“The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.”
Albert Einstein
Unless of course you are a resident of the state of Minnesota. Recently, the state acted to prevent its residents from learning. The so-called Office of Higher Education has banned , yes banned, a provider of free online education,Coursera,
Has the Minnesota “Office of Higher Education” perhaps made itself an oxymoron?
What disregard and disrespect has been forced upon the residents of that state. The value that organizations like Coursera, Udacity, and edX provide should be celebrated. Even before the advent of these online learning opportunities, there was, and still is, wonderful learning with MIT’s Open Courseware. With that service, everyone with Internet access can benefit from the expertise at MIT, no admissions requirements, no tuition to pay, no 8am classes, no tests or grades to worry about. You can just have fun. (Check out the range of amazing courses, for example, the famous Walter Lewin Classical Mechanics physics course. Lecture 11 has the “physics works and so Professor Lewin avoids a trip to the hospital” video. There are several other lectures with fun physical feats to enjoy.)
I digressed, back to the absurdity. Methinks those Minnesota state folks should consider drinking from the Pierian Spring or at least realize that:
Jiddu Krishnamurti
In fact, considering the mess that has been made of education, states should be required to provide ongoing, free education for all, just to compensate for the failures they’ve caused. Read John Taylor Gatto’s viewpoint, it’s quite insightful. Note, in particular, how long ago he wrote it. Yet today, its the same old, same old.
Fortunately, the outcry to the ban on learning brought the bureaucracy to its senses, and the ban was rescinded. Minnesotans rejoice, you are allowed to learn after all.
2:50am. Too sleepy to think, having read many books of late, seeking some kind of diversion, I checked out the television.
I am not sure how many channels I thumbed through, once, twice, three times, only to find nothing on, nothing to sidetrack my brain for just a while. There had to be at least 40 channels of nothing to choose from.
Infomercials galore, shopping channels, “news” based more on sensationalism than journalism, I found nothing to entertain or divert. How many shows have been created since the advent of TV? What has happened to entertainment from television? Even PBS is down to only one station, broken up by nearly ten minutes of promotional material each hour.
Turned off my television, and considered canceling cable. If they can’t offer something when I want to watch it, what’s the point? Besides, that money could buy quite a few DVD’s of quality learning and/or entertainment. I write a note to myself to borrow some DVD’s from our library.
And to think the NH Supreme Court classifies cable TV as an essential utility.
If Gödel finished his incompleteness theorem, wouldn’t that disprove it?
What a place. New England, autumn, fall colors, the best place on the planet to feel as if you are living inside a paint box, surrounded by an orchestra of colors; orange, red, gold, green, brown and blue, all gloriously in place. It’s Beethoven’s Symphony # 5 for the eyes. Sometimes I think I am in the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I am inspired and awed just driving down my street in the Fall. Applause, applause, and a contended peace reigns.
It can be a vision, a conversation, a news event, a non event. Sometimes life just commands a comment.
What a Place This Is 