Curious Mammal

What are great way to sum up the overall purpose of education today. In his sign-off directly after this Jon Stewart talks about how the end of the show isn't some final point in the dialogue, but rather a pause. A pause to celebrate his contribution to the conversation, but also the point being it never ends. This idea of all of this as being a conversation is one that needs to be stressed, as Stewart says: "Teach the controversy." Certainty is not conducive to dialogue.

Below I would like to outline the steps and sequence that I believe lends itself to students entering into the academic conversation. (working draft) Analyzing Systems When analyzing systems students are able to see conceptual models for what they are: limited in their scope and usefulness. Students can create and determine the characteristics of different systems. They can see how increasing or decreasing levels of complexity lend to a system being more or less useful. They can see the benefit of system analysis in terms of seeing between the lines, being introduced to bias, selective observation, interpretation, and (t)ruth. Students can see how conceptual models in our world are used. Students can see how words are also conceptual models. ... Usefulness/Characteristics of Systems A system is only as good as it is useful. To determine the usefulness of a system one must both analyze the purpose of a system and its characteristics. No system is perfect and the imperfectnes...

Jack Hitt's a Bunch of Amateurs To analyze the American character one must take into account the narratives of our country, specifically the three metanarratives that it is based on. In Hitt's analysis of our national character he finds an endless list of examples stretching back to our early Vaudevillian days of americans striking out, trying to get-rich-quick, seemingly fearless in the face of overwhelming odds. I believe that piggy-backing onto the narratives of scientific progress, manifest destiny, and modernization one can easily get caught up in them. Cherry-picking evidence of those who have succeeded, painting a picture of our collective desire to innovate is troublesome. Simply put, I can create the opposite narrative quite easily. Many people in the USA have little to no interest in innovation, modernization, or the like. Quite the opposite. This place is much more than a collective bunch of amateurs but rather it includes them into the fold o...