Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Education And Religion

Education and Religion;


Education and religion is the third article in our series being presented. Now I promise not to argue whether or not religion should be taught in our school systems. That is not within the scope of this article and I am a Jeffersonian when it comes to this subject in that I believe that each and every person has the right to believe what is best for them and that no other has the right to invade that belief. So why then the subject of religion coupled with education? To make a point. Wars for centuries have been fought over religion and religious views. Why? The answer is very simple. Religion is conceptual. No one can or has seen God. God is strictly left to us as a footprint within us all as a concept. Arguments ensue as to the correct interpretation over even a single verse of a bible or as to which bible is the correct or closest to the correct one. Which denomination is right and why all others have it wrong. It's all based on conceptual beliefs that none of us have a picture for nor can we create one.


Remember in my last article I pointed out that there is no picture for the word no or stop and others. It's the same thing here. Battles, wars, fights, arguments, are all the result of one persons picture of a concept opposed to the next persons picture of the same or similar concept. Mans biggest struggle is over building the right image or picture of a given concept. The most successful people in the world are the ones who are best adept at imposing their image or picture of a concept to another with the highest level of accuracy. The bloodiest battles have always been in opposing views of an image or picture of a concept. Again, concepts have no pictures to them. They are our biggest hurdles and our most successful triumphs.


Right and wrong are mere concepts again that we have built pictures for. What one day everyone thought to be right, was later proven wrong. A great example of this is when someone decided to stand on top of a building with the concept and picture in mind that they could fly. The person jumped off and the natural laws of gravity caused that person to land smack down on their face. Well man can't fly. The image is now fully ingrained throughout society based on natural law. Well gravity is defeated by reversing the polarity of magnetic poles. This to is natural law. While man struggled to build a better picture for the ability to fly, we developed planes, helicopters, gliders, even jet packs. (Somewhere out there are reversed polarity machines). So the concept of the right picture that man can not fly was proven wrong.


So what is right and what is wrong one day, are proven to be opposites the next. (Is there any wonder why there is so much turmoil in the world today)? Can we standardize concepts to a correct picture? Should we even really consider doing so? If we do, we are all at a lose. If we don't we can rest assured of more fighting, battles, war, arguments and more. (This could explain why I do so much photography and video, I constantly create images of my world as I see it and wish to see it). Different versions of the bible or different versions of religion create different images and pictures in the minds of the end user. So they are never going to be the same between two people no matter how close you try to make them. Only through understanding of this process can one achieve peace.

Truths lie within all religions. Falsehoods equally lie within all religions. Throughout my years of study, I even ran across the Satanic bible and read it. I even found truths in there as well as falsehoods.
Here is a direct quote, “pictures and how people view the same exact image, are not seen in the same way from one person to the next”. This was one of Satan's ways of proving his superiority. When opposed to man, he is right on the money on that level as he understands this concept all to well.


(Hey, I did promise this would be a hot topic). Let's see how many people remember this from their old school days. You set up a line of people. You tell the first person in line a story. Each person then tells the story to the next and it goes all the way down the line. The last person repeats the story and it does not sound anything like the original story. What happened? The story kept changing it's image in the mind of each person. Now had the story been something along the lines of “It's a green elephant”, then the story would probably remain the same all the way down through the line as the picture was very accurate and simple. If you can consistently convey your concept into an image and keep it as simple as it's a green elephant, then you will do by far better than 95% of the rest of the people in the world.


This is how you teach. Convey a simple picture or series of pictures through words and direct hands on action using the best principles as we know them today until proven wrong. Will you always be right? No, someone else has a different picture from you. But with an open mind, that could expand to something great.


Our next article will be, “What IF”. What if we could find the best teachers and have them teach all the children? Remember, I'm shooting for 21st education. My what if already has an answer.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Education Phase Two

Education Phase Two;

By; Chuck Thompson


Some years back I took courses in Mega Memory and how we learn. The spoken word is a language of creating pictures and images in our minds for us to understand. Without these pictures, we can not understand what is being conveyed to us by another person. In other words, we think in pictures, not words. Yes you hear words in your head, but there is an underlying part in your brain that is translating all those words into pictures. Now not all words have pictures to them. Some are conceptual words such as no, stop, and don't or do not and not. Try for a moment to think of a picture for no.


Okay, no picture there. Now how about for stop? Well we have the Stop signs all over our roads so we do have a picture for that, or do we? Well no we do not. Again, the stop sign had to be created and is still a conceptual piece with no picture that can be attached to it. This is why parents have such a hard time with their children. Children do not understand conceptual language as there is no picture in their heads for this. Concepts such as time out, scolding or even a mild spank of the butt sends the message to a child trying to teach a concept. In the event you care to argue this, do NOT think of a pink polka dot yellow elephant. (Aha, got ya didn't I). Yes even today at your present age, you still do not have an image for a conceptual word. If you come up with one, the world will pave more gold at your feet than you know what to do with.


Conceptual learning is the toughest subject to learn and also to teach. A child who does poor in math has a conceptual learning disability, not a learning disability. There are no pictures for math. There are symbols that we call numbers for learning, but no pictures. The nice thing about math is that pictures can be applied to the numbers. This does become a problem though when dealing with multiple numbers and subjects such as multiplication and division. I have a son who is conceptual learning handicapped. At 11, he still can't figure out the basic concepts of simple math as he can not apply pictures to it. He still has issues with no, stop, do not and so forth. He isn't at all stupid, he reads like a champ and understands what he reads. He understands and applies picture language very well. Move him into the conceptual world and he is just lost.


Now is he a total lose? Not at all. We have taught him to use an abacus and he flies with it. It's something he does understand as the image is right in front of him. Take the abacus away and he is once again lost. I do a tremendous amount of photography, video production and I build and own a large amount of web sites. He understands all of this and loves it. Now I have to use creativity and conceptual processes in my work to make my work stand out from the crowd. It's what separates average from great. While conceptualizing a shot or video, I am able to explain what I am doing and he gets it. He can see the process and the end results so he understands why I did what I did and how.
We have worked together on creating videos that he conceptualized and created. Some of them are incredibly good, but I am able to see him still getting lost in the process and then recovering as he understands what the end results will be.


So again, even in the conceptual stages of learning it's the hands on experience that make all the difference in the world. My son understands concepts that do not have pictures attached to them when he can do it as a hands on project. Take away the hands on aspect though and he is perpetually lost. In my first article on “The State of Education”, I talked about, “The Cone of Learning”, and at the top of that cone was the actual hands on doing as the number one way people learn. It is equally so in the arena of conceptual thinking and applications. How this can be applied to those with conceptual learning disabilities I have yet to master when it comes to subjects such as math unless the abacus is used and taught to those with such disabilities. This is not an area that is presently addressed well in our present educational system. Let's hope this changes and that is part of what I am seeking to do. My next article will continue in the line of conceptual issues and this promises to be a very hot topic that I am sure everyone can get something out of.