What can we do?

With knowledge comes ability to deal with and control our environment within the limits imposed by nature. Knowledge can free humankind from the yoke of oppression from whatever source. With knowledge comes freedom and, ultimately, security, not just from the aberrations of humanity, but from many of the dangers and cataclysms of nature as well. So it seems education must be first and foremost in our minds and our main responsibility as a society. But we give education short shrift, and the performance data below reflects that. We spend billions on developing technologies for war. We spend mere millions on developing education science for those doing the developing. Worse than that, technologies for war rest on strong basic and applied research while educational policies drift mostly at the whims of politicians. Some of their concepts seem to work, but no one knows why. An equivalent number fail; again no one knows why. What research has been done into educational methods only scratches the surface. Some of the best studies were designed on an either/or principle, ignoring the possibility that a combined approach might produce positive inter-active effects. Like psychology, education is a soft science. Like the quest for peace, it is a job for each of us. Many parents now elect to educate their children at home, some with excellent effect. Rapport goes a long way in mentoring, which is what the best educators do full time.

This is not to say education itself is failing, it is not. It is much better today than it was 50 years ago. Text books, politics aside, are dramatically improved over 50 years ago at all levels. So are the educations of the average high school and college graduates. In particular cases, such as dyslexia, methods are now know to help such people. Nevertheless, we can do better, much better.

Education can be a universal liberator if learning how to think and judging with insight for one's self come with it. Education at its best will also develop ethical and moral behaviors at early ages that will last for a lifetime. Not all of this can or should come from just the public school system. Society and family units need to reinforce ethical thinking and moral behavior along with continuing education. The US is not doing as well as it could, considering our rank as a super power. In science the top nations are typically Asian. See for example:

Science, Math Rankings of school Achievement by Country

Country	Average Score
Grade 8	Grade 8
Singapore	578
Chinese Taipei	571
Korea	558
Hong Kong	556
Estonia	552
Japan	552
Hungary	543
Netherlands	536
United States	527
Australia	527
Grade 4	Grade 4
Singapore	565
Chinese Taipei	551
Japan	543
Hong Kong	542
England	540
United States	536
Latvia	532
Hungary	530
Russian Federation	526
Netherlands	525

Our grade-school performance is not competitive. Nor will it be until we teach how to think, question and teach. Looking at the above tables one is struck by the Asian performance.

Clustering Tendencies in educational performance

Cluster	Numbers By Area
Asia	9
Eastern Europe	5
Western Europe	3
United States	2
Australia	1

Six Nations scored top ten in both grade levels

Nation	Average Score
Singapore	571.5
Chinese Taipei	561.0
Hong Kong	549.0
Japan	547.5
United States	531.5
Netherlands	530.5

The world's only super power is in fifth place, 40 points behind the leader!

Here, Asia is even more dominant. It could hardly be a statistical fluke. There are two major factors: affluence and culture. (Together they explain the absence of third-world countries in the list.) Culture seems to be the more influential since the world's only superpower ranks only fifth in elementary education. The elementary years are often the make-or-break years for inner city kids. See Susan O'Brian for more on that. Susan implicates a by-product of our society, when she writes:

"I do see a lot of improvement in attitude and general knowledge of the students over the past ten years. However, the task has become harder; kids entering have more problems, with attention deficiencies etc. The evils of our society have hurt the future generation. Babies born of mothers on drugs, for example, and teenage girls. My friend who teaches in a high school said it is an honor for a girl to be pregnant and unwed (for her peer group.) Kids are having kids, and more often than not that child will have multi-problems when entering school, and some young teacher will quit."

Like it or not, this is a feature of our society. Like it or not, it is a significant feature affecting peace on earth as well. Dysfunctional people cannot often behave functionally and do something with their lives. So wealth and culture seem to be the two major variables in how a nation scores and that primarily reflects their society values. The values element can explain why so many Asians excel (relative to native Americans) in American schools and thrive afterwards. Their home cultures value education more than ours does. It also does wonders for integration.

Culture is of course made up of many things, hard to define. Monotheism (or lack of it really) stands alone in the same way culture does in in correlating with educational achievement. Since monotheism also correlates strongly with Violence, it may be dragging down education as well. A mere correlation in the above tables is not cause and effect; it cannot be scientific proof. But it does provide clues about where to look for potential causes and effects. For example, one need only look at the lands of Islam to see large numbers of women not educated at all for purely religious--montheist--reasons. In those same lands, religion is often taught at the expense of history, math and science. So globally, there is scientific proof that monotheism negatively affects educational performance. How generally it applies is the only real question?

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Back to the problem in the developed world. Yes we all need to learn how to mentor; as much or more teaching goes on outside the class room as within it. Knowing is one thing; using what one knows with effect is often quite another. And that is where mentoring comes in. It solidifies knowledge in useful forms as perhaps nothing else does. Done right, it also instills dialogue.

The most innovative society on earth is letting its future wither on the vine of misguided-education. Short sighted responses to 9/11 created falling enrollments of foreign college students, by something like one-third. One important means for spreading knowledge of American values to the rest of the world will be diminished accordingly. Foreign students returning home, bring with them appreciation for American values and ideas as well as for America itself. For more on that see Fareed Zakaria, Newsweek, 20 Nov 2004. Consistent with the last section, even the advanced and competitive portions of our educational system are now falling short.

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To continue with some questions. What are the basic elements of learning?

Asking and being asked questions are the keys to beginning and continuing education, and to creativity and resourcefulness as well. As children we do this naturally, and we learn effectively and rapidly. Effective education, and parenting as well, must develop this natural inclination, not squelch it. This one basically boils down to motivation on the kid's part. Get that issue right and the kid is halfway home, especially with guidance. With no motive to learn, even the best methods fail. Education must be a continuing process; indeed it is now being forced upon usat least for the foreseeable future.

There is no recipe, no scientific formula, no holy book that begins to provide all that we must know in this modern world. But if we know the methods of communication and discovery, we can find our way through the unknown to new insights and the improved mastery that comes. Technology and knowledge of nature are moving so fast and changing the world so rapidly, we cannot just get some level of education, call it that, and stay in tune with the times. That's for most of us. What about those of us who do not respond to the classroom, or cannot engage in dialogue? Some of us are, after all, dyslexic or have other learning problems. Well dyslexia can be handled by intense drill in reading, almost the antithesis of what works for most people. Other learning disabilities can improve learning using their own unique solutions.

What is thinking and what are its methods?

Socrates was among the first in recorded history to use questions as a tool to develop thinking and its co-product, education. His procedure has become known as the Socratic Method. By asking insightful questions, Socrates motivated insightful thinking. By leading his students with questions and illustrating cause and effect to the level of his time, he naturally led them to reach beneath the surface of observation in search of deeper meaning. "How did this event come about? What are the operative mechanisms?" are among the questions his method brings to the surface for mutual exploration. His method stimulates both deductionsparticular conclusions drawn from a set of facts, and inductionsleaping beyond sets of fact to new general insights, discoveries, and laws. Inductions are critically vital, only through them can we find new knowledge.

Thinking enhances one's education just as one's education enhances one's thinking.

The basic requisite for thinking is vocabulary. With vocabulary, one can rise above the language of desire and instinct and begin to codify relationships in the sense of cause-and-effect in nature. And so it is that logic arises. Euclid, with his logic, is yet another Greek who contributed mightily to our cultures of today.Thinking processes are enhanced by dialogue. This enhancement may be an indirect effect of the motivating effect of dialogue. Elementary and secondary education in America has been merely average in promoting how to think as an end in itself. But there are a number of marked exceptions. Many Asians and Europeans have earlier educations that are broader and deepermore in tune with the world than what we enjoy in America. Things improve for us at the university level. But something like 17% of entering freshmen need remedial classes in reading. Systems that emphasize uniform standards of student testing instead of focusing on improving teaching methods, skills, and measuring teachers by their product, risk falling behind the rest of the world if they neglect developing ability to think.Of all the things the Greeks contributed to modern cultures, the Socratic method must be the greatest, for it underlies dialogue, inquiry, and the progress in science, technology and our individual well-being. Questions seeking insight provide a basis for the advancement of science, the arts, governance, and culture as a whole.

How can we educate and develop insight and wisdom?

This is the most important question. Insight cannot be taught simply as the "three Rs" are taught. It is usually learned by practice--individual practice--coupled with our natural curiosity. Developing insight is an individual thing. Not everyone can achieve deep insights and practice them well. But Most of us can do much better than we are. Insight often comes with education, age and experience, but not always.

How can we educate better, earlier? Some methods certainly work better than others. If we are not using them we should be. As for moving beyond that, two things need to happen in tandem:

Sound research using valid protocols

Follow through, using what works

Insight comes from experiences. Once the fundamentals have been mastered, teaching how to think and to use use what one knows is every bit as important as teaching new material. Hands-on application of knowledge as it is acquired seems to be a useful approach.


How should continuing education be handled?

Motivation of the individual comes first. That means role models and an environment that encourages independence of mind and excellence of thought. Developing the art of critical thinking is crucial; it is the source of new insights. Our thinking ability expands exponentially with the size of our vocabulary. So does our creativity. We gain confidence with every success. We must rejuvenate teaching, such that our inborn curiosity becomes a self-directing way of life. In this way each person is responsible for his/her continuous learning or lack of it, for career or life enhancement, or just for the pure pleasure of learning.To start the process, teachers must be experts in socratic dialogueat home in the required emotional structure between mentor and protg. This means being at ease with their own humanity and foibles. Cultures that move in this direction will be the cultures that move ahead most rapidly in all aspects of knowledge and culture.We do turn out many good teachers; we also have a few absolutely heroic teachers. But we also grant certificates to and employ others who can barely read or write themselves.

How does the Socratic method work as an educational tool?

Although Plato cast Socrates in the role of a master mentor, an ideal dialogue between equals is one in which each learns from the other, each draws out the other, plays with his/her thinking, and responds with further questions in search of alternate views and new insights.The most effective teachers in our era proceed in a dialogic manner. Cultures that foster dialogue are alive and well. Those oppressed by despots or religious fundamentalists are not so fortunate. The art of dialogue comes naturally to many students and teachers, not so naturally to the shy or to people with hang-ups that interfere with clear, respectful, and congenial two-way communications.

The current question is: How can we all move toward dialogue in relating to other cultures and faiths? We have collected numerous examples in Dialogue, Solutions, and Hope.The Oasis of Peace, between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, illustrates by living and successful example the power of dialogue and cooperation. From their web site:

Located mid-way between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam is a community of 50 families, half Palestinian and half Jewish, all with Israeli citizenship. Democratically governed by an elected secretary general and secretariat (mayor & city council), the village's mission is to demonstrate that Jews and Palestinians can live together as equals. During even the most difficult times in Israel, the residents of the village are committed to this ideal. Through their various departments and educational projects, they reach out to the surrounding communities, involving all those who want to participate in lectures, workshops, and classes that further the work of peace among Palestinians and Jews. They reach beyond their borders with the message that "Peace is Possible."

The supreme irony is that this example lies under the very noses of Israeli and Palestinian leadership and and their extremist countrymen who keep the shooting going. (See: Zionism for that background.) Israel's feeling of safety has decayed markedly since Sharon came to power on the promise of peace. At the same time the Palestinian society has become less enthusiastic in its support for suicidal terror. The demise of Arafat seems to have affected the cycle of vengeance. At least a truce of sorts has been declared. That violence continues to happen when humanity as a whole is better educated than ever before, suggests that our education in psycho-social matters has not yet begun.


There is something terribly wrong with education in a world when entertainers know the way better than politicians do.