The Point of this Blog & Podcast

A Place for my ADHD Rants - My Catharsis

Essentially, like everyone else, I have a lot of thoughts and ideas floating around in my head. It is cathartic to put them somewhere - to "scream into the abyss" so to speak. It just clears my head to talk with people and to write. So, that is the main point here.

However, 

I am also a teacher and I have designed a school with a friend. Well, a school constitution and concept and I have a partially completed application for a charter school of this design. Whether my life permits me to create the school myself or not - I'd still like the idea to be out there and that might be the "crowning jewel" of this blog and podcast. So, all the posts on Education describe my philosophy on education as well as the design of my charter idea. I have some credentials to be able to speak on the topic. I've earned a Bachelor's degree in Geology and Secondary Education, a Master's Degree in Science Education, another Master's degree in Educational Administration, I have over twenty years of experience as a classroom teacher and tutor, and thousands upon thousands of hours of Professional Development. I've worked in urban schools and suburban schools. I've worked with, literally, the children of some of the wealthiest people on Earth as well as the children of some of the poorest people in the US. I've worked with students with social/emotional issues, disabilities, students learning English as a second language, and students that would go on to the most prestigious Universities in the world - and sometimes some of these things have overlapped. In short, I am a specialist in Secondary Education and in MS and HS Science Education, in particular. Education is my life's work and I love it. I also believe, not surprisingly, that education is one of the cornerstones to a good civilization and, likely, the cornerstone to any great future civilization. I try and show that and make the case for that here. 

In addition, 

The blogger site is set up as a model for how I would like students interact with the world. In the modern economy, students will benefit from being creators. Creation is one of the things that will be difficult for automation or AI to duplicate. Maybe one day it will. But for now, that is a human endeavor. This website is a testament to my attempts at creation. I am publishing ideas for TV shows, movies, books, art projects, new technologies, and even just thought experiments and theses. If the school I envision ever comes to fruition, I imagine a place where students and community members could go with their ideas and visions and try to generate support. They could build a radio station, a TV station, make films, write books, have debates on current issues (one of my favorites!) and tell their personal stories. That is what I am doing here. Now, I'm a dad with a full time job (more than one) and the school doesn't exist - so, for now, I am just getting the ideas down. But in a world where the school did exist, some of these projects could come to life. That is exciting and that's what I think school should be - a place for self actualization. 

The way it works...

The site is me performing catharsis so, there is a lot of very lightly edited material. However, like the school community I hope to see in the real world one day - I have a community. A community of friends, family, and acquaintances that I hope to engage in conversations around these lightly edited posts. That will be the basis for the podcast. We will have conversations around a thesis. The thesis is the post that my guest would like to discuss and we will talk it out. Do they agree with my post? Do they have ideas for the post? Do they want to tell their own story because they were inspired by one of my stories? That is the podcast. And in the case of conversations that change my mind - I will edit the post. And all conversations on the podcast that relate to that post will be linked in the post and the post will be edited to reflect my new understanding of the idea. So, please, if you're a reader or listener and want to talk with me about one of these - maybe we can do that. I will then, possibly, be swayed and edit the post. In this way, I will improve over time. My posts will improve over time. My community will improve over time. So, please reach out if you'd like to participate in the Curiosity of Inquiry. 

Oh...

The name Curiosity of Inquiry comes from an Albert Einstein quote on education. Here it is:

“It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry: for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom: without this it goes to wrack and ruin without fail. It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty. To the contrary, I believe it would be possible to rob even a healthy beast of prey of its voraciousness, if it were possible, with the aid of a whip, to force the beast to devour continuously, even when not hungry, especially if the food, handed out under such coercion, were to be selected accordingly.”

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Al B. Einstein Productions