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My Opinion on 5 Works about Education, Teaching, and Learning - Volume 13

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People assume that education has changed a lot over the last couple thousand years. Some things have changed, but for the most part, people are wrong and education and learning have stayed quite similar through the ages. In this article we'll look at things that are very modern, things that are very old, and things in-between, and see that as things change they often stay the same. 'Edict of Maximum Prices' by Diocletian 301 AD In ancient Rome there were price controls. This included teaching fees. I've taken a section of those prices here so we can see the value hierarchy of different types of teaching. These prices are in denarius communis, which was an accounting currency at the time. The prices are per pupil per month. Attorneys happen to be included in this same section and instead of removing that I included it. Gymnastic instructor 50 Pedagogue 50 Elementary teacher 50 Teacher of arithmetic 75 Teacher for shorthand 75 Teacher of manuscript writing or palaeography...

Ten Lessons on Continual War

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Many great men in history have told the truth and warned about government and war many times, yet people don't know history and whatever the current government war propaganda is always works. We're going to cover a lot quickly. Richard (Dick) Marcinko was a Navy SEAL who fought in the Vietnam War. He received one Silver Star, four Bronze Stars, a Legion of Merit, two Navy Commendation Medals, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, and reached the rank of Commander. Then in 1980 he formed SEAL Team Six. After that he formed Red Cell to test the Navy's defenses against terrorism. There's a documentary on it. He was very successful at infiltrating the US military installations. He was able to place fake bombs on Air Force One and kidnap Naval officers. He was so good at it, or the Naval defenses are so weak and didn't like being exposed, that they placed him in prison for awhile. First lesson, the most powerful military force ever created in the history of humanity is vuln...

My Opinion on 5 Works about Education, Teaching, and Learning - Volume 12

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This article is like a journey. A journey to colonial Massachusetts, ancient Athens, the magical land of King Arthur, and a small perfect society formed by Henry Ford. 'The Old Deluder Satan Act; Or, The Massachusetts General School Law of 1647' Massachusetts has a long and interesting history of education. The first school founded in the American British colonies was the Boston Latin School in 1635. Five signers of the American Declaration of Independence attended there: Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Robert Treat Paine, and William Hooper. (Franklin only attended one year when he was 8, and then went to an English school the next year, and then left school to start working when he was 10, but he still technically went there for a short time.) Massachusetts was also the first colony to pass a public school law in 1642. More famous are the adjustments made in 1647 by 'The Old Deluder Satan Act'. Here's the whole thing, with updated spelling: "It...

My Opinion on 5 Works about Education, Teaching, and Learning - Volume 11

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In this article we get to see the philosophical foundations of a unique democratic school, a practical approach to modern homeschooling, the education of blacks during slavery, the failure of a genius, and a disagreement with a hero. 'A Place to Grow: The Culture of Sudbury Valley School' by Daniel Greenberg 2016 Greenberg was a physics professor at Columbia University. In 1965 he had the idea for a new type of school. In 1968 he founded Sudbury on a democratic model of education, and wrote many books on that experience from the 1973 to 2018. This is one of his later books. I like that he opens the book talking about where American culture comes from, and then how the education system was modified to provide workers for a newly industrialized society. He talks about how words are used to communicate culture, and how cultures are invaded by other cultures that adapt their wording. Intellectually it's an impressive understanding of the philosophical concepts and processes tha...

Why the Same Propaganda Works Every Time

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The French drop is a classic sleight of hand move by magicians. The basic technique is easy to learn. I learned it from a video by Penn and Teller so I could entertain my young niece and nephew. It worked great. I could make coins or small toys disappear, and then reappear somewhere else. Magic. I did it over and over and they laughed and applauded. It was fun. I only know the one trick, but it works over and over and over. Government propaganda for adults works the same way. Invading countries because of weapons of mass destruction that don't exist is going to work for the US government every time for the same reason that the French drop tricks kids every time, they don't know how it works. And, they can't know how it works. Young kids aren't developed enough to understand the French drop. They have to get older and be shown the trick to understand it. By definition the government isn't going to tell the public that it's lying to the public, so the trick can...

Why All of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Predictions are Wrong

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There are two main predictions with AI, that it will lead to disaster, catastrophe, the extinction of humans, and the end of the world. Or, that it will lead to utopia where no one has to work and everyone can live doing everything they want in a perfect world of peace and prosperity. Both are wrong, and I'll give you recent historical examples to compare that made the same predictions and didn't come true. I'll explain why these are popular predictions, and what actually happens. People love to think about the end of the world. People being arrogant, self-centered, and ego-centric love to think that they are living in the end times. That they are the special chosen ones to see the end of history. They are always wrong, but people just love the idea. People have become rich on selling the idea that global warming is going to kill everyone for generations now. Michael Crichton has a speech called 'Aliens Cause Global Warming' that is good and has an excellent title. ...

Why the Future of the United States Could Still be Better than the Rest of the World

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It's becoming more obvious to more people that the future of the United States doesn't look so bright. The US is making similar mistakes to ancient Rome that brought the downfall of ancient Rome. But, I think there is a possibility that even if the United States become less safe, free, and prosperous, it will still actually be the best. Europe is in a major struggle with itself. The European Union is trying to consolidate power so that the European countries are not their own countries, and instead are governments controlled by the higher government. There is a current war in Eastern Europe. The rest of Europe wants to have more war with itself. Many of the governments of Europe, and especially the European Union, want to eliminate the European race by importing massive amounts of Africans, Muslims, and Asians, which they are doing. Some places like Poland are resisting more than others, but right now the anti-European part of Europe is politically winning. Russia is an odd par...

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