Dear All,

I have not been following this thread of discussions fully, but here are my 
thoughts based on what I have read, but forgive me if some maybe 
repetitive...

Firstly, I do think an alternative 'institution' is a good way of 
influencing others to follow, if not in its entirety, maybe perhaps part 
thereof.

Secondly, I do think wisdom enquiry should start with young students. We 
have been working with 11 and 12 year olds in a related project here and it 
has been relatively successful. Young do not have all that baggage to deal 
with. I do think that the whole education system should be revamped. For 
example, why should a 10 year old learn abt the planets in the solar systems 
when they do not even know the names of all or part of the fishes they eat 
daily and where they come from? We ask some kids if they can 3 names of 
trees planted in their school and most could not name even a single one but 
they know Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system....Yahooo, but 
who cares and is it ever relevant to most young ones? Maybe in the far 
future when there are planet destroying ‘death-stars’, this knowledge may 
help conserve Jupiter!

Thirdly, perhaps we can start by identifying some problems with education 
systems in the modern context and start by developing alternative 
curriculums/subjects for primary schools/kindergartens....

Fourthly, I do like the idea of a VU, but that  should not be a substitute 
to physical presence. Knowledge and information can be transferred via 
cyberspace but I am not sure abt wisdom

And Cheryl, on the article you forwarded a quotes comes to mind “Political 
extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of 
the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back 
of it all.” Humans think we know it all and yet we know so little.

peace
yunus



>From: Karl Rogers <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Group concerned that academia should seek and promote wisdom      
>         <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Conference, Journal & Virtual University
>Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2006 01:04:39 +0100
>
>Mathew,
>   There are three senses of "alternative" at play here.
>   There is the sense of an alternative vision, there is the sense of 
>alternative institutional arrangement (structure), and there is the sense 
>of alternative content.
>
>   I agree with you that the institutional arrangement of academia can be 
>changed without having an alternative, but I do not think that it is 
>possible to change academic without an alternative vision because, without 
>such a vision, we would have no idea about what we would be changing it 
>into or why we were trying to change it at all, beyond a sense of 
>dissatisfaction with its current content. I think that one of the important 
>tasks for the FOW is to develop this alternative vision, which could then 
>be used to transform the institutional arrangement and content of the 
>current state of academia.
>
>   Perhaps, the theme of the conference could be to discuss this vision for 
>a revolution in education. Which could then be developed further in the 
>journal.
>
>   However, the initial task of the VU would not be that of providing a 
>vision but rather offer alternative content. The purpose of this would be 
>to attract web browsers to the site via the wide range of courses, say on 
>anarchism, zen buddhism, crop circle studies, or whatever, we would offer 
>and thereby draw people to the core FOW courses, which would be on 
>wisdom-inquiry. This would increase the awareness of the need for a 
>revolution in education and attract people to Nick's ideas. Thus we would 
>increase the awareness of the limits and shallowness of mainstream 
>education, as well as disseminate interesting ideas and provide a broader 
>education.
>
>   As such, it would be complementary to the FOW, rather than the central 
>project, but could increase the FOW membership as well as motivate students 
>to join academics in transforming the vision, structure, and content of 
>university education.
>
>   In my opinion, while an introductory book or written pamphlet would be 
>useful for introducing students to Nick's ideas and the call for a 
>revolution in academia, we need move beyond books and written materials 
>which interact on an individual basis.
>
>   The FOW will only really attract large numbers of students -- especially 
>radical students -- if it is participatory and based on free-association. 
>Yhe Internet is an invaluable resource for including students in the FOW as 
>participants, within which the students can decide upon the terms of their 
>participation. Consider Wikkipaedia or Yahoo! Answers -- even though the 
>content of these sites are often questionable, to put it midly, the level 
>of participation is huge, largely because people can participate freely and 
>in their own terms. I think that something like the VU would be very 
>helpful in attracting and motivating serious students, by providing them 
>with some basis for developing their own ideas about the vision for 
>education, as well as an accessible forum for their participation in its 
>development. And should some serious academics participate then the VU 
>would become very interesting indeed.
>
>   Of course, by requiring membership and having some minimal level of 
>censorship in play before people could post courses, we would be able to 
>filter out offensive dross.
>
>   So the idea of the VU, as an internet based resource, is to support the 
>larger project of the FOW, which would then be directed to transforming the 
>structure and content of bricks and mortar universities. I did not mean to 
>suggest the the VU would become an alternative institutional arrangement to 
>universities, but it would be a way of involving large numbers of people in 
>the ongoing development of an alternative vision for education in general. 
>I see it as a "seed idea" from which a network could emerge that could help 
>the FOW grow and become influential as a confederated free-association of 
>members or a formal society should members prefer that.
>
>As I have already said, the VU is just a suggestion for something that 
>would help the FOW grow. There would clearly need to be some discussion 
>about its starting conditions, if members wanted to start it up, but as Tom 
>has said, from a technological point of view, it would be relatively 
>straightforward and we could easily provide a short and user-friendly 
>technical guide to help people get started.
>
>   Karl.
>
>  Send instant messages to your online friends 
>http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

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