tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32362551.post9035299683042568463..comments2023-12-13T16:57:33.142-06:00Comments on Blogodidact: Indoctrinating You and YoursVan Harveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32362551.post-6596515342060503682014-02-02T16:18:51.757-06:002014-02-02T16:18:51.757-06:00Ferny said "...Is it that hard to believe tha...Ferny said "...Is it that hard to believe that a college freshmen from the Rio Grande Valley was initially baffled by Western philosophy, particularly given how dense it can be to read?"<br /><br />Not at all, and had you put it that way, I don't think I'd have had any problem with it at all, and some sympathy. But what you said at the time was "<i>...the challenge of teaching students to enter a world of white cultural power...</i>", which is a very different thing, and, IMHO, antithetical to Philosophy as such.<br /><br />" I feel like you misread a fair bit of it. " That's certainly possible, if there's something in particular you'd like to point out, I'm all ears.<br /><br />And especially regarding how your ideas have changed since, I'd be very interested in hearing. I remember our discussion, and you were very straightforward with what you had to say, which is always appreciated, not to mention rare.<br /><br />"but thanks for the uncharitable reading!"<br /><br />;-) I don't seek a charitable or uncharitable reading of anyone, only a better understanding of it. If I've got it wrong, or if you've developed past that (if that perspective fits), I'd love to hear and discuss it further.<br />Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32362551.post-87556520394159981152014-02-02T15:41:38.448-06:002014-02-02T15:41:38.448-06:00You know, I was browsing for myself and for some r...You know, I was browsing for myself and for some reason, I showed up on your blog.<br /><br />I enjoyed your analysis of our discussion, though I feel like you misread a fair bit of it. <br /><br />More importantly though, you definitely did misread my post about cultural literacy. Is it that hard to believe that a college freshmen from the Rio Grande Valley was initially baffled by Western philosophy, particularly given how dense it can be to read?<br /><br />Anyway, if it makes you feel better, I've been allowed to guide the World History curriculum in the district and there is a fair bit of Western philosophy which has been taught. Before I got to the district, none was taught in WH.<br /><br />I actually like the Western philosophers now and have since about sophomore year of college, but thanks for the uncharitable reading!Ferny Reyesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32362551.post-17665839589951117882012-04-09T22:35:51.369-05:002012-04-09T22:35:51.369-05:00But the age of chivalry is gone. That of sophister...But the age of chivalry is gone. That of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded; and the glory of Europe is extinguished forever. - Edmund Burke<br /><br />"As a sharpening of wits, controversy is often, indeed, of mutual advantage, in order to correct one’s thoughts and awaken new views. But in learning and in mental power both disputants must be tolerably equal: If one of them lacks learning, he will fail to understand the other, as he is not on the same level with his antagonist. If he lacks mental power, he will be embittered, and led into dishonest tricks, and end by being rude.<br /><br /> The only safe rule, therefore, is that which Aristotle mentions in the last chapter of his Topica: not to dispute with the first person you meet, but only with those of your acquaintance of whom you know that they possess sufficient intelligence and self-respect not to advance absurdities; to appeal to reason and not to authority, and to listen to reason and yield to it; and, finally, to cherish truth, to be willing to accept reason even from an opponent, and to be just enough to bear being proved to be in the wrong, should truth lie with him. From this it follows that scarcely one man in a hundred is worth your disputing with him. You may let the remainder say what they please, for every one is at liberty to be a fool — desipere est jus gentium. Remember what Voltaire says: La paix vaut encore mieux que la verite ["Peace is worth more than the truth"]. Remember also an Arabian proverb which tells us that on the tree of silence there hangs its fruit, which is peace. <br /><br />~ Arthur Schopenhauer<br /><br />When you fight demons and monsters, you need weapons forged of silver and enchanted with runes. What did Gandalf say to the Balrog?Matthew C Smallwoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08234878138545287306noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32362551.post-6596666795511299462011-12-02T18:53:00.156-06:002011-12-02T18:53:00.156-06:00Mushroom said "Is there anybody willing to ar...Mushroom said "Is there anybody willing to argue that teachers are being exploited by an oppressive system? Well, actually they are, but it's the NEA thugs doing the oppressing."<br /><br />I finally remembered where I'd seen this link, I'd posted in on my facebook page a while back:<br /><br />Remember the Wisconsin Hysteria over Gov. Walker "killing union healthcare!"? Well... let me put on my surprised face, and pass this on (H/T April Womack):<br /><br />"It's going to save us about $690,000 in 2011-2012," says Schilling. Insurance costs that had been about $2.5 million a year will now be around $1.8 million. What union leaders said would be a catastrophe will in fact be a boon to teachers and students.<br />...<br />It's not hard to see why union officials hate the new law so much. It not only breaks up cherished and lucrative union monopolies like high-cost health insurance; it also threatens to break through the union-built wall between teachers and administrators and allow the two sides to work together more closely. The old union go-betweens, who controlled what their members could and could not hear, will be left aside."<br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwashingtonexaminer.com%2Fpolitics%2F2011%2F07%2Fwisconsin-schools-buck-union-cut-health-costs&h=HAQE4-0i3AQHaMlEZgkVyuxK-qox9HIqkYZ_pJx5VBjGhvw" rel="nofollow">Wisconsin schools buck union to cut health costs</a>.Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32362551.post-79164260578393531032011-12-02T18:45:55.947-06:002011-12-02T18:45:55.947-06:00Carl said “The surprising part is that they all ch...Carl said “The surprising part is that they all chose to debate the side that U.S. CEOs were NOT generally overpaid. That is, all the U.S. and other students chose the overpaid side to debate, all for reasons related to "social justice" concerns, as I discerned on follow-up. Just thought it was interesting that the Chinese students seemed to be far less bothered by income inequality.”<br /><br />Definitely interesting… sure wish I could say it was surprising… but Chinese kids are raised… if not with the ideal of the free market, at least with the idea that getting ahead is something to be sought, whereas ours are raised, truly from pre-school, with the idea that business, especially Big business, is inherently bad.<br /><br />“I do believe that there is a possibility to deprogram versus the larger collectivist brainwash in the college classroom (i.e., it is still possible to reach students even much later than elementary school;”<br /><br />Oh I agree as well, I suspect that the key is to get to the trunk of the tree of their ideas and assumptions, and keep the questioning of it continually before them. <br /><br />Most of modernist thought is sold from the point of view of ‘satisfying your pleasure, your desires, whims, comforts… fun!’ and that no one should deprive you of that. It is all driven from, and supported from, the outside – by external things and by external approval… but it is sold on the thought that ‘You want and deserve this!’.<br /><br />The Achilles heel, I think, is that with every new thing they are sold on as being entitled to, one more Right, or portion of one, they are deprived of. <br /><br />If their thoughts can be directed to the central question of who it is that has a Right to live your life… You, or society? Who makes the choices involved in living your own life – you or society? Who decides what you are, and are not, entitled to?, and so on… those are the questions which lead internally, which lead to questions of True and False, Right and Wrong, how they questions are to be evaluated, proven and accepted, and to the idea of Individual Rights, and finally how they are to be secured, which leads to Property Rights and objective law.<br /><br />Some people it suddenly ‘clicks’ with (the playwright David Mamet describes in <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0CCkQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FSecret-Knowledge-Dismantling-American-Culture%2Fdp%2F1595230769&ei=P2_ZTsyaGeyAsgLKrIDcDQ&usg=AFQjCNGzZOvyS7BPyZXwNWjgDL43Tva7sA&sig2=EZOIQbmru9_Z2kpPQblIXA" rel="nofollow">The Secret Knowledge</a>, how such considerations regarding things he’d never really thought about, but accepted the leftist point of view on, began to dissolve before his eyes as he began to notice how he actually behaved, and expected others to behave towards him, and as did they – Very respectfully of implicit Property Rights… even though explicitly he, and everyone around him, ridiculed such thoughts.<br /><br />Once the thought was seriously considered, everything else quickly fell away… and he was not young at all, late 40’s or 50’s I think.<br /><br />The trick is to get someone to actually think, not just manipulate ‘thought objects’ as unquestioned givens, but to think them through… heh, ‘the Truth shall set you free’.<br /><br />Yes I’d be very interested in discussing it further, I should correct you though, I’m much more a Philosophy Enthusiast, than an expert, but if that’s ok with you, I’d be thrilled to pursue it.<br /><br />I’ll copy this to your email.Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32362551.post-36610556638818226512011-12-01T23:35:01.176-06:002011-12-01T23:35:01.176-06:00This is slightly off-topic, but there seems to me ...This is slightly off-topic, but there seems to me nothing more oxymoronic -- or maybe just moronic, than public employee unions. <br /><br />Unions were created to give employees leverage against the power of the employers -- generally large employers viewed as oppressive and exploitative. There was probably at some point in history some validity to this movement. <br /><br />By the time I had any exposure to union labor it had become a vehicle of political power that enriched the leadership and enabled the shiftless and unproductive membership.<br /><br />Enter public employee unions. Is there anybody willing to argue that teachers are being exploited by an oppressive system? Well, actually they are, but it's the NEA thugs doing the oppressing.mushroomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07651027035577798096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32362551.post-48630363139114600642011-12-01T13:57:27.568-06:002011-12-01T13:57:27.568-06:00This is clearly a major concern that isn't oft...This is clearly a major concern that isn't often brought up in the mainstream, the results of which show up all too often in my college classroom. I recently found myself coaching one debate team in my class. Why you might ask? Was it because I liked my students on that team more or was blatantly taking sides? NO. It was because the team consisted solely of Chinese students whose debate skills in English were limited and our judges couldn't speak Mandarin. It wasn't supposed to be about verbal acuity at all, so I took their side to level the field on verbal skill. The surprising part is that they all chose to debate the side that U.S. CEOs were NOT generally overpaid. That is, all the U.S. and other students chose the overpaid side to debate, all for reasons related to "social justice" concerns, as I discerned on follow-up. Just thought it was interesting that the Chinese students seemed to be far less bothered by income inequality.<br /><br />I do believe that there is a possibility to deprogram versus the larger collectivist brainwash in the college classroom (i.e., it is still possible to reach students even much later than elementary school; we know a lot about brain plasticity that would support this) and would love to get your thoughts in this regard as a philosophy expert. I think more about the psychological aspects of educational indoctrination as a professor in the management department at SLU. If you would enjoy a lively exchange, please email me at maertzcp@slu.edu. Thanks for your blog.Carl Maertzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15666246564062331128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32362551.post-39818972602706657542011-11-30T23:29:26.413-06:002011-11-30T23:29:26.413-06:00Yup. This is another reason why I have taken full...Yup. This is another reason why I have taken full and complete charge of educating my children.<br /><br />If anyone's going to brainwash them, it's darn well going to be me. <br /><br />Besides, how can I possibly do any worse?Donna Harrishttp://www.busybeevas.comnoreply@blogger.com