Steven Barnes's Blog, page 23
May 25, 2018
Short cut to nowhere
http://www.deconstructingexcellence.com/the-48-laws-of-power-summary/
This is a summary of a book that synthesizes works like THE PRINCE and THE ART OF WAR to the end of presenting a list of characteristics that lead to power. Frankly, it is fairly accurate, IMO–the tactics would do that. On the other hand, what they wouldn’t do is lead to success.
Some are quite good over all: Law 5: So much depends on reputation – guard it with your life.
Some are troubling: Be wary of friends – the...
May 24, 2018
Semi-Final Ultimate School Curriculum
I’m getting closer to that “Steve School” curriculum. The problem with education IMO is that there is no agreement on what it should accomplish. So I’m going to lay down my own thoughts on the subject.
The system cannot survive if the students cannot pay back in taxes what it cost to educate them. So…that’s important. The creation of self-sustaining adults who can produce goods and services valued by their communities. In a democracy, those adults also need to be able to vote responsibl...
May 23, 2018
Stop arguing, start winning
On number 4…
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A married couple, the Browns were walking down the road when they came to a river. Two boys were thrashing in the water. A woman stood on the river bank, sobbing: “I can’t swim! Save my children!”
Mrs. Brown kicked off her shoes and dove in.
But…there was also a man by the river. He wa...
School proposal
Today’s clarification of the Steven Barnes Charter School:
The intent: at the least, to produce a citizen who can pay back, in taxes, what it cost to educate them.
At the most? A balanced, healthy, aware, autonomous adult human being capable of raising and nurturing healthy adult children and grandchildren. So starting with kindergarten, the following subjects, roughly prioritized but overlapping:
Body-Mind Dynamics. Dual phase: a brief, intense, universal practice for basic fitness, and...May 22, 2018
School of the Future
The conversation about schools arises from a conversation I had with Jerry Pournelle many years ago, asking what I’d do to fix them. First, I didn’t necessarily agree that they were broken. Let’s say “improve” them, something we can all agree upon.
The problem is that there is no unanimity on what the schools should be teaching. There just isn’t. No single standard for what they should accomplish.
So, I’ll step around the need for agreement, and create my own perfect school, and I’m wor...
Too many choice? Or not enough?
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There was a great short story writer. You’ve read his stuff. Known for his creative brilliance. He started using drugs and alcohol to “fuel his creativity” and by the end of his life could create a hundred ideas at every decision point…but no longer had the executive facility to choose between them. Became paral...
May 21, 2018
Looking for the keys.
Back to one of my favorite stories:
A man is walking down the street at night, and sees another man on his knees under a street light. He asks: “what’s wrong?” the man on his knees answers “I’m searching for my keys.”
The first man, being a mensch, gets down and stars looking with him. After fifteen frustrating minutes he asks: Are you sure you dropped them here?”
“Oh, no,” the other man answers. “I dropped them across the street. But its dark over there. I’m looking where the l...
Is there a “Primary Triad” for Gun violence?
I recently saw someone say that they thought the answer to gun violence was simple, and offered his solution of focus. I thought that it might be useful to not debate “a” solution, but rather to back up and ask a leading question about the problem. The first thing might be to get a model that guides the conversation a bit.
With fire, there is I believe a Primary Triad (if I have this term wrong, please correct me):
Fuel Heat Oxygen
If I’m not mistaken, this is one of the ways fire...
May 20, 2018
Morning Thoughts on the CSA
The “CSA” is the mass of justifications and evasions that evolved to deflect attention from the damage done by slavery, the “Current Southern Apologia.” Learning to recognize splinters of these statements, integrated into complex arguments, is important to learning to cut a rhetorical problem at the root. For those who have been interested in the way I think about these things, here is an analysis of twenty-two words said last week:
In a discussion of race and slavery on another thread, a...
May 19, 2018
“All That Jazz” and the Morning Ritual
SPOILERS
There is a movie that changed my life. I’ve spoken of it before: ALL THAT JAZZ, the semi-autobiographical Bob Fosse movie starring Roy Scheider. In it, “Joe Gideon”, a brilliant choreographer and film director, is addicted to the high of sex, drugs, and musical theater. He is flirting with death (literally played by Jessica Lang) and is a man turned inside-out.
Let’s say that the model of human beings in Milton Erickson’s work, Abraham Maslow’s work and especially the six tho...
