Category Archives: Education

History Is Myth

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It’s been Old Home Tour this week. Ventura, LA, Orange Counties.

I would’ve gone with “History is Selective” and/or “History is Contested”, but who am I to argue with her.

Speaking of history, here is where I took my first college history class, “Western Civilization A” with Geoffrey Symcox in the fall of 1980. The Neolithic Revolution, Hammurabi’s Code, Gilgamesh. May sound cliche, but life changing.

Fave “Western Civ” memory. One winter day in “Western Civ B” our whip smart,Turkish Ph.D. student discussion section leader got so disgusted with our lack of preparation, he suddenly announced, “You guys haven’t read! There’s no point in continuing. Class is cancelled!” And then proceeded to pack his leather shoulder bag and walk out. Badass to the core. It’s a real shame I’ve never honored his memory by doing the same.

Speaking of history, last night the GoodWife and I had dinner with SWright, KBabb, and CBabb in suburban Irvine (redunant). After a wonderful dinner and desert, KBabb busted out some Cypress High School memorabilia including the 1979 Varsity Water Polo Team stat sheet.

I coulda sworn I scored more goals at a higher clip, but the history in my head is myth. It will come as no surprise to RZ and other PressingPausers who know me best that I rocked the second-to-last shooting percentage on the team. Major props to Eric Candelaria for having a slightly worser shooting percentage and saving me from bringing up the absolute rear.

To Dan, Dan the Retired Transpo Man and everyone else laughing at me right now, get back to me on how easy it is for you to dominate in the water and on the golf course at damn near the same time.

Public Education Fail

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Social studies education more specifically.

From the Independent:

“A quarter of Americans falsely believe federal law enforcement ‘probably’ or ‘definitely’ orchestrated the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, a claim at the centre of a persistent conspiracy theory promoted by right-wing media, Republican officials and former president Donald Trump.

The results of a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll also found that 34 per cent of Republicans and 44 per cent of Americans who voted for Mr Trump continue to believe that FBI operatives organised and encouraged the attack.”

Of course, when it comes to our collective mania, more is it at play than just social studies education, but no one seems to be saying the obvious that history and civics coursework is doing little to promote a critical thinking, media-literate citizenry.

I propose we start from absolute scratch with a complete rethinking of social studies education K-12. I’m too old, too worn down by the lecturing/memorizing status quo, and too cynical to be any more specific.

And yes, you’re right, that is one sad(sick) and deflating final sentence.

On Today’s Run

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I listened to Ezra Klein talk to Gloria Marks about her book,“Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness, and Productivity”. Marks is a professor at UC Irvine.

I probably wasn’t paying close enough attention, but I was underwhelmed by Marks who confirmed Klein’s view that we’re easily distracted these days and how helpful walks in nature are to our paying attention and well-being more generally. Despite Klein’s borderline annoying earnestness, Mark’s came across as “All hat and no cattle.”

And let’s not rule out the very real possibility that I’m just jelly that I don’t have a remotely similar platform for my own peabrain ideas.

Maybe if I did a deeper dive into Mark’s work, I’d be more impressed, but having been around the academic block a few times, I suspect her academic profile is the result of two things—focusing exclusively on a highly relevant topic and mastering the art of self promotion. Do note the slick personal website.

Often, there’s a weak correlation between the intelligence and importance of a person’s writing/speaking and their relative popularity. It’s rarely, if ever, what you see is what you get.

I prefer more original writers/thinkers that cast wider nets, blur the lines between disciplines, and challenge my preconceived assumptions about things.