08-12-2004, 10:18 PM
Looking at the world as a pattern of systems has become increasingly popular in recent years. One of the distinctions this allows is between open and closed systems and the attitudes that go with these. Buckminster Fuller described it this way to me: "If you draw a circle in the sand and study only what's inside the circle, then that is a closed-system perspective. If you study what is inside the circle and everything outside the circle, then that is an open system perspective." Open systems interact with what is around them and can be understood only by including an understanding of their relationship to everything else, which means that - in a closed-system sense - they can never be fully understood. Each human being is an open system.
We once felt that the brain was like a mental file cabinet where order and structure prevailed. We determined it would best be served by orderly and structured experiences. Parenting and schooling were designed according to proved specific closed-system training. Routine and discipline were seen as virtues rather than conveniences. Children came to be judged by how well they conformed to closed-system rules. They quickly learned to play the game to win. It was seldom their prerogative to learn how to write new rules and thus up their own systems of thought. Pitiably, growing up meant fitting in - conforming to the rules which, once written, were seldom questioned.
It is my belief that, society is killing itself as our all people that partake in it, not apprehending knowledge but only comprehending knowledge that is known. We are killing the initiative of our own selves. We are fitting ourselves to a patterned role in life and just living it, rather than justifying our actions and evaluating new concepts. We have grown accustomed to the way things are or how they have been planned, and in a sense we have not really educated or children but just filled them with knowledge. We have not given them a chance to perceive ideas. We have killed their imaginations. We have killed their creativeness. They pass the test because they know the answers. They are being evaluated for their knowledge not their ability to acquire knowledge.
Maybe we can improve society by letting them start at an early age what they wish to learn and have them pose their knowledge to us. Then we evaluate what they say and show the weaknesses in their view. Then if they switch to the opposite perception, do like wise. And in a sense let them use their reasoning and creativeness to outsmart us. Making them more perceptive and more willing to take initiative.
We once felt that the brain was like a mental file cabinet where order and structure prevailed. We determined it would best be served by orderly and structured experiences. Parenting and schooling were designed according to proved specific closed-system training. Routine and discipline were seen as virtues rather than conveniences. Children came to be judged by how well they conformed to closed-system rules. They quickly learned to play the game to win. It was seldom their prerogative to learn how to write new rules and thus up their own systems of thought. Pitiably, growing up meant fitting in - conforming to the rules which, once written, were seldom questioned.
It is my belief that, society is killing itself as our all people that partake in it, not apprehending knowledge but only comprehending knowledge that is known. We are killing the initiative of our own selves. We are fitting ourselves to a patterned role in life and just living it, rather than justifying our actions and evaluating new concepts. We have grown accustomed to the way things are or how they have been planned, and in a sense we have not really educated or children but just filled them with knowledge. We have not given them a chance to perceive ideas. We have killed their imaginations. We have killed their creativeness. They pass the test because they know the answers. They are being evaluated for their knowledge not their ability to acquire knowledge.
Maybe we can improve society by letting them start at an early age what they wish to learn and have them pose their knowledge to us. Then we evaluate what they say and show the weaknesses in their view. Then if they switch to the opposite perception, do like wise. And in a sense let them use their reasoning and creativeness to outsmart us. Making them more perceptive and more willing to take initiative.