Posts Tagged ‘change’

“The naked brain.” ~ Richard Restak, M.D.

The Naked Brain: How the Emerging Neurosociety is Changing How We Live, Work, and Love

The Naked Brain: How the Emerging Neurosociety is Changing How We Live, Work, and Love [Paperback]

Richard Restak M.D. (Author)

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Above book image/text from: http://www.amazon.com/Naked-Brain-Emerging-Neurosociety-Changing/dp/1400098092/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1300762657&sr=1-1

Wednesday, March 23, 2011. Today I am grateful that some people take large chunks of time and energy out of their lives in order to organize large amounts of knowledge into a relatively small space for me to read in a book.

Here is what one reader had to say about THE NAKED BRAIN by Dr Restak:

5 out of 5 stars We think less than we think
Did you know that scientist estimate that only 5% of a normal person’s actions are decided consciously? The rest are results of automated processes that make up the so called cognitive unconscious. Civilisation advances create an ever increasing repertoire of human actions that are executed automatically as humans move their conscious mind to be preoccupied with more…

Read the full review ›

Above review text from: http://www.amazon.com/Naked-Brain-Emerging-Neurosociety-Changing/product-reviews/1400098092/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

Thank you, Dr Richard Restak, for helping us know ourselves better and manage our brains better!

Doc Meek, Wed, Mar 23, 2011, Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA

“Learning=Changing=Learning.” ~ Doc Meek

Images from: http://pics.tech4learning.com/?search=cat&query=American+Sign+Language_Alphabet

Monday, March 7, 2011. Today I am grateful to know that if I want my students, children, co-workers, colleagues, friends, etc., to learn something new from me, I must learn to change first.

All learning involves change of some kind. If I as a teacher, parent, mentor, whatever, am not prepared to change and learn, I cannot expect those whom I teach to change and learn.

I cannot hope for changes/learnings for those in my charge, if I cannot make some changes/new learnings for myself first.

Doc Meek, Mon, Mar 7, 2011, Calgary, Alberta, CANADA

“We can learn from all cultures.” ~ Doc Meek

“I think over again all my small adventures

My fears

Those small ones that seemed so big

[Of] all the vital things I had to get and to reach

And yet there is only one great thing

The only thing

To live and see the great day that dawns

And the light that fills the world.”

~ From an old Inuit song: http://www.indigenouspeople.net/inuit.htm

An Inuit family in Greenland, 1917.
Inuit image from: http://inquiringminds.cc/?p=5507
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Thursday, January 13, 2011. O the joy of sunrise, anywhere! 😮

Arctic sunrise Wallpaper

Image from: http://www.widescreenwallpapers.in/wallpaper/Arctic-sunrise/

Enjoy the music and the miracle of the arctic dawn (video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYHUxqiZtuQ

I have huge respect for the Inuit, for reminding us of the greatest truths of all (to live to love another dawning, and to really see the great light that fills the world)!

Doc Meek, Thursday, January 13, 2011, Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA

P.S. Hear “Amazing Grace” in pure-voice Inuit, and see the great aurora borealis, in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtNuELl5he0

J. Collins Meek, Ph.D. (Doc Meek)
“What if you are smarter than you think?”
Learning Specialist https://docmeek.com

For brain health, ensure heart health (short video):
http://www.amiraclemolecule.com/themeekteam
More on heart health http://www.themeekteam.info
Ph (801) 971-1812 (Jeannette); Fax [801] 282-6026

THE LEARNING CLINIC WORLDWIDE, INC.
CANADA: P.O. Box 3105, Sherwood Park, AB T8H 2T1
TONGA: Mele Taumoepeau, P.O. Box 60, Nuku’alofa
USA: 3688 W 9800 S, #138, South Jordan, UT 84095

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“Lumosity increases brain power.” – Doc Meek

Monday, December 13, 2010. Today I am grateful for my brain. With the proper nutritional supplements and HBOT (hyperbaric oxygen therapy), my brain is restoring and retaining its memory and other cognitive functions which it was losing. Cognitive decline is scary and it was wonderful to be able to reverse this!

Brain training also helps to retain and restore cognitive functions.

File:NIA human brain drawing.jpg

Image from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NIA_human_brain_drawing.jpg

Brain Training Games

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Lumosity.com has been clinically proven to support brain health. Our users report profound results: faster name recall, greater attention to detail, better concentration, and quicker problem-solving skills.

Science that works

Designed by neuroscientists, our web-based training program makes brains smarter, faster and more flexible. Our team works with researchers at Stanford and UCSF to design cutting-edge tools.

Enjoyed by millions

Lumosity works. Just ask our ten million users. They’ll agree that we’ve engineered an affordable, accessible and – most importantly – enjoyable solution for significant and long-lasting cognitive benefits.

As featured in: “With Lumosity, I feel like I’m exercising the most important muscle I have. You’ve got to keep working your brain, and Lumosity makes it fun!” – Linda Alexander ………………………………………………………………………………..

Thank you Lumosity.com, for bringing help to both younger and older brains!

Doc Meek, Monday, December 13, 2010, on my daughter Tanya’s laptop, Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA

J. Collins Meek, Ph.D. (Doc Meek)
“What if you are smarter than you think?”
Learning Specialist https://docmeek.com

For brain health, ensure heart health (short video):
http://www.amiraclemolecule.com/themeekteam
More on heart health http://www.themeekteam.info
Ph (801) 971-1812 (Jeannette); Fax [801] 282-6026

THE LEARNING CLINIC WORLDWIDE, INC.
CANADA: P.O. Box 3105, Sherwood Park, AB T8H 2T1
TONGA: Mele Taumoepeau, P.O. Box 60, Nuku’alofa
USA: 3688 W 9800 S, #138, South Jordan, UT 84095

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Autism: “A hair-dryer kid in a toaster-brained world” (Part III of III)

Bud’s Grade 5 class, in disguise; photo from: http://momnos.blogspot.com/ …………………………………………………………………………………………….
I am grateful for this guest article I am borrowing again today, Friday, July 23, 2010. This is Part III of a 3-Part series about Bud, a 10-year-old with learning differences.
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If you missed Part I or Part II of Bud’s Mom’s poignant story, you can click on the titles below to read them now:
Autism: “A hair-dryer kid in a toaster-brained world” (Part I of III)
Autism: “A hair-dryer kid in a toaster-brained world” (Part II of III)
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Bud, who has been labeled autistic, has been placed in a regular Grade 5 classroom. His Mom’s brilliant interactive discussion with the kids in his class (with Bud absent of course) is detailed here.

This is the best description of autism I have read anywhere
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Thanks Mom! We are grateful for your creativity, your courage, and your willingness to share!
Excerpt from: http://momnos.blogspot.com/2010/03/on-being-hair-dryer-kid-in-toaster.html
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What is autism? (Part III of III)

{If you missed Part I or Part II of this Mom’s poignant story, you can click on the titles below to read them now}
Autism: “A hair-dryer kid in a toaster-brained world” (Part I of III)
Autism: “A hair-dryer kid in a toaster-brained world” (Part II of III)
Bud’s Mom is interacting with Bud’s classmates at school:
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“But, remember how there were some things that the hair-dryer brains could do better than the toaster brains? There are ALSO things that Bud’s brain is really GOOD at doing. There are things that HIS brain can do better than a lot of our brains can do.
“I bet you can guess what some of those things are. Can you?”

Hands flew up all over the room, and without my prompting, they recreated the list I had written in the notes in front of me.

“He’s really great on the computer. He’s better at it than LOTS of people.”

“He has great hearing.”

“He can remember lots of lots of things.”

“He can remember all the words to TV shows.”

“And he can remember the words to songs.”

“He is very musical.”

“He’s a great speller, too,” I added. “Once he learns a word, he usually remembers how to spell it.”

“If I had a brain like that,” said Nathan. “I’d read the whole dictionary and learn all the words.”

“That would be a great thing to do,” I said. “And it reminds me that Bud is also a really good reader.”

Molly raised her hand. “And he has a great sense of humor, too.”

“He does have a great sense of humor,” I said. “And that’s one of the ways that his brain is a lot like other people’s. What are some of the other ways that Bud is just like everyone else?”

Again, the hands flew up.

“He can see just like everyone else.”

“He looks just like everyone else.”

“He’s human.”

“Yes! He’s human – which means that he has all the same feelings that everyone else does. And he loves the people in his life. And he likes to play and have fun. He likes to laugh, he likes to swim, he likes to eat pizza. In lots of ways, Bud is just a regular kid.”

I looked around the room at the smiling faces of Bud’s classmates – his friends, with their toaster-brains firing.

Photos By Bud

Photos by Bud, from:  http://momnos.blogspot.com/2010/03/on-being-hair-dryer-kid-in-toaster.html

I posted a comment on this Mom’s blogsite:

Doc Meek said…
Does anybody know the tune for “A hairdryer kid in a toaster-brained world?” I predict that, like “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer,” this Mom’s “Hair-dryer kid in a toaster-brained world,” will go down in history. I’ve been helping kids mitigate learning and attentional problems for over thirty years now, and it is an axiom with me that “Mother knows best.” This Mom makes that point sharper than a surgical needle, right? – Doc Meek, Learning Consultant, May 7, 2010, Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA
May 07, 2010 11:38 AM
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Doc Meek, Friday, July 23, 2010, at South Jordan, Utah, USA ————————————————
J. Collins Meek, Ph.D. (Doc Meek)
“What if you are smarter than you think?”
Learning Specialist https://docmeek.com
.
For brain health, ensure heart health (short video):
http://www.amiraclemolecule.com/themeekteam
More on heart health http://www.themeekteam.info
Ph (801) 971-1812 (Jeannette); Fax [801] 282-6026
.
THE LEARNING CLINIC WORLDWIDE, INC.
1. P.O. Box 3105, Sherwood Park, AB T8H 2T1, CANADA
2. Mele Taumoepeau, P.O. Box 60, Nuku’alofa, TONGA
3. 3688 W 9800 S, #138, South Jordan, UT 84095, USA

Yearning for the back trails of the Rocky Mountains

Back in South Jordan, Utah, USA, fresh from the beautiful red colors of Bryce Canyon in southern Utah. If you missed the photo of the stunningly beautiful Bryce Canyon, just click on this link to my previous article, posted Sunday, July 18, 2010:  Sunday: Home from Bryce Canyon country, Utah

Visiting Bryce Canyon country made me yearn for a hike in the Canadian Rockies, the majestic Rocky Mountains, in British Columbia, Canada.

Takakkaw Falls near Field BC Canada

Takakkaw Falls in Yoho National Park, near Field, BC, Canada

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My sister Anita and I used to hike the back country in Yoho National Park, near Field, BC, Canada. (See photos above.)

Back in the early 1980s we had a policy of going to the mountains at least once a year. We should get back to that, eh!?

We hiked the Iceline Trail, opposite Takakkaw Falls, and took the photo of the distant falls at left above.

Breathtaking country!

You heard the one about Yoho National Park in the Canadian Rockies?

This guy from the US had spent several years traveling all over the place and at each place he would seek out “the green phone.” For those of you who don’t know (yet), “the green phone” is a pay phone with a direct line to God. The guy would always ask the cost of the phone call to God. Prices varied from $1,000 a minute to $10,000 a minute, depending on where “the green phone” was located, eh? 😮

The guy arrives in Yoho National Park in the Canadian Rockies and of course, as usual, seeks out “the green phone.”

The cost to call God? Only 50 cents a minute.

“Wow,” says the guy. “Why so little?”

“This is God’s country.”

“It’s a local call.” 😮

To the glory of the mountains everywhere!

Doc Meek (“Mountain Man”), Monday, July 19, 2010, at South Jordan, Utah


J. Collins Meek III, Ph.D.
“What if you are smarter than you think?”
Learning Specialist: https://docmeek.com
PH (801) 971-1812 (Jeannette); Fax [801] 282-6026
International callers first enter the country code (+1)

THE LEARNING CLINIC WORLDWIDE, INC. (Dr. Meek)
CANADA: P.O. Box 3105, Sherwood Park, AB T8H 2T1
TONGA: P.O. BOX 60, Nuku’alofa (c/o Mele Taumoepeau)
USA: 3688 W 9800 S, #138, South Jordan, UT 84095

Associate Links: http://www.themeekteam.info; & see
short video: http://www.amiraclemolecule.com/themeekteam
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“Learning to be on time is not easy.” – Doc Meek

This may be a big topic for some. It is for me.

man looking  at watch
“Better be three hours too soon than one minute too late.” ~ William Shakespeare

“You may delay, but time will not.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

“It is no use running; to set out betimes [early] is the main point.” ~ La Fontaine

“I have always been a quarter of an hour before my time, and it has made a man of me.” ~ Lord Nelson.

Above quotes from: http://www.specialty-calendars.com/punctuality.html …………………………………………………………………………………………

I loved Polychronic Time in the South Pacific Islands

When I was serving in the South Pacific Islands, helping school teachers and administrators with helping students obtain greater academic achievement, I loved their approach to time. Being “on time” was not an issue, generally speaking. I was “in pig heaven,” as they say, in more ways than one. [ Almost every Islander owned pigs, of great importance in a culture where food is important, especially for feasts. 😮 ]

Since I have generally not been able to be on time for anything–my whole life through (so far)–it was a great relief to find this to be a cultural OK in the indigenous cultures of the islands. I experienced almost one continual great sigh of relief.

However, in most mainland cultures, “time is of the essence,” as they say in legal contracts.

Learning to be on time

Here is a guest article for THE LEARNING CLINIC WORLDWIDE blog today, Friday, July 9, 2010.

“Avoid Being Late,” from Self-Help Growing: http://www.selfhelpgrowing.com/avoid-being-late.htm

By: David Korn

Being on time is one of the most important punctual aspects of life. It is important to avoid being late in order to not cause any problems. Learning how to be on time does take dedication and attention. There are several effective ways in adopting better time management techniques. Learning to be on time is definitely one of them.

A good way to avoid being late is to prepare ahead of time. For instance, you can prepare your items before you go to sleep the night before. Also, you can prepare batch amounts over the weekend or at times when things aren’t so busy. By preparing ahead of time, you can save a lot of time and from being potentially late to an event. That way you can grab what you need as soon as you walk out of the door.

Setting reminders is a good way to be on time. Many of us use alarm clocks, wake up calls, portable device sounds, and so on as our reminders. The idea is to set these reminders ahead of time such that you don’t forget. Having these reminders go off in a routine basis can be useful as well. Having a routinized reminder system can help you to easily remember the schedule. That way you can avoid being late on a daily basis.

Avoiding or eliminating distractions is important for being on time. Sometimes we get caught up in something prior to departure. It is a good idea to minimize these interruptions such that we can arrive at our destination on time. Good communication with others as well as learning to turn off or divert distracting items will be useful. That way you have a clear road ahead in order to arrive at your destination without being late.

Of course, one of the best ways to avoid being late is to leave early. After a while, you will be able to estimate how long it will take you to get to a destination. It is important to take into account any interruptions that normally occur on the way. That way you can leave early enough before any of this occurs. Unfortunately, things come up in life which can prevent us from being on time. It can be understandable depending on the circumstance. Just as long as being late isn’t a habit, many one time circumstances can be excused.

Being late to an event can cause all sorts of problems. This can get one to be fired from a job, bad marks in school, cause upset in others, be seen as unreliable, and much more. Therefore, it is important to be on time to events. Being on time will make you seem as dependable, punctual, and diligent. These qualities are important for our personalities. When we arrive on time, we can feel at ease that we done our job.

Copyright © 2008 SelfHelpGrowing.com; All Rights Reserved.  …………………………………………………………………………………….

Thank you, David Korn!

To learning to be on time!

Doc Meek, Friday, July 9, 2010, at Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA



J Collins Meek, PhD
Email: docmeek@gmail.com
THE LEARNING CLINIC WORLDWIDE, INC.
>>> “What if you are smarter than you think?” >>>

THE LEARNING CLINIC WORLDWIDE blog: https://docmeek.com
Associate Links: http://www.amiraclemolecule.com/themeekteam
PROTECT YOUR HEALTHY HEART: http://www.themeekteam.info

THE LEARNING CLINIC WORLDWIDE (Dr J Collins Meek)
CANADA: PO Box 3105, Sherwood Park, AB T8H 2T1
US: 3688 W 9800 S, #138, South Jordan, UT 84095-3260
Phone: (801) 971-1812 (Jeannette); Fax : [801] 282-6026

International callers first enter the country code (+1)
and then enter the Phone and/or Fax number above
=====================================

“Anger Can Be Deadly [the damage].” – Dr. Mercola

In addition to all the things we need to learn in school and in life, one important topic may need priority attention: our ANGER!

http://fromyourdoctor.com/ext/heart_damage.gif

Image from: http://fromyourdoctor.com/ext/heart_damage.gif

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Today, July 3, 2010, we are publishing the first 1/2 of a guest article by Dr. Joseph Mercola, one of the internet’s most popular sources for solid knowledge about healthy lifestyles. Entire article from: http://www.healthiertalk.com/anger-can-be-deadly-2008

First 1/2 of Our Guest Article: Anger Can Be Deadly, by Dr. Joseph Mercola

The feeling of anger, like all emotions, is not isolated in your mind. The mental reaction triggers a cascade of physical reactions that extend throughout your body, including:

  • Increases in heart rate, arterial tension and testosterone
  • Decreases in cortisol (the stress hormone)
  • Stimulation of your left brain hemisphere, which is involved in experiencing emotions related to closeness

Interestingly, the last finding, uncovered by researchers from the University of Valencia, suggests that although anger is perceived as a negative emotion, it actually prompts you to become closer to the object of your anger, likely as a means to stop the conflict. And when it comes to anger, resolving the upset is a very wise decision.

Why Unresolved Anger Can be Deadly

Anger is a normal emotion, one that all of us experience from time to time. It’s a feeling that evokes that well-known “fight-or-flight” response, preparing us to defend ourselves physically and psychologically in a conflict. Back when anger corresponded to real threats, this response could be lifesaving, but today it pushes your body into an overdrive mode that is almost always unnecessary.

As soon as you start to get “hot under the collar,” your body starts preparing for a “fight.” Your muscles get tense, your digestive processes stop and certain brain centers are triggered, which alters your brain chemistry.

The feeling of anger may actually help you make better choices — even if you are normally not great at making rational decisions — because anger can make you focus on that which is important, and ignore things that are irrelevant to the task of making a decision.

In the long run, and sometimes even the short term, however, this automatic response to anger can weaken your immune system and lead to a variety of health problems such as:

  • Headaches
  • Problems with digestion
  • Insomnia
  • Increased anxiety
  • Depression
  • High blood pressure
  • Skin problems, such as eczema
  • Heart attack
  • Stroke

Not only that, but anger can lead to other negative emotions like bitterness, hopelessness, futility and overall sadness. Let’s face it — it’s hard to have a good time if you’re holding on to anger.

Feelings of Anger Damage Your Heart

It does not feel good to be angry, and this is a clue that this emotion is also likely damaging your body on a physical level.

This is especially true of your heart, and one study from Washington State University found that people over the age of 50 who express their anger by lashing out are more likely to have calcium deposits in their coronary arteries — an indication that you’re at a high risk for a heart attack — than their mellower peers.

Letting your anger out explosively may be harmful because it triggers surges in stress hormones and injures blood vessel linings.

However, simply holding in your anger isn’t the answer either; this has been linked to increases in blood pressure and heart rate. A new study even found that suppressing your anger may triple your risk of having a heart attack.

Since it’s a given that you’re going to experience anger from time to time, it’s very important for your health to have a healthy form of release. You don’t want to lash out violently but you don’t want to hold it in either … turns out the best solution is actually somewhere in the middle.

– Dr. Joseph Mercola (“Anger can be deadly” article to be continued)

I commented on Dr. Mercola’s article: “Dr. Mercola, I am very grateful for your article, “Anger can be Deadly.” As a learning specialist with THE LEARNING CLINIC WORLDWIDE, I’ve been writing about and teaching anger management for many years, and I’m glad to see that you are documenting the medical damage anger can cause. Thank you! – Doc Meek.”

Doc Meek, Saturday, July 3, 2010, at Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA

P.S. The second 1/2 of this guest article from Dr. Joseph Mercola is now available on THE LEARNING CLINIC WORLDWIDE blog, posted Sunday, July 11, 2010. If you wish to read that second 1/2  now, just click on the this URL:  “Anger Can Be Deadly [the solutions].” – Dr. Mercola

P.S.S. For more information on how to have a healthy heart, click on the associate links in my signature block below:

Associate Links: http://www.amiraclemolecule.com/themeekteam; PROTECT YOUR HEALTHY HEART: http://www.themeekteam.info


J Collins Meek, PhD
Email: docmeek@gmail.com
THE LEARNING CLINIC WORLDWIDE, INC.
>>> “What if you are smarter than you think?” >>>

THE LEARNING CLINIC WORLDWIDE blog: https://docmeek.com
Associate Links: http://www.amiraclemolecule.com/themeekteam
PROTECT YOUR HEALTHY HEART: http://www.themeekteam.info

THE LEARNING CLINIC WORLDWIDE (Dr J Collins Meek)
CANADA: PO Box 3105, Sherwood Park, AB T8H 2T1
US: 3688 W 9800 S, #138, South Jordan, UT 84095-3260
Phone: (801) 971-1812 (Jeannette); Fax : [801] 282-6026

International callers first enter the country code (+1)
and then enter the Phone and/or Fax number above
=====================================

Colleges should escalate downwards, not upwards!

Inclusive institutions for disenfranchised students

From time to time, inclusive-thinking individuals will found vocational schools or colleges of various types, designed to provide first-class education and training for students headed for the world of business and industry, not the world of academics.

Photo from AACC (American Association of Community Colleges); copy and paste the URL below into your computer’s website browser line: http://www.aacc.nche.edu/Pages/default.aspx …………………………………………………………

By inclusive, I mean schools designed for students who are typically disenfranchised from post-secondary opportunities by the over-emphasis upon academic scores in high schools. Some really excellent  institutions have been so founded.

Who is hired to run vocational institutions?

Who are the people typically hired for most, if not all, of the major decision-making positions in that newly-founded vocational school or college?

Usually university-credentialed people, academically-oriented people. Good people for sure. And also typically somewhat biased–usually without even being aware of it–towards an  academic view of the world. Of course. That is their interest, their predilection, their training, and their experience.

Where are the vocational people in these critical decision-making positions? The trades men and women? The technically-oriented people? The highly competent former high school Industrial Arts teachers? (Such as my friend and colleague, Bill Welch.)

Community colleges or technical schools escalate into universities

As time passes, the academically-oriented decision-makers naturally tend to escalate upwards. First, the word “community” is dropped from the college name, and then, after awhile, it is called a university.  Or the technical school escalates upwards to a college, then a university. In so doing, the academically oriented administrators are usually very pleased.  In most cases, they worked long and hard to obtain the coveted “university” designation.

“We are moving upwards in the community and in the world,” tends to be the proud feeling of the decision-makers at the former college or vocational institute.

Along this upwards-escalating pathway, student admission is restricted to ever upwards high school academic scores. Soon, lo and behold, the institution has moved proudly beyond the mainstream students it was founded to serve. These students are once again disenfranchised from the post-secondary opportunities the institution was founded to serve.

Enter India’s “Barefoot Colleges,” founded by Sanjit (“Bunker”) Roy

Sanjit’s “Barefoot Colleges” are designed to put some dignity into the curriculum for poverty-stricken rural students, reports TIME Magazine, May 10, 2010.

The unpretentious buildings at “Barefoot Colleges” have dirt floors and no chairs. That is the environment from which the students arrive when they first go to college. Sanjit wanted to ensure that these poor rural students would not be intimidated by the institution, that they would be greeted with familiarity, with explicit respect for their background experience.

These “bottom-up” colleges were established so that poor students would be comfortable there and retention rates would be high. Three million such students have been trained in these “Barefoot Colleges” for jobs in the modern world. Three million!

What a brilliant idea–escalation downwards!

Let’s learn to escalate downwards in our culture for the benefit of the student’s experience, rather then escalate upwards for the benefit of the academic decision-maker’s experience. 😮

For respectful downwards escalation!

Doc Meek, Monday, June 22, 2010 (2nd posting, in the evening)

At Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA; not at South Jordan, Utah, USA

“If you find you’re in a hole, stop digging.” – Found in an old Farmers’ Almanac

Photo from website below:

http://www.thefreelancefarmer.com/2010/04/digging-hole-to-china.html ……………………………………………………………………………………..

Active Learning means changing your mind, changing your behavior

I think it was Bert Hellinger, a German psychotherapist, who said that he trusted people with  their own problems.

Most of us don’t do that as a rule. We tend to want to fix other people’s problems, while ignoring our own.

I think Hellinger’s point is that most of us “like” our own problems, in the sense that when someone tries to relieve us of them, we dig in and demand our “right to do . . . ” whatever it is that we are doing [that is causing our problems].

Strange behavior, what?

As I used to say to clients:

“Most of us would rather keep  the familiar old problem, than face the scary prospect of the unfamiliar new and different behavior. What if we fail at the new effort? Embarrassing. Better to keep the old pattern than risk a new pattern at which I might bomb.”

“That’s ridiculous,” my clients would say. “You’re telling me I like my problems? The ones that I am so vociferously complaining about to you?”

“You don’t actually ‘like’ them; you just would rather have them, maybe somewhat like ‘old and difficult friends,’  than face an  unknown future, a scary future, trying to make new friends who may turn out to be worse than the old friends.”

The scary/wonderful future

Why don’t we just stop digging? Why don’t we admit that we really don’t wish to depart from our problems. Not right now anyway. Maybe tomorrow . . . tomorrow . . . “and yet again tomorrow” [shades of Shakespeare] . . . or maybe next week? Next month would be a good time to take this in hand. Or maybe next year?

“Let us not fear the scary/wonderful future,” says my friend.

This new and different way holds life in its hands, not the the death of the tired old present problems.

The scary/wonderful new pathway is far superior to the present rut-torn disaster, eh? 😮

The definition of insanity

“Doing the same thing & expecting different results is the definition of insanity.” – Einstein.***
Here’s to DSD (Doing Something Differently)!
Doc Meek, Friday, June 18, 2010
At Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA; not at South Jordan, Utah, USA ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
*** This quotation may be a misattribution; some say it is an old Chinese proverb; others say someone else originated this; see “Talk: Benjamin Franklin,” in Wikipedia:

“I respectfully suggest that the quote “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting it to come out different” is a misattribution to both Franklin and Einstein. According to Google news archive, the earliest news article attributing the quote to Franklin is from 2004 [4]. The earliest attribution to Einstein is 1998 [5]. By contrast, the earliest Google news article that attributes “time is money” to Franklin is 1849 [6]

“The earliest news article in Google’s archives that has the quote “The definition of insanity is doing the same….” is 1991 to Zamberletti of the Vikings. He said “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing year after year and expecting different results” [7]

“The earliest reference to “insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results” is 1989 to David Boswell [8]

“The earliest reference to “the definition of insanity is doing…” is 1986 to Tony Elliott of the New Orleans Saints when he said “the definition of insanity is doing over and over again things that can kill you” [9]

“A similar quote is from “Sudden Death” by Rita Mae Brown, from 1983.