I just came across this yesterday. Pretty neat, this is an incredible example of the school idea Corbin proposed in the Sangha post. The idea of sharing these skills not typically presented to kids or students of any type really, may just be what this world needs to change it's flawed mentality.
While it isn't something we've talked about much, the school system in our country might be one of the most effective weapons against this vision of intentional thought and living. All children are asked over and over again, What do you want to be when you grow up? Always with the implication that you need to pick a Job of some sort that you can strive to obtain. We are constantly shown examples of successful (usually western) workers (engineers, doctors, lawyers) as examples of what we should base our future goals around. That mentality is so ingrained in most people, that choosing a different life style simply does not occur to them. I think that our exposure to somewhat different lifestyles and ways of thinking is the only thing that moved us away from the same path.
An excerpt from My Ishmael on schools. A little food for thought.
" 'When youngsters of your culture graduate from school (unless their families continue to take care of them), they must immediately find someone to give them money to buy the things they need in order to survive. In other words, they have to find jobs. You should be able to explain why this is so.'
I nodded 'Because the food is under lock and key.'
'Precisely. I want you to see the connection between these two things. Because they have no survival value on their own, they must get jobs. This isn't something that's optional for them, unless they are independently wealthy. It's either get a job or go hungry.'
...
'That's what your schools are there for isn't it? They're there to prepare children to have a sucessful life in your society.'
'That's right.'
Ishmael nodded. 'This is what Mother Culture Teaches, Julie. It's truly one of her most elegant deceptions. But of course this isn't what schools are there for.'... 'The schools are there, Julie, to regulate the flow of young competitors into the job market.' "
We should consider ourselves very lucky to have ended up with the points of view on life that we have. The community school idea may possibly be the best way to leave an impact for positive change on our community and world. Lets develop it.
I agree. I had a conversation with Nathan while we were walking over to battlepoint this summer at some point about the idea; it makes almost too much sense. Assuming we're all going to be good at something that we pursue, we'll have a large stable of really qualified people covering a ton of ground (knowledge and skills-wise). I always thought I would like teaching...
I think we also talked about this on the jmt too... This idea excites me so much I want to share my thoughts with everyone else. There are several main components worth discussing.
Co-op living: We could buy land and devlop it how we want, solar electricty, a farming area large enough to, at least partially, provide for the inhabitants, and whatever facility design elements we think would be cool. not only could we design the facility from the ground up we could also design the lifestyle elements. what work is shared and how much, what are some social expectations of the co op ect.
Learning: this is the more exciting and original part of the idea. The core ideas here are that the exchange of knowledge is free and that many people know enough about something to teach it to beginner and intermediate learners with great effectiveness. with this in mind why not invite knowledgeable people to participate in the above lifestyle as long as they want to teach and learn. to this effect we would have to have facilities large enough accommodates any number of transient student and "proffesors". These proffesors could teach anytning: chess, sailing, martial arts, nutrition, sustainable design, cooking, or anything deemed not trivial. So in a day you could attend classes on a plethera of topics and then teach your own. presumably members of the co-op would have to pay monthly fees to keep it running and do shared work(hopefully minimized by efficient group living). If the coop was sufficiently close to a population center you could even have poeple pay a smaller monthly fees just to come and attend classes.
I could go on about getting grants, possible locations for this institution, and other ideas but i think drunk bowling is on tonights agenda. So instead I will sum the academy of everything up as "living right and learning right"
3 comments:
I just came across this yesterday. Pretty neat, this is an incredible example of the school idea Corbin proposed in the Sangha post. The idea of sharing these skills not typically presented to kids or students of any type really, may just be what this world needs to change it's flawed mentality.
While it isn't something we've talked about much, the school system in our country might be one of the most effective weapons against this vision of intentional thought and living. All children are asked over and over again, What do you want to be when you grow up? Always with the implication that you need to pick a Job of some sort that you can strive to obtain. We are constantly shown examples of successful (usually western) workers (engineers, doctors, lawyers) as examples of what we should base our future goals around. That mentality is so ingrained in most people, that choosing a different life style simply does not occur to them. I think that our exposure to somewhat different lifestyles and ways of thinking is the only thing that moved us away from the same path.
An excerpt from My Ishmael on schools. A little food for thought.
"
'When youngsters of your culture graduate from school (unless their families continue to take care of them), they must immediately find someone to give them money to buy the things they need in order to survive. In other words, they have to find jobs. You should be able to explain why this is so.'
I nodded 'Because the food is under lock and key.'
'Precisely. I want you to see the connection between these two things. Because they have no survival value on their own, they must get jobs. This isn't something that's optional for them, unless they are independently wealthy. It's either get a job or go hungry.'
...
'That's what your schools are there for isn't it? They're there to prepare children to have a sucessful life in your society.'
'That's right.'
Ishmael nodded. 'This is what Mother Culture Teaches, Julie. It's truly one of her most elegant deceptions. But of course this isn't what schools are there for.'... 'The schools are there, Julie, to regulate the flow of young competitors into the job market.'
"
We should consider ourselves very lucky to have ended up with the points of view on life that we have. The community school idea may possibly be the best way to leave an impact for positive change on our community and world. Lets develop it.
I agree. I had a conversation with Nathan while we were walking over to battlepoint this summer at some point about the idea; it makes almost too much sense. Assuming we're all going to be good at something that we pursue, we'll have a large stable of really qualified people covering a ton of ground (knowledge and skills-wise). I always thought I would like teaching...
I think we also talked about this on the jmt too... This idea excites me so much I want to share my thoughts with everyone else. There are several main components worth discussing.
Co-op living: We could buy land and devlop it how we want, solar electricty, a farming area large enough to, at least partially, provide for the inhabitants, and whatever facility design elements we think would be cool. not only could we design the facility from the ground up we could also design the lifestyle elements. what work is shared and how much, what are some social expectations of the co op ect.
Learning: this is the more exciting and original part of the idea. The core ideas here are that the exchange of knowledge is free and that many people know enough about something to teach it to beginner and intermediate learners with great effectiveness. with this in mind why not invite knowledgeable people to participate in the above lifestyle as long as they want to teach and learn. to this effect we would have to have facilities large enough accommodates any number of transient student and "proffesors". These proffesors could teach anytning: chess, sailing, martial arts, nutrition, sustainable design, cooking, or anything deemed not trivial. So in a day you could attend classes on a plethera of topics and then teach your own. presumably members of the co-op would have to pay monthly fees to keep it running and do shared work(hopefully minimized by efficient group living). If the coop was sufficiently close to a population center you could even have poeple pay a smaller monthly fees just to come and attend classes.
I could go on about getting grants, possible locations for this institution, and other ideas but i think drunk bowling is on tonights agenda. So instead I will sum the academy of everything up as "living right and learning right"
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