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1. |
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Traditions v. Progressions
We think in terms of opposition
Beliefs are formed as either-or propositions
This extreme intrinsic duality
eliminates possibility from reality
When forced to compromise
Extremes are difficult to exercise
Yet, when it comes to practical matters
When paradigms are in tatters
And circumstance compels
us to find common ground
Traditions impose ideas
from above and outside
Progression comes
from expressions
Aligned by heart and mind
We retreat to the safety of theory
Where any query can be argued as truth
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2. |
The Need for a Theory
02:13
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Need for a Theory
Education is a process
designed to suppress
our natural inclinations
The subjects and matters
Derived from bodies of information
Seemingly assembled without relation
The knowledge and skills
you will understand
Is how to follow rules
Conform to standards
How to obey time
Meet deadlines
Regurgitate Schemes
Identify patterns of organization
In the twelve year course
Of mandatory education
You will be shaped
by time and schedule
So we can replicate
And perpetuate
The rules of order
That are already in place
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3. |
Criteria of Experience
02:13
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Criteria of Experience
Culture creates conditions
That assume our future
will be much like the past
Through Instruction
and Discipline
We are taught
skills, conduct and ideas
from previous eras
Transmitted in the now
with intent to last
The praxis of this interaction
Forms factions In our minds
Knowledge
is Assimilated from surroundings
Learning
is gleamed through acquisition
Of what is already understood
This criteria of Experience
Lies in opposition
to cultivating an individuals
identity and experience
Through free activity
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4. |
Social Control
02:18
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Social Control
How many have learned to hate learning?
How many acquired skills through drills?
How many came to associate discovery with boredom?
How many found their experience so foreign to their life they quit caring?
How many simply acquiesced control?
What if we learn to identify the factors that create containment?
What if we learn to take self control?
What if we cultivate learning that rejects established patterns?
What if we created our own social controls?
How many have accepted the necessary levels docility, receptivity and obedience
To be determined for survival?
What if we let go of this social control?
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5. |
The Nature of Freedom
02:06
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Nature of Freedom
We play games
Games have rules
Rules make conduct
Without rules there is no game
Without the game
there are no winners (or losers)
If rules are part of the game
And no rules, means no game
Can we construct Different rules
To play a different game?
Yet as long as this game goes on
with reasonable fluidity
And the players feel
Like active participants
Who are not submitting
to an external imposition
Then the game will go on and on
Conduct becomes conditioned
You see, revolt only occurs
when someone on the other side
is perceived as being unfair
And the individual who
is imposing their will
Makes the game unfair to play
Without the game what do we really have?
The deck is stacked
The dice is loaded
The field is slanted
And The sides are mis-matched
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6. |
Meaning of Purpose
02:50
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Meaning of Purpose
A slave can be defined as a person
Who executes the purposes of another
The aims and methods of instruction
Is to prepare the young
for future responsibility
And success in life
Rules, Order and Patterns
Forced organization overrides concerns
Through learning
the Discipline of acquisition is reinforced
Through navigating
organized bodies of information
Forms the skills
Which in turn become
evidence of comprehension
Multiplied actions
Of manifested conformity
Through standards
That prescribe normality
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7. |
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Progressive Organization of Subject Matter
Organization and relations
Are defined through interactions
Both principles are abstract
Only concrete in consequences
Which result from application
Far reaching fundamentals
Dependent upon interpretation
Objective Conditions
Experience promotes growth
By implication
These conditions
Of observation
Of memory
Of information
Have been procured from others imagination
Anything can be called a study
Arithmetic, history, geography or science
Are all derived from materials which at the outset
Fall within the scope of ordinary life experience
Yet are abstractions at their core
Multiplied actions
Of manifested conformity
Through standards
That prescribe normality
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8. |
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Experience: Means and Goals
To accomplish ends for both
individual and society
Experience must be controlled
Methods are employed
To shape the possibility of growth
And to limit what you encounter
Find possibility in the ordinary
Celebrate the failure you will experience
Be bold to walk your own path
Through your own mind
Do not be afraid of the danger you may find
That resides in the dark corners of your mind
See through artificial created fear of the unknown
Embrace your inner other
Experience
Experiment
Develop your own direction
React against the standards
Reject others aims
Modify the prescribed methods
Celebrate your own gains
Create the rules for your own game
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9. |
Counter Argument #3
01:36
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The Uncivil Society Seattle, Washington
I do, because I love to do it. I understand that I am a hack musician, a terrible vocalist and a sloppy graphic artist. I don’t care about achieving perfection, because I am happiest while being engaged in the exalted messiness of my creative process. I don’t worry about capturing the perfect take. I am satisfied by the pure joy I derive from expressing myself without filter or restraint. ... more
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