Something can be useful to make you think even if you don't buy into everything that's said. For example #1 seems a really unfair generalization, but #5 and the second #4 scare me and make me think. This week's Monday Morning Memo is Will You Embarrass Yourself? (slightly condensed):
Are you anxious to look foolish in front of others? Will you happily submit yourself to ridicule? Are you willing to do a thing badly until you've learned to do it well?
The lone pioneer plunges ahead and discovers a world while four hundred and ninety-nine settlers whine for maps and roads.
America was founded by pioneers. How might we dull a glistening nation?
1. Pay the dullest and least impressive to educate the children.
2. Create a system of teaching that judges everything as "correct" or "incorrect." This will allow the dull and unimpressive to easily grade the children's tests.
3. Discourage exploration.
4. Reward conformity. Teach that inside the box is good.
5. Celebrate sports. Make sure the children understand that taller, stronger kids have natural advantages that cannot be overcome. Build stadiums and hire announcers to shout the names of students who display physical dominance.
6. Minimize school concerts and science fairs and art shows. Treat them as though they're for losers. Have them in the school cafeteria.Follow these 6 Simple Steps and you can expect:
1. Drop-Outs. Currently, 38 percent of America's children are dropping out of high school and that number is rising.
2. Cloned Repetition. Have you noticed that every mall has exactly the same stores as every other mall and that every city has all the same restaurants?
3. Death of Industry. The cars of once-mighty GM and Ford no longer excite us. We want cars designed by the children of foreigners.
4. Street Gangs. If school taught us anything, it's that physical dominance is the key to reward.An outsider, observing how we educate our children, would be forced to conclude that we value:
1. Efficient mediocrity, and
2. Going in circles
So, do you agree?
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