seth on modern curriculum
still love the man.. but can hardly read him anymore.. (sucks my energy) such a business/whalespeak .. we need to let go of any form of m\a\p.. or we’re just going to keep perpetuating the myth of tragedy and lord (we – and all our data – have no idea what legit free people are like)
but couldn’t not let my energy be sucked on this one.. so resonating (ly wrong) from our expriences/experimentation with exactly what he is suggesting in this post – the modern curriculum – https://seths.blog/2021/09/the-modern-curriculum/
so notes/quotes.. (just so that i’m not saying oi.. with no visible reason):
We’ve spent 130 years indoctrinating kids with the same structure. Now, as some of us enter a post-lockdown world, I’d like to propose a useful (though some might say radical) way to reimagine the curriculum.. t
curriculum even if we think we’re letting people make their own.. is part of the same structure
hardly radical.. we did exactly what you’re suggesting and more (ie: story board [2008 to present]).. 10 yrs ago.. it doesn’t work (godin might not work law)..
1\ it’s not free enough for choice..
..beyond some finite set of choices.. we need to let go enough to see legit curiosity over decision making play out
ie: year 1 – innovation lab (all ages experimenting in highschool tech building)- people crave choice:
people carve choice.. we had one kid write an incredible curriculum for chess.. then he decided not to do it.. he didn’t think it was legit, since he came up w it.. we had many start out energetic, then lose interest, even in what they had chosen.. so we were battling a mentality, even though people seemed to have given us permission.. was our pick legit in the first place, and how ridiculous were we to want to change our mind.. we started to notice the effect of the raised eyebrow..
we wondered why writing our own curriculum wasn’t more breathtaking/sustaining.. we wondered if hunger has more to do w curiosities that commitment to some single outcome
krishnamurti’s writings were a huge resonance.. partial freedom is not freedom.. as were ellen langer’s focus on outcomes can make us mindless.. google 20% no longer seemed enough.. perhaps google 100%
perhaps we see what happens if we follow our whimsy (imagine if we.. we request permissions to declare learnings (if we desire credit) at the end of the year
2\ it’s not free enough for spontaneity/surprise..
.. for people to dance.. (ie: fromm spontaneous law; graeber unpredictability/surprise law).. that would be listening deep enough for daily curiosity.. deep enough to find the bravery to change your mind .. to hear and facil the itch-in-the-soul.. everyday
ie: year 2 – the be you house (all ages experimenting in house) – people crave choice everyday:
we had many conversations about productivity.. what it means.. we had many conversations about being able to change your mind everyday.. we were seeing people do amazing things, once they were quiet/free enough to find the thing they can’t not do.. but we were hitting a roadblock with people being able to then.. find their people (with which to dance the dance).. not enough people are free to play this out
we wondered why more aren’t doing/realizing/being this life or perpetual beta.. we started to wonder if it’s because most people don’t believe it’s legal to think for themselves..
we started to realize, experiment with and trust that.. there is never nothing going on.. perhaps we’ve been quiet enough to hear enough.. (next step was) figuring out how to share a narrative .. for the betterness of 100% of humanity.. (because as we found.. it has to be all of us).. ie: story; a nother way; ..
3\ it’s not free enough for everybody..
.. for all the people to dance.. for 100% of humanity.. and it has to be everybody
ie: year 3 – city as school (all ages experimenting in the city) – all the people matter:
we start living out the vision from 2009 (this was 2012).. city as school.. meet up spaces in city spaces: coffeehouse, library, businesses.. we do have all we need, except minds that believe they can do whatever they want.. we find that redefining public ed is really about global equity: everyone getting a go everyday..
we wondered why individuals and pockets could do/be such incredible things, while many were still not free to play.. we started to wonder if it had to do with synchronicity
buckminster fuller believe that earn a living ness was not even a basic.. (not about enough resources but about grokking enough ness) .. huge resonation (sinclair perpetuation law et al as an insight to a solution).. perhaps 100% humanity becomes the story.. which begs (in current situation) no strings attached funding, so we can play this vision out with said synchronciity.. so sans any form of m\a\p
4\ if it’s not free enough for all the people.. how to make it be that free.. oh.. the dance
ie: year 4 – (not enough) people can dance (stopped experimentation with live people.. got/heard/saw enough.. now just continuing to work/research) – how to free all the people.. first:
jane costello believes it is most unethical to screen people for a condition if you don’t have the services in place to treat them.. (which we don’t if we don’t have all the people)
barry wellman believed that we coudl level the game w what he calls networked individualism.. perhaps we can facil both authenticity and attachment.. what if the conditions is stress, and the service/mech/oikos is networked individualism (ie: imagine if we) and the gameplan/map is written on each of our hearts.. already.. so we just need to be still and listen.. and trust that..
5\ here’s how we think it could happen
ie: year ? – a people experiment (ready to model a nother way.. perhaps esp w these virus noticings et al.. perhaps we can (virus) leap):
one huge finding over the years.. the idea of a global leap is not ridiculous.. it’s doable.. and perhaps it’s the most incredible business deal (ie: makes bucky’s vision happen).. not to mention the most humane revolution anyone could imagine.. we do now know too much to not give it a go.. (it’s) nothing new or particularly clever.. it came from being quiet enough to hear it.. people longing to be set free
we wonder why no one has experimented 1\ in the city (an ecosystem of eclectic people/resources) and 2\ as the day (not tacked onto the day, or after hours/school/work)
our findings (in short):
1\ undisturbed ecosystem (common\ing) can happen
2\ if we create a way to ground the chaos of 8b free people
ie: imagine if we.. model a nother way
ok.. now back to seth’s post
The very structure of the curriculum actually prevents school from working as it should.
supposed to’s of school/work are killing us.. let go
I think that a significant shift is overdue. The one below could work for kids from the age of 6. It doesn’t eliminate the fundamentals of being educated
then it’s not letting go enough.. we have to let go of any form of m\a\p.. and there are so many red flags to guard against that
More important, because it’s self-directed and project-based, kids can choose to learn, instead of being forced to.
yeah.. via 10 yrs of trying/iterating-on just that .. it doesn’t work.. it’s still force..
Introducing the modern curriculum: stats; games; communication; history and propaganda; citizenship; real skills; the scientific method; programming; art; decision making; meta cognition;..
yeah.. the list makes no diff seth.. it’s still a control issue.. as long as you have people telling other people what to do (or what to have as a curriculum et al).. even if they’re such .. good intentioned.. people like you (ie: maté parenting law; graeber parent/care law; et al)
Here’s my question: If you could work for someone who had these skills, developed over the course of a decade or more of public school, would you want to? What about working next to them, or having them work for you? Or dating them? Or living next door or voting for them?.. If this is what we need and what we value, why aren’t we teaching it?
if we were legit free.. work, skills, school, voting, teaching.. would all become irrelevant.. (this is what we found and what we continue to see.. those aren’t values.. those are cancers)
the main issue is that we have no idea what we legit need.. and so we keep organizing around non legit/deep (even food, water, shelter) needs.. so we end up spinning our wheels and wasting energy.. and.. perpetuating myth of tragedy and lord.. perpetuating sea world.. we need a way for all of us to get out of that
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seth’s ie of hierarchical listening
let’s do this first.. legit free art\ists
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be you. 