really writing this, though, in order to express why I think public schools are widely accepted and the manner in which they are accepted. I'm writing it more to share with readers what I consider to be important to know about ideas, thoughts, beliefs, and opinions.

Firstly, I believe that all ideas, at some point and place, are valid. The factory-training model of schooling has some validity. If your point in time is the start of the industrial revolution and your place is in a resource rich nation working to become a world power, then training people to work in what will become the backbone of the world economy has validity.

Secondly, I believe that all ideas, at some point and place, are completely wrong. I believe that democratic schooling is desirable for the world of today, with factory work being rapidly mechanized and streamlined, but during the years that our current incarnation of schooling was created, it could very well be less desirable.

Thirdly, I believe that all ideas must be questioned for them to be of the most value to us. Presupposing that our belief that democratic education is desirable and correct for the point and time that we are in, I firmly believe we should still question and examine and analyze ourselves. Not doubt ourselves, not necessarily hold ourselves in check in the name of making sure we've looked at what we're doing in every possible way, but we should go into things with questions on our mind.

Holding the ideas above to be true, it's become my standard that if I cannot explain why I'm doing something to someone else, I shouldn't do it.
]]> DemEd in Real Life, Philosophy of Education 2009-12-14T03:47:46+00:00 http://democraticeducation.org/index.php/blog/article/what_is_intelligence_and_can_you_teach_it/ http://democraticeducation.org/index.php/blog/article/what_is_intelligence_and_can_you_teach_it/#When:01:42:02Z
I believe that intelligence is three things: thoughtfulness, education, and experience. It is possible to be very strong in one category and be very intelligent because of that strength, but have room for improvement and further intellectual growth in another. I believe that I have a great deal of thoughtfulness, but could seriously grow in terms of experience and education by attending more events and programs and spending more time reading nonfiction and participating in events and movements. Part of my motivation for joining IDEA was to further my own education and experience.

What are these things? In my definition, thoughtfulness is the practice of thinking of things that you have done, will do, or are doing. There is rarely a waking moment where I am not thinking of something. At night, I walk about and pace, think of lectures I've heard, things I've read, conversations I've had, jokes I might tell, and mottos I've seen and what they mean. A life unthought of is not worth living, and by thought alone, you can grow in leaps and bounds. This is a good place to state another personal belief: I do not believe in overthinking. I believe there is a such thing as unproductive thought, and the difference between this and what people call overthinking is NOT semantic.

So long as you continue to think of relevant, possible factors with regards to something, and think of it from different angles instead of obsessing and coming to the same conclusions on something, your thought is productive and worthwhile, regardless of the time you spend thinking about it. Perhaps you will lose the chance to act with the time you spend thinking, but thinking in and of itself will never have no benefits if you pursue it with relevance and consideration.

The next part to intelligence, in my mind, is education. It's learning from things. It's taking classes, having mentors, listening to lectures, reading books. Education is something that is supposed to test your mind and make you learn something new. You do not necessarily have to be involved in it. For example, I educated myself about capitalism and free market structure. I went and read a book on it. I educated myself on game theory. Education gives you new concepts and angles at looking at things in the world, and furthers your ability to use old ones.

The difference between education and experience is somewhat arbitrary. Experiences, to me, differ because of accessibility. I can go get a book on something at my leisure, but a chance to actually participate in it is more rare. Going dancing is an experience. Playing guitar is an experience. Attending a conference is an experience. It's something that is potent, significant, and comes by rarely, and in turn will bring your mind to its peak -- or should.

There will be times where you do all three, or more than one, at once. Guitar for me is one of those. I go to lessons to educate myself, and then I play guitar for the experience. Both further me intellectually.

I think this is important, because I believe that these are quantifiable enough that you can teach intelligence. I believe there are methods that could be employed to educate people: through reading, lectures, demonstration. Learning styles are important here. I believe there are experiences that people can go on that will further them intellectually.

The reason it's important to think about how to teach intelligence is because intelligence, when abundant and put in positions of power, effects real change and allows people to avoid common pitfalls that are found on the way to making things better. It also allows people to be free from misguidance -- intelligence allows you to process things and separate fact from fiction. Today, politics and marketing campaigns made a profession out of presenting fiction and calling it fact. These are things that we, as people, need to be savvy enough to recognize and work with.

This has been my private definition and thoughts for quite some time, and I'd like to know what you all think of it. Comments are encouraged, as are questions. ]]> Philosophy of Education 2009-12-05T01:42:02+00:00 http://democraticeducation.org/index.php/blog/article/motions_against_mainstream_american_education_in_media/ http://democraticeducation.org/index.php/blog/article/motions_against_mainstream_american_education_in_media/#When:07:13:59Z
One of the consistent parts of his program is that he will bring people on to interview. In a recent episode, he interviewed a man named Cevin Soling, who is a filmmaker and writer who recently wrote the book and directed a movie called ''The War on Kids.'' In these respective works, Cevin Soling denounces schools as being prison-like, claims that schools are out of line with our (the American government's/populace's) goal of having participants in a democratic process, and says that it strips away the ability of people to act of their own and accomplish great things.

Cevin Soling's website is barely a skeleton, but can be found here: http://thewaronkidspresskit.blogspot.com/2009/09/cevin-soling-offers-no-hope-for.html

Here's the clip of Colbert's interview with Soling:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Cevin Soling
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Economy

I was personally unimpressed with Cevin's ability to present what he was talking about. He seemed unfocused and broad, and Cevin let Stephen walk all over him, which Stephen won't usually do if the guest is talking about something interesting and substantive. My personal opinion is that Stephen sensed that Cevin's ambiguity would make it less interesting to viewers and thus decided to try and emphasize the comedic aspect of the discussion.

Still? I think it's a huge event of note that someone like that showed up on any kind of major broadcasted network, especially Comedy Central, and especially the Colbert Nation. The Colbert Nation is the morass of people who routinely watch Stephen, and Stephen has had some immense success directing these people to do various things, like have animals, bridges, teams, and spacecraft paraphernalia named after him.I think that's a huge audience that alternative education potentially could have reached.

I thought I'd give this head up for your reading satisfaction. I encourage you watch the episode if you have never seen Colbert before.]]> DemEd in Real Life 2009-12-03T07:13:59+00:00 http://democraticeducation.org/index.php/blog/article/education_everywhere_how_video_games_can_teach_you/ http://democraticeducation.org/index.php/blog/article/education_everywhere_how_video_games_can_teach_you/#When:06:42:08Z
So it's worked for me. But I'm not the only one. People tend to draw people like them, and I've certainly managed to find friends who feel the same way about gaming. These people are very similar to me, and come from all over the world: Australia, Ireland, England, and America are where some of the people I consider myself friends with live.

Here's what I think most people don't realize about video gaming. It's a challenge, a challenge that forces you to piece together information and then utilize it to your advantage in order to succeed. I believe that all games do this - Monopoly, Checkers, Chess, soccer - but I think video games tend to be the most complex but approachable for the average person. Video games teach you, as a player, by presenting you with situations, problems, and experiences and forcing you to involve yourself in finding the answer in order to win.

Video games also teach you to cope with failure, and how to be unattached to your own analysis. Failure in video games means you did something wrong most of the time. Perhaps you didn't drink a healing potion when your attacks kept missing, so you would stay alive. Perhaps you didn't make sufficient use of cover to avoid getting shot. Perhaps you were too aggressive in attacking and left yourself open to counter attack. Video games present situations, and they do so in a way where there are tangible variables. Being a good video gamer means failing, and then figuring out what it was that you did that caused you to fail. It means not just analyzing a given situation, but being able to analyze your analysis and see where it didn't match up with the realities of the situation.

I think that is solid educational value. I think the pressures of video games - often real time, with multiple right ways to succeed and multiple wrong ways, with an instant abundance of information to process and handle - can help your brain excel at becoming critical, open to failure, and ambitious for success.

I am aware that when I play games, I do it with a considerable amount of thinking. I dislike failure, particularly failing at something I enjoy. It's not an uncommon personality trait, but it's not one every person has. I know that there are people who play video games who don't think at all while playing them, but nevertheless play for hours at a time. Allow me to make it clear - I am not advocating that you allow your son or daughter to play video games all day, every day. I believe there are other ways to educate yourself that are worth while and entertaining too.

But I ask this: when you see your child playing video games, would you talk with them about it? Ask them what they feel they get out of it. Ask them what it is they do when they play. I feel that many parents are dismissive that any growing or action at all is happening in video games, that it's an entertaining time waster, like television. Be open. If your child has an affinity for video gaming and shows that they read in the games they play, test different things out, have ideas about how they can play a game and win it but aren't sure if it's better than this other idea they had, then you may have a child who is getting educated by gaming. It's not some unrealistic, far out possibility.

I am excited to see what feedback arises from this post and willing to respond to posted or emailed conversations. This is a subject of personal interest for me. I usually play World of Warcraft (henceforth called WoW) for 2-5 hours a day. Sometimes I think back and think I made a mistake doing so. Mostly, though, I don't, and I have my own standards for when I've played too much. Like when I wanted to play for another hour or two, but instead decided to write this for all of you and then go to sleep so I could be fresh for school.

Education is everywhere.]]> DemEd in Real Life 2009-12-03T06:42:08+00:00 http://democraticeducation.org/index.php/blog/article/to_create_change_understand_your_opposition/ http://democraticeducation.org/index.php/blog/article/to_create_change_understand_your_opposition/#When:22:30:05Z
For example, within democratic education circles, we know what we believe and why it makes sense. However, we don't necessarily know what others believe about education, and why it makes sense to them to believe those things.

I listen to a lot of Republican talk radio -- not really because I want to, but because my dad is frequently the one driving me around, and he likes to listen to it. And here's the crazy thing: a lot of what they say isn't crazy. It makes sense. A lot of what they say IS crazy, too, but I think the core principles that motivate them are very sound. And I believe that, even having NOT been indoctrinated and taught to believe those things. So if that's how I feel about what I hear on conservative talk radio, how must the people who believe in those values feel about them? They must seem sacred, or at the very least fundamentally unchallengeable.

I have to cite a little obligatory "Art of War" here, being a strategy nerd. To paraphrase, if someone has a different viewpoint than you, particularly an opposing one, it's important to understand it before trying to share your own perspective. If you know your audience, you'll be a lot more successful in getting your own point across.

With that in mind, I think we need to ask a question before we try to advance democratic education into a mainstream focus, and before we introduce our ideas to people unfamiliar with or opposed to it. And that is: “We know what we want and why it makes sense to want these things, but do we know what other people want and why it makes sense to them to believe those things?

It seems like a broad question, but I think it's doable -- perhaps even by simply asking them."What do you want, and how were you taught you could do it?”

Until we ask this question -- and by getting that question answered, understand our potential ‘opposition' -- I think that any attempts to make changes that are important are going to meet unnecessary and potent obstacles.

What do you guys think about this?]]> Philosophy of Education 2009-11-20T22:30:05+00:00 http://democraticeducation.org/index.php/blog/article/welcome_to_sage_wonderings/ http://democraticeducation.org/index.php/blog/article/welcome_to_sage_wonderings/#When:16:31:56Z
The thing you should know about my writing is that I consider myself a student. With any given situation, I seek to learn, understand, and explain. Hence the title -- Sage Wonderings. It's me, Kris Sage, wondering about things that have to do with life.

I have to confess to being somewhat at a loss for what to tell you. Any suggestions of what you might like to hear from me will be taken into consideration.

I'll do recent news, then. That's what blogs are for, right? I'm applying to a Young Scholars Program here in Oregon. The program is hosted by Reed College. Basically, you apply, and if you get in, you can pay 100 dollars a term to do a single class at a time. I found a War, Politics, and Strategy class that looks amazing. Those who know me are well aware of my fascination with strategy and warfare, although that probably won't come up much on this blog, since I'm using it to talk about something different.

This is only one of several opportunities for youth that I've found here in Portland. Other notable ones I've found: a consulting firm looking for interns, a youth court, participating in a youth city council. It may just be that Portland is exceedingly youth friendly. I would definitely encourage other youth who are wishing they had an opportunity to do something more exciting with their time to LOOK, though. There's probably an opportunity there for you.

I think I'll settle with sharing that bit and update soon. More to come!]]> Youth Leadership 2009-11-18T16:31:56+00:00