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Part 2 Chapter 9
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Okay, I’m ready to move on. You promised to talk about some of the larger aspects of life on Earth, and ever since your comments about life in the United States I’ve wanted to talk more about all of this.

 

Yes, good. I want Book 2 to address some of the larger issues facing your planet. And there is no larger issue than the education of your offspring.

 

We are not doing this well, are we.... I can tell by the way You brought that up.

 

Well, of course, everything is relative. Relative to what you say you are trying to do, no, you are not doing it well.

Everything I say here, everything I have included in this discussion so far and have caused to be placed in this document, must be put into that context. I am not making judgments1 of “rightness” or “wrongness,” “goodness” or “badness.” I simply make observations of your effective-ness relative to what you say you are trying to do.

 

I understand that.

 

I know you say that you do, but the time may come—even before this dialogue is finished—when you will accuse Me of being judgmental.

 

I would never accuse You of that. I know better.

 

“Knowing better” has not stopped the human race from calling Me a judgmental God in the past.

 

Well, it will stop me.

 

We shall see.

 

You wanted to talk about education.

 

Indeed. I observe that most of you have misunder-stood the meaning, the purpose, and the function of education, to say nothing of the process by which it is best undertaken.

 

That’s a huge statement, and I need some help with it.

 

Most of the human race has decided2 that the mean-ing and the purpose and the function of education is to pass on knowledge; that to educate someone is to give them knowledge—generally, the accumulated knowl-edge of one’s particular family, clan3, tribe, society, nation, and world.

Yet education has very little to do with knowledge.

 

Oh? You could have fooled me.

 

Clearly.

 

What does it have to do with then?

 

Wisdom.

 

Wisdom.

 

Yes.

 

Okay, I give up. What is the difference?

 

Wisdom is knowledge applied4.

 

So we aren’t supposed to try to give our offspring knowl-edge. We are supposed to try to give our offspring wisdom.

 

First of all, don’t “try” to do anything. Do it. Sec-ondly, don’t ignore knowledge in favor of wisdom. That would be fatal. On the other hand, don’t ignore wisdom in favor of knowledge. That would also be fatal. It would kill education. On your planet, it is killing5 it.

 

We are ignoring wisdom in favor of knowledge? In most cases, yes.

 

How are we doing this?

 

You are teaching your children what to think instead of how to think.

 

Explain, please.

 

Certainly. When you give your children knowledge, you are telling them what to think. That is, you are telling them what they are supposed to know, what you want them to understand is true.

When you give your children wisdom, you do not tell them what to know, or what is true, but, rather, how to get to their own truth.

 

But without knowledge there can be no wisdom.

 

Agreed. That is why I have said, you cannot ignore knowledge in favor of wisdom. A certain amount of knowledge must be passed on from one generation to the next. Obviously. But as little knowledge as possible. The smaller amount, the better.

Let the child discover for itself. Know this: Knowl-edge is lost. Wisdom is never forgotten.

 

So our schools should teach as little as possible?

 

Your schools should turn their emphasis around. Right now they are focused highly on knowledge, and paying precious little attention to wisdom. Classes in critical thinking, problem solving, and logic6 are consid-ered by many parents to be threatening. They wantsuch classes out of the curriculum. As well they might, if they want to protect their way of life. Because children who are allowed to develop their own critical thinking proc-esses are very much likely to abandon their parents’ morals, standards, and entire way of life.

In order to protect your way of life, you have built an education system based upon the development in the child of memories, not abilities. Children are taught to remember facts and fictions—the fictions each soci-ety has set up about itself—rather than given the ability to discover and create their own truths.

Programs calling for children to develop abilities and skills rather than memories are soundly ridiculed8 by those who imagine that they know what a child needs to learn. Yet what you have been teaching your children has led your world toward ignorance, not away from it.

 

Our schools don’t teach fictions, they teach facts.

 

Now you are lying to yourself, just as you lie to your children.

 

We lie to our children?

 

Of course you do. Pick up any history book and see. Your histories are written by people who want their children to see the world from a particular point of view. Any attempt to expand historical accounts with a larger view of the facts is sneered9 at, and called “revisionist.” You will not tell the truth about your past to your children, lest they see you for what you really are.

Most history is written from the point of view of that segment of your society you would call white Anglo Saxon Protestant males. When females, or blacks, or others in the minority, say, “Hey, wait a minute. This isn’t how it happened. You’ve left out a huge part here,” you cringe and holler and demand that the “revisionists” stop trying to change your textbooks. You don’t want your children to know how it really happened. You want them to know how you justified10 what happened, from your point of view. Shall I give you an example of this?

 

Please.

 

In the United States, you do not teach your children everything there is to know about your country’s deci-sion to drop atom bombs on two Japanese cities, killing or maiming hundreds of thousands of people. Rather, you give them the facts as you see them—and as you want them to see them.

When an attempt is made to balance this point of view with the point of view of another—in this case, the Japanese—you scream and rage and rant11 and rave12 and jump up and down and demand that schools don’t dare even think about presenting such data in their historical review of this important event. Thus you have not taught history at all, but politics.

 

History is supposed to be an accurate, and full, account of what actually happened. Politics is never about what actually happened. Politics is always one’s point of view about what happened.

History reveals, politics justifies13. History uncovers; tells all. Politics covers; tells only one side.

Politicians hate history truly written. And history, truly written, speaks not so well of politicians, either.

Yet you are wearing the Emperor’s New Clothes, for your children ultimately see right through you. Children taught to critically think look at your history and say, “My, how my parents and elders have deluded14 themselves.” This you cannot tolerate, so you drum it out of them. You do not want your children to have the most basic facts. You want them to have your take on the facts.

 

I think you are exaggerating here. I think you’ve taken this argument a little far.

 

 

Really? Most people in your society do not even want their children to know the most basic facts of life. People went bananas when schools simply started teaching children how the human body functions. Now you are not supposed to tell children how AIDS is transmitted, or how to stop it from being transmitted. Unless, of course, you tell them from a particular point of view how to avoid AIDS. Then it is all right. But simply give them the facts, and let them decide for themselves? Not on your life.

 

Children are not ready to decide these things for themselves. They have to be properly guided.

 

Have you looked at your world lately?

 

What about it?

 

That’s how you’ve guided your children in the past.

 

No, it’s how we misguided them. If the world is in rotten shape today—and in many ways, it is—it is not because we’ve tried to teach our children the old values, but because we’ve allowed them to be taught all this “new fangled” stuff!

 

You really believe that, don’t you?

 

You’re damned right, I really believe it! If we’d just kept our children limited to the 3 R’s instead of feeding them all this “critical thinking” garbage, we’d be a lot better off today. If we’d kept so-called “sex education” out of the classroom and in the home where it belonged, we wouldn’t be seeing teenagers having babies, and single mothers at 17 applying for welfare, and a world run amok. If we’d insisted our young ones live by our moral standards, rather than letting them go off and create their own, we wouldn’t have turned our once strong, vibrant15 nation into a pitiable imitation of its former self.

 

I see.

 

And one more thing. Don’t stand there and tell me how we are supposed to suddenly see ourselves as “wrong” for what we did at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We ended the war, for God’s sake. We saved thousands of lives. On both sides. It was the price of war. Nobody liked the decision, but it had to be made.

 

I see.

 

Yeah, you see. You’re just like all the rest of those el pinko liberal Commies. You want us to revise our history, all right. You want us to revise ourselves right out of existence. Then you liberals can have your way at last; take over the world; create your decadent16 societies; redistribute the wealth. Power to the people, and all that crap. Except that’s never gotten us anywhere. What we need is a return to the past; to the values of our forefathers17. That’s what we need!

 

Done now?

 

Yeah, I’m done. How did I do?

 

Pretty good. That was really good.

 

Well, when you’ve been around talk radio for a few years, it comes pretty easily.

 

That is how people on your planet think, isn’t it?

 

You bet it is. And not just in America. I mean, you could change the name of the country, and change the name of the war; insert any offensive military action by any nation at any time in history. Doesn’t matter. Everybody thinks they’re right. Everyone knows its the other person who is wrong. Forget about Hiroshima. Insert Berlin instead. Or Bosnia.

Everybody knows the old values are the ones which worked, too. Everybody knows the world is going to hell. Not just in America. All over. There is a hue18 and cry for a return to old values, and for a return to nationalism, everywhere on the planet.

 

I know that there is.

 

And what I’ve done here is try to articulate that feeling, that concern, that outrage19.

 

You did a good job. Almost had Me convinced.

 

Well? What do you say to those who really do think like this?

 

I say, do you really think things were better 30 years ago, 40 years ago, 50 years ago? I say memory has poor vision. You remember the good of it, and not the worst of it. It’s natural, it’s normal. But don’t be deceived. Do some critical thinking, and not just memorizing what others want you to think.

To stay with our example, do you really imagine it was absolutely necessary to drop the atom bomb on Hi-roshima? What do your American historians say about the many reports, by those who claim to know more about what really happened, that the Japanese Empire had privately20 revealed to the United States its willingness to end the war before the bomb was dropped? How much of a part did revenge for the horror of Pearl Harbor play in the bombing decision? And, if you accept that dropping the Hiroshima bomb was necessary, why was it necessary to drop a second bomb?

 

It could be, of course, that your own account of all this is correct. It could be that the American point of view on all this is the way it actually happened. That is not the point of this discussion. The point here is that your educational system does not allow for critical thinking on these issues—or very many other issues, for that matter.

Can you imagine what would happen to a social studies or history teacher in Iowa who asked a class the above questions, inviting21 and encouraging the students to examine and explore the issues in depth and draw their own conclusions?

That is the point! You don’t want your young ones drawing their own conclusions. You want them to come to the same conclusions you came to. Thus, you doom22 them to repeat the mistakes to which your conclusions led you.

 

But what about these statements made by so many people about old values and the disintegration23 of our society today? What about the incredible rise in teen births, or welfare moth-ers, or our world run amok?

 

Your world-has run amok. On this I will agree. But your world has not run amok because of whatyou have allowed your schools to teach your children. It has run amok because of what you have not allowed them to teach.

You have not allowed your schools to teach that love is all there is. You have not allowed your schools to speak of a love which is unconditional24.

 

Hell, we won’t even allow our religions to speak of that.

 

That’s right. And you will not allow your offspring to be taught to celebrate themselves and their bodies, their humanness and their wondrous25 sexual selves. And you will not allow your children to know that they are, first and foremost, spiritual beings inhabiting a body. Nor do you treat your children as spirits coming into bodies.

In societies where sexuality is openly spoken of, freely discussed, joyously26 explained and experienced, there is virtually no sexual crime, only a tiny number of births which occur when they are not expected, and no “illegitimate” or unwanted births. In highly evolved societies, all births are blessings27, and all mothers and all children have their welfare looked after. Indeed, the society would have it no other way.

In societies where history is not bent28 to the views of the strongest and most powerful, the mistakes of the past are openly acknowledged and never repeated, and once is enough for behaviors which are clearly self destructive.

In societies where critical thinking and problem solving and skills for living are taught, rather than facts simply memorized, even so-called “justifiable” actions of the past are held up to intense scrutiny29. Nothing is accepted on face value.

 

How would that work? Let’s use our example from World War II. How would a school system teaching life skills, rather than merely facts, approach the historical episode at Hi-roshima?

 

Your teachers would describe to their class exactly what happened there. They would include all the facts—all the facts—which led up to that event. They would seek the views of historians from both sides of the encounter, realizing that there is more than one point of view on everything. They would then not ask the class to memorize the facts of the matter. Instead, they would challenge the class. They would say: “Now, you’ve heard all aboutthis event. You know all that came before, and all that happened after. We’ve given you as much of the ‘knowledge’ of this event as we could get our hands on. Now, from this ‘knowledge,’ what ‘wis-dom’ comes to you? If you were chosen to solve the problems which were being faced in those days, and which were solved by the dropping of the bomb, how would you solve them? Can you think of a better way?”

 

Oh, sure. That’s easy. Anybody can come up with answers that way—with the benefit of hindsight. Anybody can look over their shoulder and say, “I would have done it differently.”

 

Then why don’t you?

 

I beg your pardon?

 

I said, then why don’t you? Why have you not looked over your shoulder, learned from your past, and done it differently? I’ll tell you why. Because to allow your children to look at your past and analyze30 it criti-cally—indeed, to require them to do so as a part of their education—would be to run the risk of them disagree-ing with how you did things.

They will disagree anyway, of course. You just won’t allow too much of it in your classrooms. So they have to take to the streets. Wave signs. Tear up draft cards. Burn bras and flags. Do whatever they can do to get your attention, to get you to see. Your young people have been screaming at you, “There must be a better way!” Yet you do not hear them. You do not want to hear them. And you certainly don’t want to encourage them in the classroom to start critically thinking about the facts you are giving them.

Just get it, you say to them. Don’t come in here and tell us we’ve been doing it wrong. just get that we’ve been doing it right.

That’s how you educate your children. That’s what you’ve been calling education.

 

But there are those who would say it’s the young people and their crazy, wacko, liberal ideas, who have taken this country and this world down the tubes. Sent it to hell. Pushed it to the edge of oblivion. Destroyed our values-oriented culture, and replaced it with a do-whatever-you-want-to-do, whatever “feels good,” morality which threatens to end our very way of life.

 

The young people are destroying your way of life. The young people have always done that. Your job is to encourage it, not discourage it.

It is not your young people who are destroying the rain forests. They are asking you to stop it. It is not your young people who are depleting31 your ozone32 layer. They are asking you to stop it. It is not your young people who are exploiting the poor in sweat shops all over the world. They are asking you to stop it. It is not your young people who are taxing you to death, then using the money for war and machines of war. They are asking you to stop it. It is not your young people who are ignoring the problems of the weak and the downtrodden, letting hundreds of people die of starvation every day on a planet with more than enough to feed everybody. They are asking you to stop it.

 

It is not your young people who are engaging in the politics of deception33 and manipulation. They are asking you to stop it. It is not your young people who are sexually repressed, ashamed and embarrassed about their own bodies and passing on this shame and embarrassment34 to their offspring. They are asking you to stop it. It is not your young people who have set up a value system which says that “might is right” and a world which solves problems with violence. They are asking you to stop it.

Nay35, they are not asking you...they are begging you.

 

Yet it is young people who are violent! Young people who join gangs and kill each other! Young people who thumb their nose at law and order—at any kind of order. Young people who are driving us crazy!

 

When the cries and pleas of young people to change the world are not heard and never heeded36; when they see that their cause is lost—that you will have it your way no matter what—young people, who are not stu-pid, will do the next best thing. If they can’t beat you, they will join you.

Your young people have joined you in your behav-iors. If they are violent, it is because you are violent. If they are materialistic37, it is because you are materialistic. If they are acting38 crazy, it is because you are acting crazy. If they are using sex manipulatively, irresponsibly, shame-fully, it is because they see you doing the same. The only difference between young people and older people is that young people do what they do out in the open.

 

Older people hide their behaviors. Older people think that young people cannot see. Yet young people see everything. Nothing is hidden from them. They see the hypocrisy39 of their elders, and they try desperately40 to change it. Yet having tried and failed, they see no choice but to imitate it. In this they are wrong, yet they have never been taught differently. They have not been allowed to critically analyze what their elders have been doing. They have only been allowed to memorize it.

What you memorize, you memorialize.

 

How, then, should we educate our young?

 

First, treat them as spirits. They are spirits, entering a physical body. That is not an easy thing for a spirit to do; not an easy thing for a spirit to get used to. It is very confining, very limiting. So the child will cry out at suddenly being so limited. Hear this cry. Understand it. And give your children as much of a sense of “unlimit-edness” as you possibly can.

Next, introduce them to the world you have created with gentleness and care. Be full of care— that is to say, be careful—of what you put into their memory storage units. Children remember everything they see, every-thing they experience. Why do you spank41 your children the moment they exit the womb? Do you really imagine this is the only way to get their engines going? Why do you take your babies away from their mothers minutes after they have been separated from the only life-form they have known in all of their present existence? Will not the measuring and the weighing and the prodding42 and the poking43 wait for just a moment while the newly born experience the safety and the comfort of that which has given it life?

 

Why do you allow some of the earliest images to which your child is exposed to be images of violence? Who told you this was good for your children? And why do you hide images of love?

Why do you teach your children to be ashamed and embarrassed of their own bodies and their functions by shielding your own body from them, and telling them not to ever touch themselves in ways which pleasure them? What message do you send them about pleas-ure? And what lessons about the body?

Why do you place your children in schools where competition is allowed and encouraged, where being the “best” and learning the “most” is rewarded, where “performance” is graded, and moving at one’s own pace is barely tolerated? What does your child under-stand from this?

Why do you not teach your children of movement and music and the joy of art and the mystery of fairy tales and the wonder of life? Why do you not bring out what is naturally found in the child, rather than seek to put in what is unnatural44 to the child?

 

And why do you not allow your young ones to learn logic and critical thinking and problem solving and creation, using the tools of their own intuition and their deepest inner knowing, rather than the rules and the memorized systems and conclusions of a society which has already proven itself to be wholly unable to evolve by these methods, yet continues to use them?

Finally, teach concepts, not subjects.

Devise a new curriculum, and build it around three Core Concepts:

Awareness45

Honesty

Responsibility

Teach your children these concepts from the earliest age. Have them run through the curriculum until the final day. Base your entire educational model upon them. Birth all instruction deep within them.

 

I don’t understand what that would mean.

 

It means everything you teach would come from within these concepts.

 

Can you explain that? How would we teach the three R’s?

 

From the earliest primers to your more sophisticated readers, all tales, stories, and subject matter would revolve46 around the core concepts. That is, they would be stories of awareness, stories dealing47 with honesty, stories about responsibility. Your children would be introduced to the concepts, injected into the concepts, immersed in the concepts.

Writing tasks likewise would revolve around these Core Concepts, and others which are atten-dant to them as the child grows in the ability to self express.

Even computation skills would be taught within this framework. Arithmetic and mathematics are not abstractions, but are the most basic tools in the universe for living life. The teaching of all computa-tion skills would be contextualized within the larger life experience in a way which draws attention to, and places focus upon, the Core Concepts and their derivatives48.

 

What are these “derivatives?”

 

To use a phrase which your media people have made popular, they are the spin-offs. The entire edu-cational model can be based on these spin-offs, replac-ing the subjects in your present curriculum, which teach, basically, facts.

 

For instance?

 

Well, let’s use our imagination. What are some of the concepts which are important to you in life?

 

Uh. . . . well, I would say...honesty, as you have said.

 

Yes, go ahead. That’s a Core Concept.

 

And, um.... fairness. That’s an important concept to me.

 

Good. Any others?

 

Treating others nicely. That’s one. I don’t know how to put that into a concept.

 

Go on. just let the thoughts flow.

 

Getting along. Being tolerant. Not hurting others. Seeing others as equal. Those are all things I would hope I could teach my children.

 

Good. Excellent! Keep going.

 

Uh . . . believing in yourself. That’s a good one. And, uh. . . wait, wait.. . there’s one coming. Uh. . . yeah, that’s it: walking in dignity. I guess I would call it walking in dignity. I don’t know how to put that into a better concept, either, but it has to do with the way one carries oneself in one’s life, and the way one honors others, and the path others are taking.

 

This is good stuff. This is all good stuff. You’re getting down to it now. And there are many other such concepts which all children must deeply understand if they are to evolve and grow into complete human beings. Yet you do not teach these things in your schools. These are the most important things in life, these things we are now talking of, but you do not teach them in school. You do not teach what it means to be honest. You do not teach what it means to be respon-sible. You do not teach what it means to be aware of other people’s feelings and respectful of other people’s paths.

You say it is up to parents to teach these things. Yet parents can only pass on what has been passed on to them. And the sins of the father have been visited upon the son. So you are teaching in your homes the same stuff your parents taught you in their homes.

 

So? What’s wrong with that?

 

As I keep saying repeatedly here, taken a look at the world lately?

 

You keep bringing us back to that. You keep making us look at that. But all that isn’t our fault. We can’t be blamed for the way the rest of the world is.

 

It is not a question of blame, it is a question of choice. And if you are not responsible for the choices humankind has been making, and keeps making, who is?

 

Well, we can’t make ourselves responsible for all of it!

 

I tell you this: Until you are willing to take respon-sibility for all of it, you cannot change any of it.

You cannot keep saying they did it, and they are doing it, and if only they would get it right! Remember the wonderful line from Walt Kelly’s comic strip char-acter, Pogo, and never forget it:

“We have met the enemy, and they is us.”

 

We’ve been repeating the same mistakes for hundreds of years, haven’t we...

 

For thousands of years, my son. You’ve been making the same mistakes for thousands of years. Humankind has not evolved in its most basic instincts much beyond the caveman era. Yet every attempt to change that is met with scorn. Every challenge to look at your values, and maybe even restructure them, is greeted with fear, and then anger. Now along comes an idea from Me to actually teach higher concepts in schools. Oh, boy, now we’re really treading on thin ice.

Still, in highly evolved societies, that is exactly what is done.

 

But the problem is, not all people agree on these concepts, on what they mean. That’s why we can’t teach them in our schools. Parents go nuts when you try to introduce these things into the curriculum. They say you are teaching “values,” and that the school has no place in such instruction.

 

They are wrong! Again, based on what you say as a race of people that you are trying to do—which is build a better world—they are wrong. Schools are exactly the place for such instruction. Precisely49 because schools are detached from parents’ prejudices. Precisely because schools are separated from parents’ preconceived no-tions. You’ve seen what has resulted on your planet from the passing down of values from parent to child. Your planet is a mess.

You don’t understand the most basic concepts of civilized50 societies.

You don’t know how to solve conflict without violence.

You don’t know how to live without fear.

You don’t know how to act without self interest.

You don’t know how to love without condition.

These are basic—basic—understandings, and you have not even begun to approach a full comprehension of them, much less implement51 them... after thousands and thousands of years.

 

Is there any way out of this mess?

 

Yes! It is in your schools! It is in the education of your young! Your hope is in the next generation, and the next! But you must stop immersing them in the ways of the past. Those ways have not worked. They have not taken you where you say you want to go. Yet if you are not careful, you are going to get exactly where you are headed!

So stop! Turn around! Sit down together and collect your thoughts. Create the grandest version of the great-est vision you ever had about yourselves as a human race. Then, take the values and concepts which under-gird such a vision and teach them in your schools.

Why not courses such as...

? Understanding Power

? Peaceful Conflict Resolution Elements of Loving Relationships

? Personhood and Self Creation ‘Body, Mind and Spirit: How They Function

? Engaging Creativity

? Celebrating Self, Valuing Others ‘joyous Sexual Expression

? Fairness

? Tolerance52

? Diversities and Similarities

? Ethical53 Economics

? Creative Consciousness and Mind Power

? Awareness and Wakefulness

? Honesty and Responsibility

? Visibility and Transparency

? Science and Spirituality

 

Much of this is taught right now. We call it Social Studies.

 

I am not talking about a 2-day unit in a semester-long course. I am talking about separate courses on each of these things. I am talking about a complete revision of your schools’ curricula. I am speaking of a values-based curriculum. You are now teaching what is largely a facts-based curriculum.

I am talking about focusing your children’s attention as much on understanding the core concepts and the theoretical structures around which their value system may be constructed as you now do on dates and facts and statistics.

In the highly evolved societies of your galaxy54 and your universe (which societies we will be talking about much more specifically in Book 3), concepts for living are taught to offspring beginning at a very early age. What you call “facts,” which in those societies are consid-ered far less important, are taught at a much later age.

 

On your planet you have created a society in which little Johnnie has learned how to read before getting out of pre-school, but still hasn’t learned how to stop biting his brother. And Susie has perfected her multiplication55 tables, using flash cards and rote7 memory, in ever earlier and earlier grades, but has not learned that there is nothing shameful56 or embarrassing about her body.

Right now your schools exist primarily to provide answers. It would be far more beneficial if their primary

function was to ask questions. What does it mean to be honest, or responsible, or “fair”? What are the implica-tions? For that matter, what does it mean that 2+2 =4? What are the implications? Highly evolved societies encourage all children to discover and create those answers for themselves.

 

But.. .but, that would lead to chaos57!

 

As opposed to the non-chaotic conditions under which you now live your life...

 

Okay, okay.. .so it would lead to more chaos.

 

I am not suggesting that your schools never share with your offspring any of the things which you have learned or decided about these things. Quite to the con-trary. Schools serve their students when they share with Young Ones what Elders have learned and discovered, decided and chosen in the past. Students may then observe how all this has worked. In your schools, however, you present these data to the student as That Which Is Right, when the data really should be offered as simply that: data.

Past Data should not be the basis of Present Truth. Data from a prior time or experience should always and only be the basis for new questions. Always the treasure should be in the question, not in the answer.

 

And always the questions are the same. With regard to this past data which we have shown you, do you agree, or do you disagree? What do you think? Always, this is the key question. Always this is the focus. What do you think? What do you think? What do you think?

Now obviously children will bring to this question the values of their parents. Parents will continue to have a strong role—obviously the primary role—in creating the child’s system of values. The school’s intention and purpose would be to encourage offspring, from the earliest age until the end of formal education, to explore those values, and to learn how to use them, apply them, functionalize them—and yes, even to question them. For parents who do not want children questioning their values are not parents who love their children, but rather, who love-themselves through their children.

 

I wish—oh, how I wish—that there were schools such as the ones you describe!

 

There are some which seek to approach this model.

 

There are?

 

Yes. Read the writings of the man called Rudolph Steiner. Explore the methods of The Waldorf School, which he developed.

 

Well, of course, I know about those schools. Is this a commercial?

 

This is an observation.

 

Because you knew I was familiar with the Waldorf Schools. You knew that.

 

Of course I knew that. Everything in your life has served you, brought you to this moment. I have not just started talking with you at the beginning of this book. I have been talking with you for years, through all of your associations and experiences.

 

You’re saying the Waldorf School is the best?

 

No. I am saying it is a model which works, given where you say as a human race you want to go; given what you claim you want to do; given what you say you want to be. I am saying it is an example—one of several I could cite, although on your planet and in your society they are rare—of how education may be accomplished58 in a way which focuses on “wisdom” more than simply “knowledge.”

 

Well, it is a model I very much approve of. There are many differences between a Waldorf School and other schools. Let me give an example. It is a simple one, but it dramatically illustrates59 the point.

In the Waldorf School, the teacher moves with the children through all levels of the primary and elementary learning experience. For all those years the children have the same teacher, rather than moving from one person to another. Can you imagine the bond which is formed here? Can you see the value?

The teacher comes to know the child as if it were his or her own. The child moves to a level of trust and love with the teacher which opens doors many traditionally oriented schools never dreamed existed. At the end of those years, the teacher reverts60 to the first grade, starting over again with another group of children and moving through all the years of the curriculum. A dedicated61 Waldorf teacher may wind up working with only four or five groups of children in an entire career. But he or she has meant something to those children beyond anything that is possible in a traditional school setting.

This educational model recognizes and announces that the human relationship, the bonding and the love which is shared in such a paradigm62 is just as important as any facts the teacher may impart to the child. It is like home schooling63, outside the home.

 

Yes, it is a good model.

 

There are other good models?

 

Yes. You are making some progress on your planet with regard to education, but it is very slow. Even the attempt to place a goals oriented, skill-development-fo-cused curriculum in public schools has met with enor-mous resistance. People see it as threatening, or ineffective. They want children to learn facts. Still, there are some inroads. Yet there is much to be done.

And that is only one area of the human experience which could use some overhauling64, given what you say as human beings that you are seeking to be.

 

Yes, I should imagine the political arena65 could use some changes, too.

 

To be sure.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 judgments 2a483d435ecb48acb69a6f4c4dd1a836     
判断( judgment的名词复数 ); 鉴定; 评价; 审判
参考例句:
  • A peculiar austerity marked his judgments of modern life. 他对现代生活的批评带着一种特殊的苛刻。
  • He is swift with his judgments. 他判断迅速。
2 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
3 clan Dq5zi     
n.氏族,部落,宗族,家族,宗派
参考例句:
  • She ranks as my junior in the clan.她的辈分比我小。
  • The Chinese Christians,therefore,practically excommunicate themselves from their own clan.所以,中国的基督徒简直是被逐出了自己的家族了。
4 applied Tz2zXA     
adj.应用的;v.应用,适用
参考例句:
  • She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
  • This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。
5 killing kpBziQ     
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财
参考例句:
  • Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
  • Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。
6 logic j0HxI     
n.逻辑(学);逻辑性
参考例句:
  • What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑?
  • I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。
7 rote PXnxF     
n.死记硬背,生搬硬套
参考例句:
  • Learning by rote is discouraged in this school.这所学校不鼓励死记硬背的学习方式。
  • He recited the poem by rote.他强记背诵了这首诗。
8 ridiculed 81e89e8e17fcf40595c6663a61115a91     
v.嘲笑,嘲弄,奚落( ridicule的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • Biosphere 2 was ultimately ridiculed as a research debade, as exfravagant pseudoscience. 生物圈2号最终被讥讽为科研上的大失败,代价是昂贵的伪科学。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • She ridiculed his insatiable greed. 她嘲笑他的贪得无厌。 来自《简明英汉词典》
9 sneered 0e3b5b35e54fb2ad006040792a867d9f     
讥笑,冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • He sneered at people who liked pop music. 他嘲笑喜欢流行音乐的人。
  • It's very discouraging to be sneered at all the time. 成天受嘲讽是很令人泄气的。
10 justified 7pSzrk     
a.正当的,有理的
参考例句:
  • She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
  • The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。
11 rant 9CYy4     
v.咆哮;怒吼;n.大话;粗野的话
参考例句:
  • You can rant and rave at the fine,but you'll still have to pay it.你闹也好,骂也好,罚金还是得交。
  • If we rant on the net,the world is our audience.如果我们在网络上大声嚷嚷,全世界都是我们的听众。
12 rave MA8z9     
vi.胡言乱语;热衷谈论;n.热情赞扬
参考例句:
  • The drunkard began to rave again.这酒鬼又开始胡言乱语了。
  • Now I understand why readers rave about this book.我现明白读者为何对这本书赞不绝口了。
13 justifies a94dbe8858a25f287b5ae1b8ef4bf2d2     
证明…有理( justify的第三人称单数 ); 为…辩护; 对…作出解释; 为…辩解(或辩护)
参考例句:
  • Their frequency of use both justifies and requires the memorization. 频繁的使用需要记忆,也促进了记忆。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
  • In my judgement the present end justifies the means. 照我的意见,只要目的正当,手段是可以不计较的。
14 deluded 7cff2ff368bbd8757f3c8daaf8eafd7f     
v.欺骗,哄骗( delude的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • Don't be deluded into thinking that we are out of danger yet. 不要误以为我们已脱离危险。
  • She deluded everyone into following her. 她骗得每个人都听信她的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
15 vibrant CL5zc     
adj.震颤的,响亮的,充满活力的,精力充沛的,(色彩)鲜明的
参考例句:
  • He always uses vibrant colours in his paintings. 他在画中总是使用鲜明的色彩。
  • She gave a vibrant performance in the leading role in the school play.她在学校表演中生气盎然地扮演了主角。
16 decadent HaYyZ     
adj.颓废的,衰落的,堕落的
参考例句:
  • Don't let decadent ideas eat into yourselves.别让颓废的思想侵蚀你们。
  • This song was once banned, because it was regarded as decadent.这首歌曾经被认定为是靡靡之音而被禁止播放。
17 forefathers EsTzkE     
n.祖先,先人;祖先,祖宗( forefather的名词复数 );列祖列宗;前人
参考例句:
  • They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left. 它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • All of us bristled at the lawyer's speech insulting our forefathers. 听到那个律师在讲演中污蔑我们的祖先,大家都气得怒发冲冠。 来自《简明英汉词典》
18 hue qdszS     
n.色度;色调;样子
参考例句:
  • The diamond shone with every hue under the sun.金刚石在阳光下放出五颜六色的光芒。
  • The same hue will look different in different light.同一颜色在不同的光线下看起来会有所不同。
19 outrage hvOyI     
n.暴行,侮辱,愤怒;vt.凌辱,激怒
参考例句:
  • When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
  • We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。
20 privately IkpzwT     
adv.以私人的身份,悄悄地,私下地
参考例句:
  • Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
  • The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。
21 inviting CqIzNp     
adj.诱人的,引人注目的
参考例句:
  • An inviting smell of coffee wafted into the room.一股诱人的咖啡香味飘进了房间。
  • The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and blessedly familiar.这间厨房的味道温暖诱人,使人感到亲切温馨。
22 doom gsexJ     
n.厄运,劫数;v.注定,命定
参考例句:
  • The report on our economic situation is full of doom and gloom.这份关于我们经济状况的报告充满了令人绝望和沮丧的调子。
  • The dictator met his doom after ten years of rule.独裁者统治了十年终于完蛋了。
23 disintegration TtJxi     
n.分散,解体
参考例句:
  • This defeat led to the disintegration of the empire.这次战败道致了帝国的瓦解。
  • The incident has hastened the disintegration of the club.这一事件加速了该俱乐部的解体。
24 unconditional plcwS     
adj.无条件的,无限制的,绝对的
参考例句:
  • The victorious army demanded unconditional surrender.胜方要求敌人无条件投降。
  • My love for all my children is unconditional.我对自己所有孩子的爱都是无条件的。
25 wondrous pfIyt     
adj.令人惊奇的,奇妙的;adv.惊人地;异乎寻常地;令人惊叹地
参考例句:
  • The internal structure of the Department is wondrous to behold.看一下国务院的内部结构是很有意思的。
  • We were driven across this wondrous vast land of lakes and forests.我们乘车穿越这片有着湖泊及森林的广袤而神奇的土地。
26 joyously 1p4zu0     
ad.快乐地, 高兴地
参考例句:
  • She opened the door for me and threw herself in my arms, screaming joyously and demanding that we decorate the tree immediately. 她打开门,直扑我的怀抱,欣喜地喊叫着要马上装饰圣诞树。
  • They came running, crying out joyously in trilling girlish voices. 她们边跑边喊,那少女的颤音好不欢快。 来自名作英译部分
27 blessings 52a399b218b9208cade790a26255db6b     
n.(上帝的)祝福( blessing的名词复数 );好事;福分;因祸得福
参考例句:
  • Afflictions are sometimes blessings in disguise. 塞翁失马,焉知非福。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • We don't rely on blessings from Heaven. 我们不靠老天保佑。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
28 bent QQ8yD     
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的
参考例句:
  • He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
  • We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。
29 scrutiny ZDgz6     
n.详细检查,仔细观察
参考例句:
  • His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好,但是经不起仔细检查。
  • Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。
30 analyze RwUzm     
vt.分析,解析 (=analyse)
参考例句:
  • We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
  • The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。
31 depleting ae23633b1a5c6c21ae0d93b205d84331     
使大大的减少,使空虚( deplete的现在分词 ); 耗尽,使枯竭
参考例句:
  • Regulations are outlawing certain refrigerants, such as chlorofluorocarbons, which contain ozone-depleting chemicals. 随后出台的政策禁用了部分制冷剂,如破坏臭氧层的氟氯碳化合物。
  • Aging, being a series of continual losses, can be keenly depleting. 老龄化,作为一个系列的连续亏损,可以清楚地消耗。
32 ozone omQzBE     
n.臭氧,新鲜空气
参考例句:
  • The ozone layer is a protective layer around the planet Earth.臭氧层是地球的保护层。
  • The capacity of ozone can adjust according of requirement.臭氧的产量可根据需要或调节。
33 deception vnWzO     
n.欺骗,欺诈;骗局,诡计
参考例句:
  • He admitted conspiring to obtain property by deception.他承认曾与人合谋骗取财产。
  • He was jailed for two years for fraud and deception.他因为诈骗和欺诈入狱服刑两年。
34 embarrassment fj9z8     
n.尴尬;使人为难的人(事物);障碍;窘迫
参考例句:
  • She could have died away with embarrassment.她窘迫得要死。
  • Coughing at a concert can be a real embarrassment.在音乐会上咳嗽真会使人难堪。
35 nay unjzAQ     
adv.不;n.反对票,投反对票者
参考例句:
  • He was grateful for and proud of his son's remarkable,nay,unique performance.他为儿子出色的,不,应该是独一无二的表演心怀感激和骄傲。
  • Long essays,nay,whole books have been written on this.许多长篇大论的文章,不,应该说是整部整部的书都是关于这件事的。
36 heeded 718cd60e0e96997caf544d951e35597a     
v.听某人的劝告,听从( heed的过去式和过去分词 );变平,使(某物)变平( flatten的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • She countered that her advice had not been heeded. 她反驳说她的建议未被重视。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • I heeded my doctor's advice and stopped smoking. 我听从医生的劝告,把烟戒了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
37 materialistic 954c43f6cb5583221bd94f051078bc25     
a.唯物主义的,物质享乐主义的
参考例句:
  • She made him both soft and materialistic. 她把他变成女性化而又实际化。
  • Materialistic dialectics is an important part of constituting Marxism. 唯物辩证法是马克思主义的重要组成部分。
38 acting czRzoc     
n.演戏,行为,假装;adj.代理的,临时的,演出用的
参考例句:
  • Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她,她只是假装的。
  • During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代,她的表演生涯黯然失色。
39 hypocrisy g4qyt     
n.伪善,虚伪
参考例句:
  • He railed against hypocrisy and greed.他痛斥伪善和贪婪的行为。
  • He accused newspapers of hypocrisy in their treatment of the story.他指责了报纸在报道该新闻时的虚伪。
40 desperately cu7znp     
adv.极度渴望地,绝望地,孤注一掷地
参考例句:
  • He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
  • He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。
41 spank NFFzE     
v.打,拍打(在屁股上)
参考例句:
  • Be careful.If you don't work hard,I'll spank your bottom.你再不好好学习,小心被打屁股。
  • He does it very often.I really get mad.I can't help spank him sometimes.他经常这样做。我很气愤。有时候我忍不住打他的屁股。
42 prodding 9b15bc515206c1e6f0559445c7a4a109     
v.刺,戳( prod的现在分词 );刺激;促使;(用手指或尖物)戳
参考例句:
  • He needed no prodding. 他不用督促。
  • The boy is prodding the animal with a needle. 那男孩正用一根针刺那动物。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
43 poking poking     
n. 刺,戳,袋 vt. 拨开,刺,戳 vi. 戳,刺,捅,搜索,伸出,行动散慢
参考例句:
  • He was poking at the rubbish with his stick. 他正用手杖拨动垃圾。
  • He spent his weekends poking around dusty old bookshops. 他周末都泡在布满尘埃的旧书店里。
44 unnatural 5f2zAc     
adj.不自然的;反常的
参考例句:
  • Did her behaviour seem unnatural in any way?她有任何反常表现吗?
  • She has an unnatural smile on her face.她脸上挂着做作的微笑。
45 awareness 4yWzdW     
n.意识,觉悟,懂事,明智
参考例句:
  • There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
  • Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。
46 revolve NBBzX     
vi.(使)旋转;循环出现
参考例句:
  • The planets revolve around the sun.行星绕着太阳运转。
  • The wheels began to revolve slowly.车轮开始慢慢转动。
47 dealing NvjzWP     
n.经商方法,待人态度
参考例句:
  • This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
  • His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。
48 derivatives f75369b9e0ef2282b4d10e367e4ee2a9     
n.衍生性金融商品;派生物,引出物( derivative的名词复数 );导数
参考例句:
  • Many English words are derivatives of Latin words. 许多英语词来自拉丁语。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • These compounds are nitrosohydroxylamine derivatives. 这类合成物是亚硝基羟胺衍生物。 来自辞典例句
49 precisely zlWzUb     
adv.恰好,正好,精确地,细致地
参考例句:
  • It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
  • The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。
50 civilized UwRzDg     
a.有教养的,文雅的
参考例句:
  • Racism is abhorrent to a civilized society. 文明社会憎恶种族主义。
  • rising crime in our so-called civilized societies 在我们所谓文明社会中日益增多的犯罪行为
51 implement WcdzG     
n.(pl.)工具,器具;vt.实行,实施,执行
参考例句:
  • Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划,除非你能完成这项计划。
  • The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。
52 tolerance Lnswz     
n.宽容;容忍,忍受;耐药力;公差
参考例句:
  • Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
  • Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。
53 ethical diIz4     
adj.伦理的,道德的,合乎道德的
参考例句:
  • It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
  • It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。
54 galaxy OhoxB     
n.星系;银河系;一群(杰出或著名的人物)
参考例句:
  • The earth is one of the planets in the Galaxy.地球是银河系中的星球之一。
  • The company has a galaxy of talent.该公司拥有一批优秀的人才。
55 multiplication i15yH     
n.增加,增多,倍增;增殖,繁殖;乘法
参考例句:
  • Our teacher used to drum our multiplication tables into us.我们老师过去老是让我们反覆背诵乘法表。
  • The multiplication of numbers has made our club building too small.会员的增加使得我们的俱乐部拥挤不堪。
56 shameful DzzwR     
adj.可耻的,不道德的
参考例句:
  • It is very shameful of him to show off.他向人炫耀自己,真不害臊。
  • We must expose this shameful activity to the newspapers.我们一定要向报社揭露这一无耻行径。
57 chaos 7bZyz     
n.混乱,无秩序
参考例句:
  • After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后,城市一片混乱。
  • The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。
58 accomplished UzwztZ     
adj.有才艺的;有造诣的;达到了的
参考例句:
  • Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
  • Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。
59 illustrates a03402300df9f3e3716d9eb11aae5782     
给…加插图( illustrate的第三人称单数 ); 说明; 表明; (用示例、图画等)说明
参考例句:
  • This historical novel illustrates the breaking up of feudal society in microcosm. 这部历史小说是走向崩溃的封建社会的缩影。
  • Alfred Adler, a famous doctor, had an experience which illustrates this. 阿尔弗莱德 - 阿德勒是一位著名的医生,他有过可以说明这点的经历。 来自中级百科部分
60 reverts 7f5ab997720046a2d88de6e7d721c519     
恢复( revert的第三人称单数 ); 重提; 回到…上; 归还
参考例句:
  • The mind reverts to the earliest days of colonial history. 我们回想到早期的殖民地历史。
  • Macau reverts to Chinese sovereignty at midnight on December19. 澳门主权于十二月十九日零时回归中国。
61 dedicated duHzy2     
adj.一心一意的;献身的;热诚的
参考例句:
  • He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
  • His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。
62 paradigm c48zJ     
n.例子,模范,词形变化表
参考例句:
  • He had become the paradigm of the successful man. 他已经成为成功人士的典范。
  • Moreover,the results of this research can be the new learning paradigm for digital design studios.除此之外,本研究的研究成果也可以为数位设计课程建立一个新的学习范例。
63 schooling AjAzM6     
n.教育;正规学校教育
参考例句:
  • A child's access to schooling varies greatly from area to area.孩子获得学校教育的机会因地区不同而大相径庭。
  • Backward children need a special kind of schooling.天赋差的孩子需要特殊的教育。
64 overhauling c335839deaeda81ce0dd680301931584     
n.大修;拆修;卸修;翻修v.彻底检查( overhaul的现在分词 );大修;赶上;超越
参考例句:
  • I had no chance of overhauling him. 我没有赶上他的可能。 来自辞典例句
  • Some sites need little alterations but some need total overhauling. 有些网站需要做出细微修改,而有些网站就需要整体改版。 来自互联网
65 arena Yv4zd     
n.竞技场,运动场所;竞争场所,舞台
参考例句:
  • She entered the political arena at the age of 25. 她25岁进入政界。
  • He had not an adequate arena for the exercise of his talents.他没有充分发挥其才能的场所。


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