Interferences and Indignation

To get one important thing out of the way--Here's a link to a lovely work of art that will be given away on February 14.  Full disclosure:  posting the link here gives me one chance at winning the drawing.  I saw the painting earlier and loved it.  I don't know the artist, but know people who do know her.  I'm happy to see her using her talent, and this giveaway announces the launch of a new website featuring her art.  If you go there and follow instructions, you can have a chance too at winning the painting.

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As an educator, I believe one of my foremost obligations is to help students learn to love to learn--not just learning for the sake of cramming bit after bit of information inside their heads--but for the sake of becoming thoughtful about things that matter.  As a Christian, I have additional goals in relating to students--maturity in Christ, chief among them.  My indignation is aroused when I encounter interferences to these purposes.  They mostly come from outside the school, but come into the school by way of students who bring with them  influences that I see as counter-productive to learning and becoming thoughtful.

1.  Movies.  I purposely did not say "violent movies" or "sexually explicit movies," or "movies with bad language," or "movies romanticizing the occult"  Those off-limits categories are obvious.  Even if they don''t fit in any of those categories, I won't be promoting "just plain old movies" either.  For the most part, I think they're a waste of time and a needless distraction from more profitable things.  Occasionally perhaps a movie can serve as a conversation starter or a "thinking" starter, but I think they usually deaden both conversation and thinking.  Almost nothing is left to the imagination, and conversation is experienced vicariously while the movie is playing.  Actual conversation is almost certainly an annoyance to at least one person if more than one are watching the movie together.

2.  Video games.  Definitely in the childish category--something to be outgrown by about age 12.   Violence is a problem in some of these games, and the mind-and-body corrosion involved in a preoccupation with video games is a crying shame.

3.  Pre-digested "news."  I understand that reporting can never be perfect, but give me the imperfect reporting any day, over the "spun" version of the news.  I'd much rather apply my own biases than have to swallow someone else's biases whole, especially if the biases are disguised as news.  I don't enjoy having to explain this difference to high schoolers, but someone has to do it.

4.  Music addictions.  I'm not slamming music, per se, or any kind of music in particular.  The "gotta have it at any cost at any time" is what I object to.  No distance too great to travel to hear a favorite musician or group, no time too inconvenient . . . no instrument too expensive to buy or too time-consuming to learn to play--everything else takes second place behind the Music Experience. . . that's what I object to, and I hardly ever hear cautions in this regard.

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I went to a Farmer's Market board meeting today as an observer.  Sigh.  Challenging times ahead . . .    A new board member must be elected or appointed, due to a resignation.  Before then, however, someone has to find a copy of the bylaws so that everyone knows what to do in this situation.

On the bright side, I think we have some good things on the horizon also, in terms of social media exposure.  One vendor has a degree in this field and may be hired to develop this.





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