594. Norks and Noogly

People have a sometimes annoying tendency to consider their own needs and wants higher priorities than the needs and wants of others. The reason that can be so annoying is that we other people have our own needs and priorities, or, in our finest moments, we think about the interests of still other people, or…

There was a list of required and suggested books for introductory education courses at Beloit College when I started taking such courses. Heading the list were such titles as How Children Fail (by John Holt), Crisis in the Classroom (by Charles Silverman), and Death at an Early Age (by Jonathan Kozol). These titles alone were…

When I first started writing these articles, I told you that I hoped to build bridges with them. I hope that’s been happening. But it occurred to me that I may also be burning bridges with them. I’ve let you know, for example, that I am an atheist, that I’m not the patriot you may…

When I was in college, people were reading Kahlil Gibran, who wrote, “Your children are not your children. They are the children of life’s longing for itself.” And Sidney Poitier was coming to dinner. Many people became resolved to be more open-minded than their parents were. Some came home from college with people their parents…

Until recently, I thought there would come a point when I’d cured myself of all my bad habits and eliminated all of my counterproductive thought patterns. Then I’d be perfect, and write articles telling the rest of you how to be perfect, too. But at best, I’ve only got about fifty years left. I don’t…

People talk to each other. One of the reasons they do so is that they like to trade ideas that work and warn each other about ideas that don’t. At its best, that’s one of the great tendencies communities have; it makes learning more likely. Alone, we have neither anywhere near as many good ideas…