Trade School

“In a healthy group, power and
responsibility are balanced. Power is
earned by taking on responsibilities,
making commitments and keeping
them- sometimes by making mistakes
and taking responsibility for them... In
a thriving group, people invest trust in
one another. But to do so, there must
be systems of accountability in place.
To create trust, to communicate in ways
that transcend our normal win/lose
dichotomy, we must shift our focus from
advocacy to inquiry, from asserting our
point of view to listening and opening up
to others.”
—Starhawk

“In a healthy group, power and
responsibility are balanced. Power is
earned by taking on responsibilities,
making commitments and keeping
them- sometimes by making mistakes
and taking responsibility for them... In
a thriving group, people invest trust in
one another. But to do so, there must
be systems of accountability in place.
To create trust, to communicate in ways
that transcend our normal win/lose
dichotomy, we must shift our focus from
advocacy to inquiry, from asserting our
point of view to listening and opening up
to others.”
—Starhawk

Reinventing Fisherman's Island

We have to create something new, modern, for the future. But how do we do it so that there’s a continuation, there’s a link with the past?


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/t-magazine/the-possibility-of-an-island-in-canada.html?pagewanted=3&_r=1

There are No Ethical Electronics...

http://www.good.is/post/the-answer-to-the-unethical-gadget-problem-buy-only-what-you-need/

Organic Societies

Truly organic societies are those in which individuals are associated due to some strong common bond, such as interest in temperance reform. Each new member is enlisted because of his personal interest in the cause. As he joins the society he becomes himself an active member of the group, a new cell in the growing organism who adds to the strength of the organization by active contribution to the attainment of its objects. Strong societies are usually those which begin small and grow slowly taking in only converts to the cause, who are firm additions to the structure of the group.

Storytellers: important in today's society?

I think they most definitely are. Stories are all that society has to give its members an understanding of their ancestry and of the past. Oral tradition is one thing that people had when they did not have smart phones to communicate instantaneously with people around the world, or Wikipedia to look up a detail they may have forgotten at a moment's notice.

"Those who tell the stories rule the world."

- Hopi Native American Proverb that is also attributed to Plato

The Community

An understanding of the community and the group is not desirable for teachers only. It should be a part of the understanding of every citizen. Such social literacy is even more important today than the more common literacies of reading, writing and arithmetic.


From The New Culture: An Organic Philosophy of Education (pp. 124-125)