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Erich Fromm is an influential social philosopher and prolific writer, whose life work offers a provocative synthesis of Western capitalism, Marxist humanism and socialist rational planning. He defines two modes of being: “to have” and ” to be”, and examines the characteristics and values of lives led in each mode with respect to materialism, politics, religion, spirituality, knowledge, love, sex, language and economics. He asserts that modern living is dominated by the “to have” mode and generalizes it as a soul-less and thoughtless pursuit of material things that disrespects the human soul, love of nature and fellow humans and leads to unsustainable pursuit of things which can lead to poverty, war and extinction.  Fromm discards the idea that either conventional Western capitalism or Soviet-style communism offer a way out of the darkness, since both systems remain entrenched in the “to have” mode of being.  He offers an escape from this bleak vision of the future, by suggesting that a shift to the “to be” mode of being will bring a change in perspective and behavior at the individual, family, tribe, state and national levels. He asserts this change can bring lives back into harmony with the needs of the human spirit and permit sustainable societies to emerge.His utopian vision of modern living blends the freedom, liberty and productive power of Western capitalism, the central planning and rationality of Soviet style communism, and the tempered and non-materialistic spiritual centeredness of Buddhism and European- style mystics like Meister Eckhart. A society organized along these lines could manifest as economically linked villages of perhaps 100 families. They would be voluntarily joined in support, satisfying the legitimate needs of healthy living through the free exchange of goods and services produced by craftsmen. As craftsmen, people would take pride in and develop a sense of identity through their careful, mindful work and whose stewardship of precious resources would be reflected in a sustainable, respectful partnership with nature and their fellow man. Appetites are suppressed to just those that are commonly and wisely thought to be legitimate. Common spiritual needs are valued and encouraged at each level of social organization. Language itself is amended to reflect the importance of creating “states of being” that reflect nurturing, loving spiritual lives, families, and communities. You will notice this description is full of passive voice, because it is never quite clear “who” will be taking the lead or being the instrument of action in a transformation on a species level. I will address this later in greater detail.

I admire the scope, depth and breadth of Fromm’s vision, and the passion he brought to his life work, and his commitment to living his principles, as seen through his direct engagement with the dominant issues of his day. He was a social philosopher who lived his words and put himself into the arena of ideas and actions to make a difference. He made a positive difference in the lives of millions and those who worked closely with him testify to his optimism, energy, and basic human goodness. Granting all of that, and acknowledging that I have changed my opinion of Fromm’s work after spending time in background research and reflection, I want to engage his work in two useful ways: through disinterested philosophical discourse, and through an abbreviated dialectical materialism: a method of argumentative inquiry that would have come naturally to a Marxist. I decided on this approach after Dr Armstrong asked what Fromm might have said in response to a couple of extended Moodle discussions that were critical of some of his positions.Constructivism is a world view that asserts we are active participants in the creation of our knowledge of the world, particularly in the human, social areas of our lives. There are two well-known forms of dialogue that have been instrumental in the development of social, political and economic knowledge: the disinterested philosophical discourse of ancient philosophers described so well by Hadot (2002) and the dialectical materialism of Karl Marx, which is a fusion of Hegel’s dialectics and Feuerbach’s materialism with roots that reach back to the ancient Greeks as well. (S.E.P, n.d.) (Mao, 1938)  

Hadot’s discussion of discourse is thorough. Discourse obliges you to set aside your own perspective,  to accept the other participant’s positions and truths, and to transcend disinterestedly to a new perspective which leads both to increased self knowledge, knowledge of the other, and to a new appreciation of the synthesis that is possible through a fusion of different opinions. There is a sense of philosophical cooperation and wisdom in play for true discourse. (Hadot, 2002)Marx’s dialectical materialism describes a dialogue between opposing views as a struggle between forces, with each committing passion and insight to argue a position. The initial argument is known as the thesis, the opposite view as the antithesis. Out of the tension of the vigorous exchange between thesis and antithesis, a broader, more comprehensive synthesis is created, which contains elements of both previous positions but which can be said to resolve the tension, encapsulate the essence of both, and  move on to a new and deeper understanding of the situation. As an example, Marx characterize the struggle between owners (thesis) and workers (antithesis) over the means of production as a dialectic which becomes resolved into a synthesis of communism, after the tension of class warfare has run its course and been resolved.

 I experienced both of these modes of dialogue and constructive knowledge in my readings of and reflections on Fromm’s work. The effect of the two different modes on my thinking has been instructive for me and serves to demonstrate the utility of both modes. I like the idea that they contribute both heat (the dialectic) and light (the discourse) to my own understanding of Fromm.

 Dialectic:

 The dialectic generated heat from my emotional reaction to my initial reading of Fromm, as I discovered deep seated and argumentative reactions to his assertions, conclusions, and matters offered in in evidence to support his claims. These responses have roots in my undergraduate days as a student of Asian history and political science in the 1970s when I did a lot of work in the historical events surrounding socialism and communism in Asia and Europe, while simultaneously experiencing and exploring non-Western cultural and religious responses to the challenges of defining and living the good life as seen by Hindus, Buddhists and Taoists.

 I read Fromm from that perspective: as a modern who sought to synthesize the ancient and modern thoughts of the good life and human nature with the tidal forces that were defining and shaping human culture through economics and political struggle. I understood his perspective and rationale for opting to follow the path of enlightened Marxism with its foundations in rationality and central planning, its concern for social justice, and his belief that freedom includes the ability to shape our destiny through choice and action, even if it means confronting and opposing what has been thought of as human nature combined with the power of tradition.

The heat came from the difference between his choices and my own, since I have chosen a different approach to understanding, framing and drawing policy conclusions from the same data set. My beliefs and values follow along the lines of valuing individual freedoms in the traditions of Payne and Locke, the political freedoms and limited government of Jefferson, the lack of central planning found in the tenets of laisse-faire capitalism, and the intellectual humility and disbelief in the perfectability of man epitomized by Twain. When the dialectical smoke had cleared though, I found room for Fromm and I to coexist:

Here are three samples of the thesis-antithesis-synthesis threads that I worked through in the dialectical tradition. In each case Fromm plays the role of thesis, as is his right as “first speaker” since we are using his text, not mine. They are representative of the more than 20 different annotated emotionally charged differences I discovered upon my first reading.

 a. Tennyson’s poem: Fromm’s thesis is that Tennyson’s speaker tore the flower from the ground to understand it, while the enlightened spirit became one with it as co-members of the scene. My antithesis is that it is a matter of interpretation as to whether Tennyson’s speaker killed the flower, since it could have carefully and mindfully been moved to a new place for examination and understanding without harming it. Indeed, later in the book, Fromm describes the wisdom of a Japanese gardener who transplants plants without harm to create beautiful, spiritual gardens. My synthesis is that while the passive appreciation of the flower in nature is groovy, it is the Western scientists’ inquiry which leads to new knowledge of the world around us, but that a science without humble mindfulness can easily lead to disaster for the race given the reach and consequences of modern technology.

 b. Human nature and central planning: Fromm’s thesis is that we can reshape our actions beliefs and destiny through the power of rational thought and disciplined action, and that we can design a universally applicable, better life for everyone. My antithesis is that man is in equal parts, a rational and emotional being; that there are limits to rationality and the persuasiveness of logic and reason; that life is too complex to be reduced to centrally planned, universal designs for the good life; and that the political realities of life do not permit simple transitions due to the nature of power.  My synthesis is that we can appeal through dialogue and discourse to the good that is in human nature, and aspire to an improved life for others, and that rugged individualism is not the ideal life for everyone either, despite its personal appeal to me.

c. Black and White classifications:  Fromm’s thesis is expressed in absolute terms, making mutually exclusive distinctions in almost every category he considers. Examples include his unqualified support for the success and goodness of the sexual revolution of the 1960s; the characterization of language itself as a conscious means whereby those in power create the meaning of individual words to further their materialistic agenda; that the choice of capitalism must inevitably lead to unbridled appetites for more and more until we exhaust the planet. He takes everything to its logical and often illogical extreme to dramatize the differences in the modes of beings and in the choices presented to people and nations. My antithesis is that there are checks and balances between your values, between members of your family, between friends, interest groups, communities, branches of government, and between nations themselves. Further, these checks and balances are adaptive and dynamic and that it is in the peaceful accommodations and adjustments we make that we have hope for a better future for all; that there are limits to how far a theory or model may be taken to explain phenomena; that there is a limit to the region of fit for any theory. My synthesis is that black and white characterizations can be useful to make dramatic statements that get your attention; that sometimes taking things to the logical extreme is a valuable way to demonstrate the very need for the compromise and discourse that I favor. Discourse:

            After declaring a week of truce for reflection and research, I engaged Fromm discursively. I researched his background, his other writings, and the testimony of friends and colleagues concerning his impact on their lives as a scholar and a person. I found that by conducting dispassionate research, I was able to transcend the heat of the dialectic, which actually helped me to complete the synthesis portion of each dialectic thread where I’d experienced an emotional reaction. The syntheses in the three example of dialectic above were only reached after a cooling off period of discourse, research and reflection.

             I found that the heat of the dialectic helped me raise the energy to conduct the research. Once engaged in research, my natural curiosity took over and carried me deeper than I would have gone if just motivated by a need to be right in some fanciful, contrived “argument” between Fromm and me. Fromm’s Germanic background reminded me of Hesse’s story of Magister Ludi and the Glass Bead Game, where a traditional game continued to be played long past the time when its origin, relevance and importance had been forgotten.

             I grew to respect for Fromm’s independent thinking, even as it caused him to depart over and over again from groups once friendly to his thinking, and where he could have remained and enjoyed the fruits of inclusion. He was a German Jew who left both Germany and the Jewish faith in search of a better life and a deeper spirituality. He was a trained psychologist and psychiatrist who left the confines of the Freudian, Rogerian and Jungian schools of thought to elaborate his own ideas of personality and psychological balance. He was a social philosopher who engaged in the practical worlds of politics and punditry by fighting peacefully against nuclear proliferation and  the Vietnam War , and in support of social justice. He was a prolific scholar, yet he wrote many popular books that made his ideas on the good life accessible to the masses. He was a systematic thinker, yet his ideas and concepts evolved through time as he reflected on his experience and the world around him. He was a good friend and a generous humble person by the accounts we have from his friends and co-workers.

 And so, I find in Fromm all the elements of the good life defined by Socrates and the ancients.  He is a man of passion, intellect, scholarship and good works, who lived an examined life, and who sought to apply his values in daily life.  If he and I disagree on certain aspects of how precisely to define the good life and how completely we might propose a design for a good life for all, surely the world is large enough for us to both live in it at the same peacefully and in mutual support.

In the course of thinking about this paper, the design of its concept and flow, the research I conducted, the Moodle discussions where I began to partially explore some of these ideas and in the actual writing this paper, I found the heat of dialectic and the light of discourse to be useful and enlightening. I think that the combination of both perspectives was more important that the exclusive use of either by itself would have been. To have applied just the dialectic would have resulted into an argumentative essay between Fromm and I, whereas a pure discursive paper, with the energy of passion, may have been a theoretical inquiry without the motivation to go beyond my own beliefs.

 In conclusion, I have enjoyed and learned from my engagement with the life  and works of Erich Fromm.

References:

 Currie, N. (2008). To Have or To Be.  frieze magazine: a leading magizine of contemporary art and culture.. Retrieved Nov 20, 2009, from http://www.frieze.com/comment/article/to_have_or_to_be/

Daniels, V. (2003). Lecture notes on Erich Fromm.  Victor Daniels’ Website in The Psychology Department at Sonoma State University.  Retrieved Nov 20, 2009, from   http://www.sonoma.edu/users/d/daniels/frommnotes.html

Fromm, E. (1976). Fromm: To have or to be? New York: Continuum.

 Hadot, P. (2002). What is Ancient Philosophy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Infed editors. (n.d.) erich fromm: freedom and alienation, and loving and being, in education. infed: the encyclopedia of informal education.  Retrieved Nov 20, 2009, from http://www.infed.org/thinkers/fromm.htm

 Maccoby, M. (1994). The Two Voices of Erich Fromm: The Prophetic and the Analytic. The Maccoby Group: Agents of Change. Retrieved Nov 20, 2009, from http://www.maccoby.com/Articles/TwoVoices.shtml

  Mao, T. (1938). Dialectical materialism. Marxist Internet Archive. Retrieved Noc 17, 2009, from http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-6/mswv6_30.htm

 MGM830 Moodle entry authors. (2009). Assorted.  MGM830 Moodle discussions. Retrieved Nov 15, 2009, from http://www.instituteforadvancedstudies.net/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=26503

New World Encyclopedia editors. (n.d.) Fromm, Erich. New World Encyclopedia.  Retrieved Nov 20, 2009, from http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Erich_Fromm

 Pace, G. (1977). Erich Fromm Interview: To Have or To Be.  scribd. Retrieved Nov 20, 2009, from http://www.scribd.com/doc/8895007/Erich-Fromm-Interview-To-Have-or-to-Be

 Raapana, N, & Friedrich, N. (2005). What is the Hegelian Dialectic?.    Crossroads: the Kjol Ministries. Retrieved Vov 15, 2009, from http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/05/dialectic.htm

 SparkNotes Editors. (n.d.). SparkNote on The Communist Manifesto. Retrieved November 17, 2009, from http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/communist/

 Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy editors. (2008). Karl Marx: Theses on Feuerbach. The Stanford Encyclopedia on Philosophy (SEP). Retrieved Nov 17, 2009, from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/marx/#2.4

A couple weeks ago I spent a bit of time talking over teachers’ use of classroom standards with Stephen Sawchuk of Education Week.  Standards are a big topic right now, especially as the Common Core State Standards Initiative finalizes national standards for English language arts (ELA) and mathematics.  Almost all 50 states have signed on to adopt and implement whatever standards the National Governors Association (NGA) and Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) develop with very little fuss.  Why is this?  Perhaps states are desperate for federal funding; they are required to sign on in order to compete for current funds.  Perhaps, at this point, we see ELA and mathematics content as uncontroversial.  Perhaps states know that national standards will have to be broad, at least as broad (in the case of ELA) as the standards they are already using.  After all, states will only be required to use 85% of the Common Core Standards, and how different can they really be?  Perhaps states think adopting the Common Core will only require minor shifts in verbiage, not major shifts in systemic thinking.   Perhaps, after all, we recognize the fact that standards have very little, if any, impact on daily classroom instruction.

Yes, I know…teachers have to write the day’s standards on their boards, list them in lesson plans, and address them when preparing students for state standardized assessments.  But that doesn’t mean that teachers actually understand and use standards.  In my experience, what happens is that teachers design great lessons around great content, then cherry pick standards to fit that lesson and content.  In my subject area – English – you can design almost anything and find standards that fit.  Over the last two years, working with my department chair to make sure our department’s classroom tests and tasks assess standards at high levels, I’ve come to believe that teachers design first and look at standards later. 

That’s not surprising.  Years ago, while on a Fulbright to the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, I spent a year and a half analyzing the factors influencing teachers’ use of the new national curriculum, English in the New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 1994).  I found that the national standards did not impact teachers’ individual pedagogy directly.  Instead, teachers tended to formulate practice and respond to curriculum documents based on the same set of factors:  Experience, Management Purposes, Consciousness of Professional Environment, Teacher Interests, Context Constraints, Students, and Teacher Beliefs. 

In a U.S. context high-stakes standardized assessments also play into teachers’ thinking.  At least in tested subjects, we want to address standards because those standards are what is purportedly being assessed on the tests by which we, our students, and our schools are evaluated.  In the back of our minds, however, we know how impossible (and unethical) it is to match our teaching to the questions on a high-stakes test.  Standards themselves – as they should be – tend to be broad and many, too broad and too many for one test to cover or even one teacher in one, 180-day year to teach well.  Teaching/testing mismatches are inevitable.  “There are enormous and typically unrecognized mismatches between what’s tested and what’s taught.  If you look carefully at what the items in standardized achievement tests are actually measuring, you’ll often find that half or more of what’s tested wasn’t even supposed to be taught in a particular district or state” (Popham, 2001).  Deep down teachers know this.  My low-level middle school students rarely missed questions because they didn’t know the standard.  Often, what tripped them up was a vocabulary word in the question itself.

According to the NGA and CCSSO, their common core state standards will be fewer, clearer, and higher.  That’s great, but it’s not the point.  In the state of education right now, standards only inform practice minimally, if at all.  Even if we create a massive national standardized assessment program and all the test-prep workbook and workshop nonsense to go with it (for which I am sure the Common Core partners – Achieve, ACT, and the College Board – see the potential), teachers will still cherry pick. 

Standards are targeted only when a teacher first looks at the standards, then designs.  What that takes is a very savvy teacher, one who can analyze the language of the standards, translate them into learning targets, design instruction leading to those targets, and design assessments that reliably verify learning of those targets.  Standards and assessment go hand in hand.  We need teachers who can both deduce learning targets and induce the big picture.  We need teachers who can get their students talking about standards, not teachers who cherry pick from a curriculum document to write standards on the board or in their lesson plan books.  The educational environment right now encourages teacher compliance, not true understanding and creativity, and it is understanding and ingenuity that will make the standards rubber hit the classroom road.  For that what we need is not mandates or legislation, but strong instructional leadership and professional development focused on increasing teachers’ assessment literacy from pre-service to tenure.

Ministry of Education.  (1994).  English in the New Zealand curriculum.  Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.

Popham, W. J.  (2001).  The truth about testing: An educator’s call to action.  Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Dad showed me how to make a web album of photos, so I have put the pictures here. Hope that it is okay to share? If you like I can edit the ones that you don’t want shared.

Today I spent another day with my Junior High School students. It was a good day. But as I stand there often not involved in classes except to read for the students to repeat (human tape recorder, we call it), I get to observe my students. This is always an interesting way to keep my mind occupied.

As I stand there, I frequently notice that the boys in the class have some very “girly” school supplies. Minnie Mouse Folders, pink pencils and plenty of other things. Why is it that guys in the US think that these types of things would make them less “manly”? Why is it that American society deems these things “girly?” Why do we have to separate things and jobs as feminine or masculine?

The differences continue outside the classroom. Construction equipment here is often cute. Elephants, frogs and monkeys hold up bars to keep people seeing the edge of the road. The lifter things that help people reach power lines, painted like giraffes.Why is it that construction equipment at home is never painted in pastel colors? Or pinks? Or any of the colors we deem “feminine?” Or is it because animals are “childish?” If that’s the case, who quit liking animals after they were an adult?

In the states, we also seem to classify jobs this way. How many male elementary teachers have you met? There are usually one or two at any school, clearly outnumbered. How many women do you know going into computer science? I know a handful, but I know way more men. Why is this? Didn’t God give us each unique talents and abilities? Why would women not be able to do some jobs and men not be able to do others?

I may be crazy to share all of these thoughts, but at home I get annoyed when the boys in the classroom think they can’t be good at reading or writing because they’re “girl subjects” (or sometimes even school at all), or when a girl thinks she can’t be good at math or science because they’re “boy subjects.” Students seem to choose this way of thinking all the time (or did when I was subbing).

I’m not trying to say that women should be better than men at everything or vice versa. I just get annoyed with the way we box things into gender. Why are school supplies, colors, school subjects and professions categorized into genders? They have no gender. They’re inanimate objects.

Will we ever be able to disconnect these things from gender? Would lifting these boxes that we have put ourselves and those around us in change anything? I’m not sure. I would hope that it would make everyone help to be themselves. Help them to dress in the colors they want to. Help them to do a job they love rather than shying away from it because it’s not something they should be doing.

*Title thanks to: Elizabeth, author of Futons, Fish, and Ferries and one of my regular blog editors

The XI-F1 family

This is the XI-F1 family. Members (From top row, L-R):

First Row: Karthik Venkatesan, Siva Samhith, S Rajeshwer, Sailesh Krishna, Sarav Rajavelu, Ankit Shai, Akshay Desai, K Anirudh, Arjun Sundaresh, Bajajee Chandrasekar.

Second Row: Girish Chandar, Gita Kumar Merrick, Krishna Pranavesh, S Chandrashekar, Arvind Ramachandram, Pradeep Palaniswamy, Utkarsh Savanur, Prithvi Shankar, V Ramaswamy, Chirayu Surana.

Third Row: Abhishek Dutta, Hari Prasad, Karan Sharma, Shreyansh Jain, Satya Saurav, C Natarajan, Poris Bharadhwaj, Raghavender Bharathwaj, Shivamshu Prabhakar, Garimella Aadithya Krishna, Vishal Jain.

Fourth Row: Aishwarya Mohan, Malar Vizhi, Adithya Balakrishnan, Sneha, Srujana, Mrs. M. Jayanthi (teacher), Parul Verma, Aishwarya Pai, Suprajah, Varuna Venkatesh, Pooja Nilangekar.

Pretty good photograph, I would say. Starting from the top left, there’s me with that weird giraffe look there, followed by Akshay a few places to the right of the photo trying to look over the photographer’s head I guess! The second row has Arvind struggling to keep his eyes open. Maybe he’s got that dazed look on his face cause he’s been studying all night A few places to the right of him is Prithvi, with his ultimate pose! He’s oriented in some other direction, but he’s looking at the camera all right! In the third row, you can see a clean-shaved Duttta looked young and all. A couple of places to the right is the famous Karan Sharma, looking elsewhere – God knows at what though, cause the only things that interest him are textbooks!. And the Nataraj trademark is clearly visible there with that typical “Attention!” pose he’s showing there! Poris, next to him is… well, I don’t really know how to put it. “Dazed”, like Arvind would probably be the right word to use. Raghav is next to him, and he’s giving the photographer a cold, scary look! But the star of the photo has got to be… yes, the one, the only… Garimella! He’s got a rather proud look on his face and an “over-neat” hairstyle to go with it.

Srujana in the last row seems a little scared of MJ, cause she looks like she’s backing away from her. Same with Parul, I would say, along with the fact that her tie is very oddly standing out! Pooja, however, is the other way around – she’s more towards Varuna. Wait! Wasn’t Varuna the one that she… uh, in chemistry class kinda… uh, never mind!

Lol. No offence to anyone here. I’m just kiddin’ around. By the way, you can click on the photo for a better look at it.

Hello  Everyone!

I have some things to share that have recently been made by the seiko company.  They are called Kinetic Watches!. These watches are developed to reduce the amount of batteries that are used in watch making everyday. The mechanics in these special watches are made so that they create a charge that makes the watch keep on going!. Even though they are quite expensive, just wait untill they get cheaper and buy it! they are worth it. You find all these watches in normal watch stores. Not the ones on the streets because the watches can be fake! 

   This is a Seiko Kinetic Watch.

Seiko Premier Kinetic Direct Drive Moon Phase  SRX001P1  : (Cal.5D88) :

Ping Ping

This is another song chipmuck version

I have something to confess.

I am an English scholar who loves the Twilight series. I’ve read it – all four books (five if you count the unpublished manuscript, Midnight Sun) – multiple times. When I let my sister borrow the actual books, I had a Twilight attack and paid another $10 each to download them onto my Blackberry. I saw New Moon this past weekend…twice.

It’s not Robert Pattinson or Kristen Stewart that I obsess over, or even Taylor Lautner’s recent and perfect abs (he is only seventeen after all). When an interview with one of the actors comes on television, I flip the channel – it is hard to stomach their semi-articulate mumbling. I don’t buy the fan magazines or stare at posters, though I did try to win Edward’s Volvo on whatdrivesedward.com. No, what I love is the story itself.

Don’t think that I am some kind of YA fanatic. I have a hard time with most young adult literature – simplistic, overly dramatic, hung up on teen pregnancy and peer pressure. Classics are my thing. I especially love a novel of manners, where the protagonist pits his/her individual aspirations against the expectations and rules of society – Great Expectations, Ethan Frome, Middlemarch. I never thought to pick Twilight up until one of my students came to me, crying and unable to complete her independent reading assignment, because she was so overwrought and in love with Edward Cullen. She made me curious.

Twilight caught me because it is a novel of manners, much like one of my other favorite novels, Pride and Prejudice. This is not a surprise. Stephanie Meyers, an English major herself, is a Jane Austen fan. Check outTwiCmm818’s YouTube recasting of Pride and Prejudice.

It makes sense. Like Elizabeth Bennett and Fitzwilliam Darcy, Bella and Edward must overcome the respective rules of their separate social classes – in the case of Twilight, human, vampire, and even werewolf – and their own personal failings to find happiness in love. Like Pride and Prejudice, social divisions are rooted in heredity, society, and wealth. Meyers actually layers in another category of division central to 21st century American society: beauty. Looking at Edward from varying characters’ perceptions, even Bella’s in the beginning, Meyers plays with the distinction between internal merit (goodness of person) and external merit (rank, wealth, and beauty). After her friend Jessica observes that Edward is “unbelievably gorgeous,” Bella responds, “There’s a lot more to him than that.” Bella, in fact, acting as an first-person narrator, sees the internal merit in all the characters – her father, Jacob Black, Mike Newton, even Rosalie. Like an eighteenth century novel of manners, Twilight criticizes social assumptions and regimented ideas of appropriate behavior. In an interesting twist, whereas Austen’s heroines single-mindedly protect their reputations and seek marriage, Bella must struggle against the 21st century taboo against teen marriage to marry and find happiness in Edward. Even so, social reputation and marriage are central to both stories.

Shirley and Wallis Kinney, of the the Jane Austen Society of North America, write a terrific analysis of the connections – see “The Jane Austen – Twilight Zone.”  In Twilight we find the harebrained (but more likeable) mother, the somewhat distant but beloved father, as well as multiple suitors for Bella’s attention. There’s even a dance. Notably, Darcy and Edward are both drawn to their love interests against their better judgment. Twilight is timeless because it operates on a number of levels. It entertains like Pride and Prejudice, with a reliance on dialogue over description; it provides social commentary and criticism; it offers universal themes about love and society; and it inspires a vision of romance ideal in both Jane Austen’s time and our own.

No wonder Twilight is so appealing. I think I need to go read it again.

Go to this site for some fun Thanksgiving games:

http://www.primarygames.com/holidays/thanksgiving/games.htm

Keanu Reeves: Photo Courtesy of keanu.org

In this week’s premiere of New Communication Technologies (NCT) class, our great lecturer, Ping, showed us Minority Report. I was beginning to think whether it was a coincidence (Ping could have been intending to recruit Keanu Reeves fans like herself) or that there was a more significant agenda – to let the ignorant children trapped in the protective environment of this classroom open their eyes to what could be the future of the universe!

We have the usual adventure story – good guy, righteous and all, wronged by the bad guys hence set out to clear his name… by kidnapping a bald-shaven and pale woman – who can barely communicate well with her stutters, which is good because it prolongs the storyline and the air time.

Alright, who am I kidding?

The crux is this – the technology used and displayed in the show is beyond the present. However, many revolutions have passed through the centuries and the sci-fi in Minority Report could just be the next in line.

And current technology seems to be edging towards the Minority Report reality. Compare the following:

Today’s technology – a man interacting with a projected surface using his fingers:

(click on image for video)

Minority Report – Keanu Reeves interacting with holograms using his fingers:

Keanu Reeves: Photo Courtesy of flixster.com

Aren’t those two most alike? Not forgetting location-based services are personified as the Precogs (ones who are capable of telling the future) in the movie as well. It is indeed amazing to see the human race mingle with science to create possibilities and bring about what seems to be convenience to the society.

However, things appear too perfect. And too-perfect things can be flawed in some way or another.

Think about this – one of some other problems that may surface: what will happen to the privacy of each individual if tracking whereabouts of individuals were as simple as a click on a system – especially with the impending proliferation of location-based services?

Do privacy and convenience with technology possess an inverse relationship? Think about it while you tweet, facebook, plurk, stumbleupon or use that android application.

]]> http://6ssatnist.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/another-down-version/ Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:43:19 +0000 Ranvir http://6ssatnist.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/another-down-version/

I went to Down Down on youtube today. I found Alvin and the chipmunks singing the down version of J Sean and Lil Wayne. The video is embeded below: More will be posted daily

After Wigan slumped to Tottenham Hotspurs 9-1 at White Hart Lane on Sunday, Wigan manager Roberto Martinez has decided to refund the money to the fans. The money was refunded at the DW Stadium yesterday evening. Martinez was disappointed with the loss and the formation that he put. Meanwhile at North London, spurs boss, Harry Redknapp was delighted that her celebrated in the locker room. Asked about Defoe’s 5 goals, he said that Defoe was fantastic. Also asked about Lennon’s hatrick of assissts, Harry said that Lennon can be the best winger in the world if he always plays like that. He earned reputation by being the Premier League’s best winger.

WIGAN ARE SUPER SHAMELESS

Wiki enable anyone and everyone to create content online using easily understandable tools. K-12 schools are taking advantage of the opportunities for interacting with teachers and students.

http://teaching-with-technology.wikispaces.com/Wikis+in+Education

This website shows how wikis can be used in education. You can find articles about the history how wikis started, gives examples how wikis can be used in classrooms, and also gives resources for teachers.

Here are some examples of online spaces where you can join and use wikis for your class.
Wikispaces
http://www.wikispaces.com/site/for/teachers
pbwiki
wetpaint
MindTouch Deki Wiki
wiki.is

Teachers can create online text or presentation for classrooms and students can also have their own pages where they upload work to be submitted for assessment as well as download work given out by teachers. This is a great way of communicating and interacting with each other.

Test Tomorrow!
Check your answers using this key.

Good luck!chapter 6 review answers

I recently learned during a presentation that iClicker has created a web interface, austensively to give users a choice as to the device they can use to vote in class.  The website would allow the student to use a smart phone or other web enabled device instead of the iClicker.  This has some interesting ramifications.

From the prospective of accessibility, it is a great idea.  It is nearly impossible to make a small device like a clicker accessible to all users, whereas a computer has a much more flexible interface.  For example, a student who has limited mobility could use the web interface in conjunction with voice recognition to answer questions in class.  The addition of voice recognition to the clicker device would make it prohibitively expensive.

The interesting side effect of this would be that users who are actually not in class could also answer questions.  Depending on how long and how predictably the instructor uses the clicker, a student could, for example, evade the attendance policy.

More information on the iClicker web interface can be found at <http://www.iclicker.com/dnn/Products/webclicker/tabid/156/Default.aspx>