Mal Education - System Design - Should Be VS Is

<b>[shando] "... I went in search of the meaning of 'think'. I didn't find much. "</b>

Here is one I found that is a bit different from most. "... use one's mind actively to form connected ideas." It <i>is </i>about the act or process of thinking, but that's still useful.

<b>"What do you think? (How do you think?)"</b>

I think about <i>stuff</i>. (By attaching ideas together.)

I am wondering if "thinking" and "consciousness" are congruent? Can we have one without the other?

Regarding the bullying behaviour that seems to plague our school systems, it occurs to me that we are just thinking animals and what we call bullying is just the process of juveniles finding their places in the social milieu they find themselves in, duplicating what other mammals do - eg: establishing the pecking order in poultry flocks.

See for example "Teen Pecking Order Linked To Bullying": www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/216081.php

If this is the major cause of bullying behaviour then corrective efforts that assume other causes, are doomed to failure. Further, if indeed, this is the root cause, bullying behaviour probably cannot be avoided - it is built into our human genes.

My conclusion is that our efforts should be directed toward making the process into a structured ritual that is safe for adolescents to participate in.

<b>LB: I could have done much better, and wish now that I had, but that's no one's fault but my own.</b>

This parallels my own experience. Looking back, I realize that I didn't have a clue about what was supposed to happen. Ideally, I would have had a mentor assigned to guide my education, in which case I would probably have become a engineer of some sort. I probably would have done well and been happy.

As it turns out, I have done well and am happy, and I particularly enjoyed the freedom to undertake projects that, in some cases, would have been dismissed as impossible by trained engineers.

<b>[shando] "I am wondering if "thinking" and "consciousness" are congruent? Can we have one without the other? "</b>

it seems unlikely that these can be independent. But I suppose it might depend on the exact definition you use for each concept. Do AI programs 'think'? If so, are they 'conscious'?

Dogs clearly think. And I have little doubt that they are also conscious. (You only have to watch one follow a scent trail for a few minutes to suspect this.)

I would not be the least surprised to find that they think differently than cats or humans, and about different things. (You only have to watch one follow a scent trail for a few minutes to suspect this.)

LB

<b>[shando] "See for example "Teen Pecking Order Linked To Bullying": www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/216081.php

Having lived through the process, I've always thought it would be more appropriate to call it the peckering order.

Another personal note - it is possible to not participate, because I took that route. As a consequence the amount of teasing and bullying I had to put up with was tiny compared to many of my peers. Almost non existent. But you have to be prepared to entertain yourself for this strategy to succeed. If you NEED friends to survive, you will also have enemies.

Of course once you are out of High School everything changes. No more bullies (to a first approximation at least). Friends are fairly easy to find. Even girl friends.

College, even publicly funded, is much less monopoly organized than the precursors. So the dysfunctions that plague the numbered grades is reduced.

<b>If this is the major cause of bullying behavior then corrective efforts that assume other causes, are doomed to failure. Further, if indeed, this is the root cause, bullying behavior probably cannot be avoided - it is built into our human genes."</b>

Observe the behavior of animals. Bullying is common, so it seems your 'built into the genes' theory holds some water. But we are different from other animals. We don't just think, we 'higher' think. By this I mean we think about concepts such as rights and justice <u>as well as</u> stuff like food and sex. Other animals pretty much just think about stuff like food and sex.

Some of us are able to resist the 'built in' urge to bully others. (By exercising our ability to higher think?) I could have knocked that smaller kid down and taken his candy. But I didn't because I knew it was wrong. Why? Because if a bigger kid did it to me (and she did once or twice) it would OBVIOUSLY be wrong, and I just generalized.

So bullying behavior can be avoided. But it takes some <u>specific</u> educating since some of us are not able to work it out by ourselves. And as long as the politicians are in control of the education system, useful training like that is not going to happen (it might solve a problem).