Fire and Knowledge

A9.com > Company > Yellow Pages on A9.com

This looks pretty darn cool!

MacWorld now has reviews for all the new Apple products:

• Keynote 2
• Pages
• iPod Shuffle
• Mac Mini

To remain ignorant of things that happened
before you were born is to remain a child.
Cicero

Why Subjects Must Be Taught As History

“Every teacher must be a history teacher,” said Neil Postman in his book Technopoly (189).  It is a seemingly radical idea that goes against the specialization of knowledge—an ideal in current American thought.  There are English teachers, Biology teachers, Art teachers, Economics teachers, History teachers, etc.  Everyone knows that to ask an Economics teacher to explain American Literature is folly (an interesting proposal from Postman and Weingartner in Teaching as a Subversive Activity is to “have ‘English’ teachers ‘teach’ Math, Math teachers English, Social Studies teachers Science, Science teachers Art, and so on” (138) which would be quite amusing).

We all tend to think of History as a separate course in school (because it is presented that way), but it really isn’t.  To teach history as a separate course and not teach it in every course is a gross misunderstanding of our world and how we learn. It is worth, as usual, to quote Postman at length on this:

History is not merely one subject among many that may be taught; every subject has a history, including biology, physics, mathematics, literature, music, and art. . . . To teach, for example, what we know about biology today without also teaching what we once knew, or thought we knew, is to reduce knowledge to a mere consumer product.  It is to deprive students of a sense of the meaning of what we know, and of how we know.  To teach about the atom without Democritus, to teach about electricity without Faraday, to teach about political science without Aristotle or Machiavelli, to teach about music without Haydn, is to refuse our students access to The Great Conversation. It is to deny them knowledge of their roots, about which no other social institution is at present concerned. For to know about your roots is not merely to know where your grandfather came from and what he had to endure.  It is also to know where your ideas come from and why you happen to believe them; to know where your moral and aesthetic sensibilities come from.  It is to know where your world, not just your family, comes from.  (Postman, Technopoly, 189)

I find Postman very insightful.  His ideas seem very straightforward once one thinks about it, but the problem is that most people don’t think about it.  Unfortunately, anyone who has been through public (and most private) education can attest to the “consumer product of knowledge”.  It is something to be taken in at mass quantities; chewed and spit back out without digestion.  As long as you memorize the facts for the test, you can get out of school with straight A’s and not be smarter than when you started, as Postman and Weingartner describe:

If you are over twenty-five years of age, the mathematics you were taught in school is “old”; the grammar you were taught is obsolete and in disrepute; the biology, completely out of date, and the history, open to serious question.  The best that can be said of you, assuming that you remember most of what you were told and read, is that you are a walking encyclopedia of outdated information. (Teaching as a Subversive Activity, 11)

But when subjects are taught as history something different happens.  You learn about the progression of human knowledge, and realize that we might not be right about everything.  Science, technology, society, art, religion—we are not at the pinnacle of them.  There is a history for each area, and, Lord willing, we will continue to progress and refine and redevelop our theories.  Currently, you cannot question science. Before, you could not question religion (or more specifically, revelation from God).  Yet the tide may turn again—it would not be unheard of. This is how Postman puts it:

I would recommend that every subject be taught as history.  In this way, children, even in the earliest grades, can begin to understand, as they now do not, that knowledge is not a fixed thing but a stage in human development, with a past and a future. . . . the history of subjects teaches connections; it teaches that the world is not created anew each day, that everyone stands on someone else’s shoulders. (Postman, Technopoly, 190)

One reason I am saying all this—other than my obvious plea for historical continuities in subjects—is that some of the upcoming articles I will be publishing will be on the history of various things, and it is important to know why I think it is important.  Right now I am planning to write on the history the Internet, and the history of advertising, as these two subjects affect each of our lives in an almost unfathomable way.  To not understand their basic histories is to reduce us to mere consumers of knowledge, not understanding the world we live in and its affect on us.  Knowing the history of something breaks its power of myth over us so that it can no longer control us like it did, for we know how it was created and how it is being used.  Unfortunately, many people do not know the history of humanity much less computers and advertising and cars and electricity, and we are paying a costly price for it.

How Subjects Could Be Taught As History

Now that we have established that this kind of education is necessary, how should we go about it?  I must admit that I am not qualified to present a curriculum—however, I personally favor a modified Great Books / Trivium approach.  For those who may not have heard of the Great Books curriculum, Allan Bloom describes it as:

[R]eading certain generally recognized classic texts, just reading them, letting them dictate what the questions are and the method of approaching them—not forcing them into categories we make up, not treating them as historical products, but trying to read them as their authors wished them to be read…. [W]herever the Great Books make up a central part of the curriculum, the students are excited and satisfied, feel they are doing something that is independent and fulfilling, getting something from the university they cannot get elsewhere.  The very fact of this special experience, which leads nowhere beyond itself, provides them with a new alternative and a respect for study itself. (Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind, 344)

This has been my experience, although I did not enjoy the program when I was in it because I was never taught how to read books—it was somehow assumed we already knew.  To their credit, they did recommend How to Read a Book to us, but it was not required reading, so I can’t imagine they thought we had the time to read it (I have since found The Well-Educated Mind by Susan Wise Bauer to be more practical, including helpful annotated bibliographies by genre).

When I went through the Great Books program, it was done chronologically, which I think is a bad idea for many reasons.  Suffice it to say that you spend much effort trying to grasp one book, but then quickly go on to another of a completely different topic, which creates confusion and frustration for the student.  A modified Great Books program would go through the books topically, instead of chronologically, taking ample time to understand the author’s presuppositions and arguments while at the same time entering into “critical conversation” with them.

Teachers in public schools (or other schools where they may not have the liberty of teaching this kind of curriculum) may have to use a different approach, if allowed.  A possible substitution would be mixing the history of the course they are teaching along with the current theories and methodologies they are supposed to be teaching.  This will then let the history teacher be free to actually teach histories:

The teaching of subjects as studies in historical continuities is not intended to make history as a special subject irrelevant.  If every subject is taught with a historical dimension, the history teacher will be free to teach what histories are: hypotheses and theories about why change occurs….

There is no definitive history of anything; there are only histories, human inventions which do not give us the answer, but give us only those answers called forth by the questions that have been asked.  Historians know all of this—it is a commonplace idea among them.  Yet it is kept a secret from our youth. (Postman, Technopoly, 191)

History makes a lot more sense when you can see the relationship of different ideas and events to one another.  So many “world history” books give you a plethora of information (information glut) and you cannot easily see how each idea affects another.  It all just seems to happen.  You do not learn such things like how the Gutenberg press affected the Reformation; or how the Reformation affected America; or how America, founded on the printing press, left it for imagery.  Of course, if there were no printing press, there would be no America—yet history is not usually presented in that format.

Students deserve more than merely learning the current views of a subject.  They deserve to learn there is a Great Conversation through history and to converse in it.  They deserve to receive an education that explains who invented or thought of something first, how it developed, where it is now, and where it might be going. When teachers do this, students will begin to understand that education is more than mindless facts, context-free information, and multiple-choice standardized testing.  There will be connections between events and subjects, and students will be more thoughtful and understand our world better because of it.  It is my hope that by implementing this type of curriculum in all subjects, we can restore the intellectual heritage of America instead of the continued downslide of modern education.

Intelligence is primarily defined as one’s capacity to grasp the truth of things.
–Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves To Death, p. 24-25

The preservation of liberty depends on the intellectual and moral character of the people. As long as knowledge and virtue are diffused generally among the body of a nation, it is impossible they should be enslaved.
—John Adams

Technology… the knack of so arranging the world that we don’t have to experience it.
—Max Frisch

You know you’ve been thinking about it.  Everyone is doing it.  Who wouldn’t when they look at their ugly black Dell compared to one of the new Mac minis?  Of course Macs look good.  But as someone who is smarter than “those stupid Mac zealots” I’m sure you want reasons other than “they’re the finest looking computers out yonder.”

Let me first give my testimony.  I used x86s (“PCs”) for 13 years.  I used to make fun of Mac people.  Then when Apple came out with OS X, I was a little intrigued, although that didn’t stop my jeering.  After watching it develop for three years, I caved in and purchased an iBook.  Now I wouldn’t switch back for money or fame.

I sometimes forget the horror people go through with their computers—although I am jolted back into reality when a friend calls with problems, and is fixed after running Ad-Aware or some other utility.  Defragers, disk doctors and utilities, registry repairers, virus protection, spy/adware removers, and more all need to be bought and run frequently.  It isn’t worth time, money, or stress.

1. Stability.  Mac OS X is built on UNIX, which is synonymous with stability.  Windows, on the other hand is synonymous with the blue screen of death.  Tired of your OS (Operating System) hanging and applications crashing?  I was too.  Say goodbye to applications crashing your OS.
2. Things Just Work.  This doesn’t really need explanation.  Hook up your Microsoft mouse.  Put in a USB key.  Connect your video camera.  It just works.  Really.
3. No Viruses.  Which means all those emails can’t affect you, you don’t need to buy anti-virus software (although in the future you may), and no yearly anti-virus subscriptions.
4. No Adware.  No more popups constantly!  No more programs being installed without your approval!  Free yourself from your bondage!
5. No Spyware. 
6. Boosts Your Productivity.  Because of all the above reasons, you have more time to work (or play) and not have to worry about your computer.  Ever said “Why can’t this just work so I can get my work done?” Well, it can!  In fact, you will most likely notice getting more things done because OS X is just fun and easy to use.  On top of that, the entire Mac interface lends itself to productivity and polish.
7. Better Desktop Management.  A friend saw me use Exposé, and said “Wow, you are living in the next century.”  I use Exposé constantly and it has revolutionized the way I work with open programs.  But there is even more to come in Apple’s OSX Tiger to be released this year.  What will my friend say when I get Spotlight, Dashboard, and Automator?
8. Security.  Tired of Microsoft waiting months upon months (after the months it takes for them to acknowledge it) to fix a security issue?  Mac OS X is already configured to be secure right out of the box—even a preconfigured firewall to keep you safe from hackers.  You get the benefit of UNIX security combined with the beauty and polish of Apple.
9. Encryption.  Need to keep others out?  When turned on, FileVault automatically encrypts all of your files.  You are 007.
10. Application Ease.  Installing applications on PCs are a big deal, and watch out if you move any of the program files!  With Mac, you drop the application into your applications folder and it just works.  If you want, you can move it into a subfolder and nothing breaks.  Just try that on a PC and see what happens! Well, on second thought, don’t try it.
11. Disk Maintenance?  Defrag, Scandisk, CHKDSK, Norton Utilities… kiss those wonderful pains goodbye.  Don’t know what those are?  That’s probably why your PC is so messed up (that and all the spy/adware/viruses).  Switch to Mac.  Your hard drive defrags automatically as files are moved, so you don’t have to worry about all that disk maintenance stuff.
12. MS Office Compatibility.  If you purchase Office for Mac you get full MS Office compatibility.  Don’t want to do that?  Apple now has an inexpensive option for you with Pages and Keynote that are included in iWork, which are 100% MS Office compatible.  In fact, iWork may be better fitted for you (and cheaper) if you are not a hardcore MS Office user.
13. Incredible Pre-Bundled Applications.  You get the full set of iLifc applications, World Book encyclopedia, and a full version of Quicken.  iLife is not simply individual applications—they all work together seamlessly like you (should) expect.  Make a video in iMovie with background music from iTunes.  Make a slideshow of images in iPhoto, send it to a friend in Mail and then put it on the Internet.  Then put both on a DVD with iDVD.  Have a tune in your head?  Record it in Garageband—any instrument imaginable is there and a breeze to play.  Want to video chat with a friend in Japan about the song you just recorded?  Start up iChat.  In a phrase, the Mac has everything you need to organize and edit your digital photography, make movies from your camcorder, listen to all your music, create and record music, video chat with friends, and author your own DVDs.  Did I mention that it all comes free and pre-installed?  The software itself is worth over $500 in my opinion.
14. Any Document Can Be PDF.  Every application (that can print) can save files as PDF.  Now that is handy, and sure beats shelling out all that cash for the full version Adobe Acrobat!
15. Network with PCs.  Stuck in a network full of PCs?  Don’t worry—it’ll work.  Just plug it in.  Internet, file sharing, printer sharing and more with ease.
16. Stops the Tweaking Itch.  If you are a nerd like me, you like to push your computer to the edge.  Registry settings, overclocking, TweakXP… nothing is good enough by default.  Leave it behind for a computer that works well without constant tweaking.  Sure, you could still do it if you want to (there’s a full BSD subsystem!), but frankly, there are better things to do in life unless you write code for a living.  Read a classic.  Hang out with your family.  Lose weight.
17. Better Third-Party Applications.  With free programs like Quicksilver, NetNewsWire Lite, TextWrangler, VLC, and other incredible applications like Photoshop, Transmit, Final Cut Express/Pro, and others.  And of course your favorite browser, Firefox, also works like a charm if you don’t want to use Apple’s Safari.
18. Control.  No more will you be awash in ignorance along with the brainwashed proles.  You will make an educated decision to purchase something that you can control and won’t control you.  You are not going to Walmart blindly picking a PC.  You have considered the alternative, weighed the options, and chose accordingly.  You are a Mac user.

To those who want to make the right decision (and those who have already made it), I applaud your intelligence and good taste.  May this help banish your burdens and be a boon for years to come.

Interactive CSS Box Model Demo

Very well done!