The Next Big Thing
Men are from Mars. Women are from Venus.
We know this is true because there's a
best-selling book that says so and there's
a media-friendly Ph.D. author on all the
popular talk shows explaining how it is so.
I don't know if he went to Mars
or to Venus, or if he met Elvis somewhere.
Maybe a Martian or Venusian told him
here on earth. I'm not sure.
Anyway, the report now is that
there IS a difference between men and women
that goes beyond mere plumbing. These
newly (re)discovered differences are
the subject of the Mars and Venus book.
I point this out because in recent decades
all learned people agreed that there
was hardly any difference between men
and women other than mere plumbing.
They were learned in this way or they
learned to keep their mouths shut
on the issue.
Everything is connected. Everything's
related in some way. We're all one.
We're all made of star dust. It's so
B E A U T I F U L !
It's true. We are all one. Everything
IS related and connected in a wonderful,
seamless, cosmic fabric.
And, yet, the magical mystery of life
is that we are all unique and separate.
For example, there is much about
David Scully and Diane Ravitch that
is related. For one thing, well over
99% of our DNA is identical!
Like star dust, we are one,
Diane and I!
And to learn about us, one could
study the other! I am a human and she
is a human and to learn about me, one
could just learn about Diane and apply
all the similarities to me!
Two eyes, two ears, one nose,
one mouth, two arms, two legs, one head!
In fact, why not just read her
biography to learn all about my life?
...Hello...Hello?...Hellooooooo!
Have I lost you? You mean there are
differences?
You say that my life is a different
life and that to learn about Diane you
read her biography and to learn about
David you read my biography?
Shall I get to the point?
Someone will (re)discover that there
is a reason for studying math separately,
as a subject. Because it is not English!
When one FOCUSES on math, one
learns it better. That is why they
developed the different subjects
in the first place.
We organize the immense amount
of knowledge in the universe along
simple, organized, closely related
themes, so that it will be easier
to learn and comprehend things.
Though it is very important and
useful to know that everything is
related somehow (hence the value of
Integrated Learning which is all the
rage in Educational Philosophy),
it is also very important
to FOCUS ON SUBJECTS in order to learn
and master the subject matter.
The next big movement will be the
SEPARATION OF SUBJECT MATTER FOR MASTERY
OR AT LEAST SOME COMPETENCE movement.
There IS a certain subject area
whose very purpose is to integrate all
the other subjects. That subject area
is history/social studies, whose domain
is all of human knowledge and endeavor.
Language and literature also have
a wide-ranging domain, as they express
the entire range of human experience.
The domain of math is, well, math.
The domain of science is the
physical world.
The domain of biology is
living things.
As far as Nostradamus and his
prophecies, I can only say this at
this time. Nostradamus is not an
appropriate topic for today's lesson
in Educational Philosophy. For that topic
try Mythhology, in the domains of social
studies and literature.