Home — I.School

I.School is home to my world of educational soliloquy. It is a philosophical, psychological and historical perspective of education.

This is a web-page for none and all, more or less. Either you like it or you don’t. Treat it like a coffee shop or a twisted retreat. Stay as long as you want. Leave when you want. Drop in, pop out. Exit is on your right. Read it, don’t read it. This is my new adventure.

As the Home page- let’s get philosophical.

How to go Home. Metaphorically.

Like Dorthy in the Wizard of OZ, I wish to think of ‘home’ as an adventure for the individual search for meaning. Now just stay with me here. Home means feeling more comfortable in your own skin. I want that! Not only for myself, but for anyone else wishing to feel like you are enough! Let’s start with two simple rules:

You have to learn it yourself.
You have the power. You have had it all along.
The path for coming home requires three companions. The scarecrow, the tin man and the lion.

Let’s say there are two paths. One is black and white. The other vivid technicolor. Consider the image of learning something that allows you to see clearer, brighter. Aristotle said in order to achieve eudamonia (self-awareness), you need reason, spirit and desire. Reason, like the scarecrow desires a brain. Cognitive reasoning, if used, can guide our decisions. If I thought about how I would feel Saturday morning, I might reason differently Friday night. Yes, yes? Spirit is the heart of why we do what we do. It is our invisible vital force, our vigor. Like breath, spirit is an undefinable unseeable force shallow or deep. “I shall take the heart. For brains do not make one happy, and happiness is the best thing in the world.” Tin Woodman, The Wizard of OZ. And then there is the Lion, somewhat weakly representing courage because he seems vulnerable at first. “There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger. The true courage is in facing danger when you are afraid, and that kind of courage you have in plenty.” – The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It takes courage to stand our own pain. Maybe courage is growing up.

We need all three in balance to be ‘home’. Reasoning alone becomes too mechanical. Think of a person at a dinner party, or school who rattles off mostly data and facts. Impressive and flat. No spirit. How about someone who’s spirit dominates? Fluttery and emotional, like a hurricane with no form to land. Desires, acting alone, can get us into all kinds of trouble. It’s below the head and heart… Acting independently would be a desire disaster.

Singularly, the tree parts of the soul are fragmented, each with clear but different ambitions. The goal is home. I personally want to be home-’balanced’ and in order to make this happen I need three things, time attention and direction in order to cultivate the balance of reason, spirit and desire. Yes, yes?

Time.

Kids in school are being nickled and dimed with their time. Keep ‘em busy so they don’t have time to contemplate or dare question their circumstance. Let’s think about how much time is spent doing meaningful assignments versus busy work. How much of that time is damaging to the human spirit due to detachment? Kids spend roughly eight hours a day at school five days a week. TGIF! Ok, so Fridays are good. What about Saturdays? Homework, jobs, sports often dominate older age kids’ lives on Saturdays. How about Sundays? Sundays are good until about 2:00 when you realize you need to get ready for school on Monday. Six out of seven days are dominated by school? Tick tock. How much time do we have to squander? We should be guarding our time like we are being robbed if it is wasted.

Attention.

If we don’t have adequate time for ourselves it is difficult to pay attention to our mind heart and spirit. How conscious do you think kids are throughout the day? A middle school child at 7:30 am? A high school student in an afternoon Physics after six hours of other classes? Attention at school is focused on external motivators, like grades, which prevents us from reaching our metaphorical home. “Nothing to see here.” Let’s divert your attention to more pressing matters like an unobtainable lifestyle.

Direction.

The direction is quite clear for public education. Go to school, go to college, get rich. Period. And I really hope there are more people out there that are just as tired of that linear, myopic direction for life as I am. Seems like we just go through the motions with very little thought as to what direction we are going in. What do we want for kids in education? The direction is clear from an external map, but I challenge that path. Balancing logic, spirit and desires to move ahead in a direction is better suited for a healthier life.

Wrap up! Two things:

One- To be ‘home’ means to be healthier psychologically. What does that look like and how can we help education to move in a healthier path?

Two- Kids need time, attention and direction- but who is driving the bus?