Our thoughts are based on our life experiences. I think that is a fair statement to make. Really we humans just react and adapt to the environment. It's what we have always done. Then we started to control our environments, building shelters and such. With the discovery of fire we attempted to control the climate, at least indoors. Of course today some feel we are so advanced that we can control the climate of the earth! But, I'll leave that discussion for another time. My life experience tells me, you can't control nature, nature will control you. Then you get into the whole nature vs nurture thing. Nature wins in my opinion.
Now when I was five I went to kindergarten, half a day. That was the beginning of my formal education. It was the beginning of most of my contemporaries formal education as well. As I recall, and I don't recall much it was a long time ago, that education consisted mostly of finger painting, playing on the jungle gym and listening to Mrs. Jones read stories. Dick and Jane were the main characters. It may or may not have contained a nap time. Seems to me the object of kindergarten was to prepare you for the first grade. It was a sort of practice run. We were disciplined to understand sitting still, listening, and following directions. They were the primary lessons to be learned. Note that I said disciplined. That word was specifically chosen. We were not coddled. We were the students and the teacher was the authority. The object was to learn to respect that authority. The first lesson in citizenship. Yes there was drama, trauma and hurt feelings. We survived, although no one called us survivors.
Now that same model continued throughout much of my educational experience. I went to class. It was expected that I would sit quietly, treat the teacher respectfully, and complete all the assignments. Tests were administered. Your performance was graded, compared against a standard and the results given to you. If you failed to make the grade, that was your fault, not the teachers or the entire educational system. No, you and you alone were accountable for that. What the other students did had no bearing on what you did. You were accountable to the teacher and to your parents. Your results usually depended upon your personal discipline. Did you do the assignments? Did you study the material? There were no exceptions, no grading on a curve, none of that. You either had the answers, or you didn't. It was just like real life! You either performed or got left behind.
I'd say growing up I was left to think for myself. I was told what was expected and it was up to me to meet those expectations. Sure I was given instruction, direction, guidance , advice and encouragement. I was also reminded that the results were up to me. I was accountable for that. The only thing I saw differently was the standard that parents held their children too. Some parents demanded more and some just didn't care. At least that was the impression I had. My own were usually satisfied as long as I was passing the grade. That was the bar, passing. If I exceeded that, that's great, I received praise for that, not reward though. No grades weren't something you got paid for, something that gained you a material thing, good grades kept you in good graces! Failure to meet that standard got your freedom restricted. In that way you were given time, to think about it. And that is what I was told a, think about it.
I wonder if that isn't a big part of the problem today. Too many people aren't thinking about it. They are merely reacting the way they have been told. And where are they learning that? In our educational system is the answer. Empathy is the major topic today. A noble sentiment Empathy, the ability to understand and feel the emotions, thoughts, and feelings of others. Problem is, teaching everyone to not only experience that empathetic state of mind, but to adopt it! There is no standard. If we are conditioned to respond with empathy instead of thought, not much gets accomplished. It is the very reason we have the problems we are seeing today. It goes back to the old adage, you can please some of the people some of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time. And that is why we have standards. Not everyone gets the star! You have to meet the standard, the standard isn't altered to meet you. Do some of these folks sound like spoiled little brats to you? That's because they were raised without discipline, mommy and daddy being empathetic all the time. Mommy and daddy always providing the excuse. As far back as 1968 tough love was a topic. And that's exactly what I'm talking about. Parents and educators should be instructors, not enablers!
I know it's an unpopular opinion these days. Now we should just allow everyone to do as they please. We shouldn't even mention the possibility that they are responsible in any way for the consequences of their actions. Blame someone else, blame race, creed, national origin, sexual orientation, income, lack of income, your childhood, your parents, your siblings, the climate or the government! It's not your fault, ever! And even if it were society needs to understand, be empathetic and not hold you accountable. Society needs to change to suit you. Life needs to be fair. In what I can only view as an ironic twist how do we define fair? In accordance with a standard. Without a standard we really can't be fair.
Now when I was five I went to kindergarten, half a day. That was the beginning of my formal education. It was the beginning of most of my contemporaries formal education as well. As I recall, and I don't recall much it was a long time ago, that education consisted mostly of finger painting, playing on the jungle gym and listening to Mrs. Jones read stories. Dick and Jane were the main characters. It may or may not have contained a nap time. Seems to me the object of kindergarten was to prepare you for the first grade. It was a sort of practice run. We were disciplined to understand sitting still, listening, and following directions. They were the primary lessons to be learned. Note that I said disciplined. That word was specifically chosen. We were not coddled. We were the students and the teacher was the authority. The object was to learn to respect that authority. The first lesson in citizenship. Yes there was drama, trauma and hurt feelings. We survived, although no one called us survivors.
Now that same model continued throughout much of my educational experience. I went to class. It was expected that I would sit quietly, treat the teacher respectfully, and complete all the assignments. Tests were administered. Your performance was graded, compared against a standard and the results given to you. If you failed to make the grade, that was your fault, not the teachers or the entire educational system. No, you and you alone were accountable for that. What the other students did had no bearing on what you did. You were accountable to the teacher and to your parents. Your results usually depended upon your personal discipline. Did you do the assignments? Did you study the material? There were no exceptions, no grading on a curve, none of that. You either had the answers, or you didn't. It was just like real life! You either performed or got left behind.
I'd say growing up I was left to think for myself. I was told what was expected and it was up to me to meet those expectations. Sure I was given instruction, direction, guidance , advice and encouragement. I was also reminded that the results were up to me. I was accountable for that. The only thing I saw differently was the standard that parents held their children too. Some parents demanded more and some just didn't care. At least that was the impression I had. My own were usually satisfied as long as I was passing the grade. That was the bar, passing. If I exceeded that, that's great, I received praise for that, not reward though. No grades weren't something you got paid for, something that gained you a material thing, good grades kept you in good graces! Failure to meet that standard got your freedom restricted. In that way you were given time, to think about it. And that is what I was told a, think about it.
I wonder if that isn't a big part of the problem today. Too many people aren't thinking about it. They are merely reacting the way they have been told. And where are they learning that? In our educational system is the answer. Empathy is the major topic today. A noble sentiment Empathy, the ability to understand and feel the emotions, thoughts, and feelings of others. Problem is, teaching everyone to not only experience that empathetic state of mind, but to adopt it! There is no standard. If we are conditioned to respond with empathy instead of thought, not much gets accomplished. It is the very reason we have the problems we are seeing today. It goes back to the old adage, you can please some of the people some of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time. And that is why we have standards. Not everyone gets the star! You have to meet the standard, the standard isn't altered to meet you. Do some of these folks sound like spoiled little brats to you? That's because they were raised without discipline, mommy and daddy being empathetic all the time. Mommy and daddy always providing the excuse. As far back as 1968 tough love was a topic. And that's exactly what I'm talking about. Parents and educators should be instructors, not enablers!
I know it's an unpopular opinion these days. Now we should just allow everyone to do as they please. We shouldn't even mention the possibility that they are responsible in any way for the consequences of their actions. Blame someone else, blame race, creed, national origin, sexual orientation, income, lack of income, your childhood, your parents, your siblings, the climate or the government! It's not your fault, ever! And even if it were society needs to understand, be empathetic and not hold you accountable. Society needs to change to suit you. Life needs to be fair. In what I can only view as an ironic twist how do we define fair? In accordance with a standard. Without a standard we really can't be fair.
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