Joseph L. Kagle, Jr. Peace Essays

Link Teaches Us to be Empathy-Free

The key to peace is education. Without opening the mind to new ideas, there can be no new solutions to age-old problems, like mankind killing “different” mankind. The enemy is always an “it” or “them.” When we live in a global village, they are neighbors, friends and “us.” Peace is all of US.

“Link” teaches us to be empathy-free

TV quiz show a good example of what kids shouldn't be watching

   It had been a while since I drove down the road once called Drip­pings Springs to Bubba Jay III's house. But it was like only a moment had gone by.

   Bubba was in the yard trying out one of his societal experiments. His dog was tied to a tree, his pet goose to a chair, his cat curled in her bed, and the parrot in his cage.

   Arranged in a semi-circle, Bubba was reading questions to them, telling them how stupid they were because they did not know the answers, or that they had not worked as a team effectively. Mostly they were trying to get free, although the cat simply was bored.

    I sat on the side, shocked at the abuse that Bubba was spewing out. "You call yourself `man's best friend,' "he berated the dog, "and yet you are a disgrace to the animal kingdom."

    He untied the dog, which ran away, tail between its legs.

    "And you, domesticated feline, you call yourself independent. Your body is independent of your mind."

   He jostled the cat, which slowly walked away, yawning.

   The goose put up a fight but went to explore the river bank.

    Finally, Bubba paid off the parrot, which had repeated Bub­ba's slander in a mindless way, with birdseed.

Reinforced viciousness

    "You are slightly crazy," I said. "Tying up your animals to play The Weakest Link.”

   He smiled broadly, "It was all, for your enjoyment. Have you seen ‘The Missing’- oh sorry, I mean 'The Weakest Link' the Salem-silly inquisitor in her black judge's outfit?

    "I have watched two shows (my last)," he said. "But it is an edu­cation. It is foretelling what is to come, particularly if it is suc­cessful in selling a gullible audi­ence to insults and abuse."

  Yes, I said. "It's not meant to be an answer show. It is an in­ your-face abuse session."

 It's like Drew Carey's opening line for his improv show, "We give points but they don't matter. It is like getting on 'Jerry Springer.' "

    "Have you watched Jerry and Maury and Vickie and Jenny and some others in those violent, Roman gladiator affairs without the Coliseum?" I asked.

    "Yes," said Bubba. "They are awful — 'Survivor' series without survivors. But they do not attempt to say that knowledge is at the base of their program.

    "The Weakest Link does. It tells all who is the weakest and who is the strongest in each stupid round. The most knowledgeable or the best player many times does not win the money."

    But it's not just intellect. It is the most vicious players who can match the viciousness of the host.

      “What I fear is that some teachers in the schools will use `The Weakest Link' as an example to do round-robin, questioning for the TAAS in Texas," said Bubba.

   "We have had stupid television before," I observed.

   "Yes, we have," said Bubba, "but it is today's growing level of abuse that troubles, the 'Survivor' syndrome, permeating much of television these days. I am not opposed to 'reality television,' but the producers choose the most bizarre, dysfunctional, cruel, abusive and hateful actions for role modeling. That sets stan­dards for minds that are just forming their norms for "real life."

      We have enough anniversaries of abused kids going home, getting their parents' guns and playing "No Survivor" at their schools.

  "Our weakest link as a society is that we are not showing healthy role models. Instead, we promote this," said Bubba. "We need to vote with our feet and walk away."

Therefore, we can be proud of teachers when they band together for the right reasons, such as supporting excellence in teaching and teaching methods. Peace is learned. Peace is shared existence which turns to quality living. Education give the information to make decisions; teachers are the educational artists who turn that raw data into passion for learning.

Bravo for America’s Educators

It was refreshing to hear that at the National Educator's Association annual meeting in Los Angeles, our educators asked for a multi-dimensional approach to excellence in education, instead of endorsing President George W. Bush's call for standardized testing. If anyone has been in the field of education for a time, you know that in today's world what is asked for from business, the arts and culture is flexible, creative thinkers. You cannot standardize a test for that way of thinking. As the 21st century rushes us along, only individuals who can take information and use it for new purposes will survive and thrive. Standardized testing is against the concept of a thinking, informed citizenry who can analyze information from political and media sources (sometimes one and the same) to make informed decisions on voting.

Historically, there have been three Americas since our founding in 1776. One is the Jeffersonian America (supported by the Adams of Massachusetts) based on the leadership of an educated elite These individuals was Jefferson's "natural aristocracy" based not on wealth and inherited title but on talent. The state, through education, would allow these individuals to rise from humble birth to power. Another is the mercantile American which is based on the ideas of Adam Smith. The strength of America lies in its creation of wealth. This talked of the Puritan work ethic and a degree of self sacrifice. The third is populist (and at the heart of Bush's standardized testing). It is based on the ideas of Thomas Paine and the worker's natural distrust of the boss. It calls now for surveys and polling to make decisions. It also, through standardized testing, lead to mediocrity. You do not get an informed vote; you get a standardize vote for a standardized electorate.

Closer to home than Washington, DC and President Bush, we have excellence at Hillcrest Professional Development School (to name only one exceptional local school). They give TAAS test and excel. They give standardized tests and excel. Governor George Bush came to Waco to see their methods and eventually uses this school as one of his models for excellence for his national standardized testing theory. What he missed in his few hours of visit was the heart of that excellence: creating a record of the individual's strengths and weaknesses in learning. Each child at that school is taught as an individual and the standardize tests are only a small part of the learning system. A greater part is teaching each child to learn from the strengths within themselves, and each of those strengths are written on a card and different with each student. You cannot test a student on standardized testing for the one element that makes them unique. Finding that one element of uniqueness is at the heart of individual learning. What America needs in the future is not standardized citizens but creative, flexible self-informed citizens who are partners in rule by Democracy. We need thinkers, not test takers.

What concerns me some is that America is no longer a new nation, trying to melt everyone into the same mold (the melting pot concept). We are the oldest democracy in the world. Our leaders, like President Bush, are frightened by what they see in American education. So am I. But we differ on the cause. Most of 20th century American education was based on standardized testing, not individual cards on each students strengths and weakness in learning. America is about freedom and individuality, therefore I applause the educators in Los Angeles. They are in the trenches and they know that standardized testing (although it can be used as one tool for learning about a student) is not the answer to learning in the 21st century.