be us.
a collaboration from around the world. dedicated to you.
we and it
copyaway Š 2013 share. reproduce. remix. we did.
We written
and a lot of it has come to be.
Let’s write
and create societies for good.
1/intro
2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Muhammad Yunus, noted at the 2013 Skoll World Summit that much of science fiction has now become reality. He then suggested that if we start writing social fiction, the society we crave/imagine/dream of, might also become reality.
We have been experimenting with and dreaming of, a vision for 100% of humanity. We’re penning/sharing/modeling it. for you. for us. here. now.
3/intro
understand by intuition/empathy; merge/blend with it, become it
A
for
5/intro
contents 1\ a problem (sinkhole) 2\ a solution (loophole) 3\ a framework (syncwhole) 4\ a people (thumbhole) 5\ a public (holistic)
1\ a problem (sinkhole) Many of us are sick, stressed, not ourselves.
9/ch1
define normal.
http://gawker.com/all-my-friends-are-dead-489716639
My new life started in 10th grade at a desk in my science class in my public school on the Upper West Side of NYC. I remember the exact moment ‌.the Ritalin kicked in.
11/ch 1
I don’t feel resentment over the years I was on speed because I know I’m in good company. I’m a statistic in America’s drug problem.
1 in 5 high school boys are diagnosed with ADHD 57 million anti-psychotic prescriptions filled (2011) 400 percent spike in antidepressant use (1990-now) 1 in 5 American women currently on an antidepressant
Peter Moskowitz
13/ch1
We live in a world that ends most sentences with..
and they did/didn’t do well on the test. Because the (assumed) belief is that some common/basic knowledge/skills will bridge some (given) achievement gap, in order to gain an (apparently) accepted definition of success economic growth - health.
15/ch1
Everyone appears happy. They must think this is ok.
I must be the only one not comfortable with this.
I must be the only one not comfortable with this.
17/ch1
I must be the only one not comfortabl e with this.
I must be the only one not comfortabl e with this.
I must be the only one not comfortable with this.
I must be the only one not comfortabl e with this.
I must be the only one not comfortabl e with this.
I must be the only one not comfortable with this.
contents 1\ a problem (sinkhole) 2\ a solution (loophole) 3\ a framework (syncwhole) 4\ a people (thumbhole) 5\ a public (holistic)
2\ a solution (loophole)
Perhaps public education as a vehicle to social change. Redefine success/profit/proof/health. Restore authenticity & attachment via trust.
redefine success.
21/ch2
If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it, does it make a sound? If there is no fixed standard of educational success‌
23/ch2
intro/13
Imagine…in the life of a day.. you would meet up for one hour (or 30 min – whatever people decide) with a group of maybe 8 people. Five days a week. You could have a set place [in redesigned school buildings, public libraries, coffee houses, parks ...] or change it up each time, up to you. You just would need to come together. No agenda for the time spent, just sharing space, with a goal of eventually getting to know each other.
Imagine …we believed it was legal to talk to ourselves. Perhaps ... we awaken indispensable people, change the world for good, with the simple act of 7 billion people talking to themselves everyday. is as So imagine, everyone talking themselves everyday as a playing out of #2 in the redefinition of public ed.
Imagine everyone – being known by someone.
27/ch2
Imagine everyone – being themselves.
[1 of 2 – redefinition of public education]
Currently, public education is defined/financed/played-out/victimized via 500+ policies per district. If all i’s are dotted and all t’s crossed, according to those policies, the government/powers that be – grant you funding. (That comes from public taxes.)
If all i’s are not dotted and all t’s are not crossed, (a ginormous) part of potential funding/resources are spent on investigation of unmet policies. So we have inspectors of inspectors and people making instruments for inspectors to inspect inspectors. - Buckminster Fuller
29/ch2
Perhaps, we are focusing too much time/energy/people/resources on these policies/inspectors and the breaking/surveilling/maintaining of these policies.
Two policies in particular, feed into most other policies, because they initiate/perpetuate the system’s foundational idea/concept/policy of control. Perhaps, in order to simplify the redefinition, we focus on just these two ideas (policies if you must).
[Rather than the current mode of redefinition/reform/re-whatever, as seen when ie: a charter school seeks to break away from the 500+ policies. They are told/believed/forced to replace any policy they don't want to abide by. Cementing the ridiculous number of policies. Which, perhaps, is the thing that keeps getting in the way, the mounds of policy itself.]
31/ch2
We propose, rather than drowning in the (often in-humane) data of seat time, and in the (often non-legit) data of test scores, we focus on two simple things that could turn our world upside down:
1. attachment – everyone is
meeting with a small group – everyday for 30-60 min
2. authenticity – everyone is talking to themselves – everyday
Now/then, public education would/will be defined/financed/played out via 2 policies per district.
33/ch2
intro/15
differentiation. to infinity. perpetual beta.
embrace chaos. alive people. 35/ch2
breathtaking. by design.
contents 1\ a problem (sinkhole) 2\ a solution (loophole) 3\ a framework (syncwhole) 4\ a people (thumbhole) 5\ a public (holistic)
3\ a framework (syncwhole)
Imagine a framework that relies/feeds on the synchronicity of enough people, resources/spaces, and technology, in the city (optimal ecosystem), as the day (optimal 24/7).
rhizomatic learning 39/ch3
decentralizing breaking down hierarchy unleashing control
control
where did it stem from how is it working for us how to zoom us back in – to us
to see
41/ch3
43/ch3
45/ch3
people. face to face. eye to eye. heart to heart. love. 47/ch3
one remarkable
How are the people around you doing? tech connects
700 million
everyday
..doing/being the thing they can’t not do/be.
How to facilitate/crowdsource curiosities? Perhaps by hastening the time between
finding what matters to you & finding your people.
closest to now possible how to shrink/hasten/accelerate this time period. everyday. 49/ch3
Rather than thinking that our measuring/managing/competing is proof of success,
what if we question why we feel the need to
measure/manage/compete. [imagine what we could do with all the energy we spend on defense;] What if the fact that we feel the need to prove/manage/measure/compete is more an evidence of distress than success.
What if we let tech help us get back to us‌
51/ch3
might dictate your day
to manage time
might free up your day
to facilitate whimsy
An app that would encourage/create/support: 1. People talking to themselves daily, asking themselves if they are doing what matters. 1. People connecting to people in their city/community, a strategic serendipity. 1. People’s mesh network, their footprint or trail. 53/ch3
Imagine google glass/siri/everest, et al, via a necklace (or wherever/however you want to wear it) as accessible to everyone, under the guise/default/commons of public education.
like.. china
8 yr old
china
70 yr old
Oh. You meant a plate..
Oh. You meant a country..
No big deal. Another match up happening tomorrow. Think Groundhogs Day or 50 first dates.
55/ch3
guitar amp
15 yr old
GED volume amp
52yr old
Whoa. That’s how it works?
57/ch3
Could you have your band test it out?
Cool jets. A connection is made in real life. App records it as a trail/node.
It is a fact today that 1 in 10,000 of us can make a technological breakthrough capable of supporting all the rest. The youth of today are absolutely right in recognizing this nonsense of earning a living. We keep inventing jobs because of this false idea that everybody has to be employed at some kind of drudgery because, according to MalthusianDarwinian theory, he must justify his right to exist. 59/ch3
– Bucky Fuller
So we have inspectors of inspectors and people making instruments for inspectors to inspect inspectors. The true business of people should be to go back to school and think about whatever it was they were thinking about before somebody came along and told them they had to earn a living. – Bucky Fuller
We’d like to prototype this social fiction into reality in a more timely manner. We believe if people could see it happening, they’d go, we like that, we can do that. We’re seeking 20 million no-strings-attached in order to model a synchronicity that matters. [For more of how we see this self-sustaining anywhere, via true grit, and the trillions we already spend on school, testing, health, et al, perhaps start here: redefineschool.com/about/business-plan/ or click graphic below ]
8 mill – ish: for
places and resources,
buying and/or renting spaces (ie: community-owned spaces) for the crowdsourced gatherings that matter, also equipment/resources needed in those spaces, & for traveling to and from those spaces
61/ch3
5 mill – ish: for
tech,
while none of the ideas are new, combining them might be, being able to pay experts [to write code, for an app to hasten the time between finding what matters & finding your
people‌] and purchase resources [wifi, devices,..] will accelerate the ability to make this equitable on a global scale.
7 mill – ish: for
people,
people that need income can be supported to play with us, especially tapping into sabbaticals for teachers in the district, and waivers/scholarships into unis/business for students – so they won’t worry about the potential of being punished later for playing, or for taking a year (on) off – to come back & play our/their dream/vision, also parents/community members, wanting to play
63/ch3
contents 1\ a problem (sinkhole) 2\ a solution (loophole) 3\ a framework (syncwhole) 4\ a people (thumbhole) 5\ a public (holistic)
4\ a people (thumbhole)
The stories of social fiction‌. to a *t *thumprint
unique thumbprint
67/ch4
sharing/becoming stories/dreams (social fiction)
69/ch3
what’s your social fiction? assuming complete freedom AND assuming complete accessibility to people and resources you might choose to do/be things with AND assuming a timely means to help you connect/find your people on a daily basis.
might dictate your day
to manage time
might free up your day
to facilitate whimsy
verb noun
perhaps we verb more.
verb noun
Julia, age 12, uses a donated/recycled laptop and the donated wifi from the wifi bank, to voice record the following before she goes to bed:
I noticed a lot of my friends’ parents have cancer. They keep talking about early detection. I asked my mom and she said if you find out early on, the cancer can usually be cured, but that not enough people find out early. I also watched a video of a 17-year-old that wrote a recipe to cure cancer and is now working at Stanford. I’m dreaming about finding ways to improve early detection. I want to connect to people who are experts at this and see what I can learn from them.
75/ch4
Vicki, age 25, uses her iphone and texts while waiting at the doctor’s office:
I just found out my mom has cancer. They told her they didn’t find it soon enough and that it’s spreading too fast. I’ve got to research myself, find out some other answers for her.
Tom, age 7, uses his mom’s ipad and his family’s wifi access, to record the following:
My mom has been doing this healing stuff my whole life. I’ve never believed in it before. But she started doing it with me, because I have/had asthma, and now I don’t have it anymore. I’m really interested in seeing if it can help people with cancer.
77/ch4
The app connects them.
A mesh network created for each of these could have one small node representing their intense curiosity and that’s it. Or, it could be the start of an offshoot node, as they advance into the study of health and medicine. Either way, this cancer node could be detected by the app in a couple weeks by someone else talking to themselves about the same things and then they all receive notification of another potential connection.
79/ch4
A space where there are many people
doing things they love to do
painting, reading, tinkering with Chemistry, building electrical circuits, cooking, gardening etc.
Others are encouraged to come along side them and learn from them or work on their own projects and be able to ask questions of someone who knows. If a young person arrives who wants to understand math so he can get into a certain college course, someone is available to help – and perhaps there are 6 other young people who want to join them.
81/ch4
The benefits of this model include engaged students who are learning when they are the very most motivated to learn.
just-in-time learning Teachers who get to teach without the stress of classroom management and forcing a curriculum that doesn’t resonate with his students. It would provide a positive alternative to those who are disenfranchised with the current system – they will continue to learn and teach – their talents won’t be wasted or lost – they won’t turn to destructive behaviors because they will have a voice and a real opportunity to be productive and do something that matters.
83/ch4
They won’t get ulcers, become depressed, or hurt themselves or others because they are so stressed from being force through a system that doesn’t meet their needs. Other benefits –
building of relationships, the ability for young people to see many different pursuits and have the ability to try out many different things which would improve their chances of finding their talents earlier – The more people in our communities doing what they are really good at will make our communities happier, healthier and absolutely outstanding.
visions of such spaces: •
free access to spaces: maker/hacker; recording studios; dance studios; art studios; garden spaces; animals and animal spaces; research labs; robotics space;...
•
free access to people: mentors/players - all ages; district teachers; community members; business people; university students/professors; anyone you want to learn from or work/be with;...
•
free access to resources: wifi; devices; travel; stuff to make stuff with; ….
Perhaps..
In experimental phase: every (k-12 person) in the city has been placed in or chosen a group of 7-10 people. This small group meets daily for 30 min to an hour – with no specific agenda. This is to satisfice #1 of redefinition of public ed – everyone is known by someone. To satisfy #2 – everyone has access to a device and wifi – in order to talk to themselves everyday – via the curiosity app. The app suggests a local connection daily and creates an ongoing mind map of curiosities/findings/connections.
Certified teachers in the district (supported by sabbatical status in experimental phase) gather daily in different hubs around the city. This group frequents the coffee/book store. Working with their people on their passion/art. One is working on her masters. One is designing a city dark room. One is writing a novel. Youth access them here if they like, but also are connected via cell/fb. [Parents and community members are freed up in same way.]
Youth working on a city art project stop by to get some resources and information they are seeking.
87/ch4
Potential benefits for city/district people: Having such spaces in the city – the ability to go there – as a leaving to learn – to whatever degree desired. These spaces are now packed full of what we are missing most – people. free people. It’s like we are hiring self-directed learners to hang out in these spaces, so that when we want to and/or can go to these spaces ourselves, it is already an alive place.. That models/breathes informal, self-directed learning. [gardens, streets, walls - art] It’s like we are creating organic safe havens in the city.. if we can bring more homeschooler/unschoolers/drop out/ins back into the open, into the city, to play, we have a safer/happier/healthier community. Perhaps the more people we have – in the city, interacting, looking each other in the eye, the less we need false securities/fixes.
the money we’d save:
via a global/nationwide social bill we keep supporting (health, et al, would be in the trillions): I want you to consider the frightening possibility that we are spending far too much money on schooling, not too little. I want you to consider that we have too many people employed in interfering with the way children grow up – and that all this money and all these people, all the time we take out of children’s lives and away from their homes and families and neighborhoods and private explorations gets in the way of education. - John Taylor Gatto
89/ch4
The reason Swedes have wiped out what would be 1st and 2nd grades, is that they don’t want to pay the large social bill that quickly comes due when boys and girls are ripped away from their best teachers at home too early. It isn’t worth the price, say the Swedes, to provide jobs for teachers and therapists if the result is sick, incomplete kids who can’t be put back together again very easily. The entire Swedish school sequence isn’t 12 years, it’s 9. The direct savings of such a step in the U.S. would be $75-100 billion.
$75-100 billion. _____________
91/ch4
Today, people are learning online, on boats, in buses, in classrooms, in schools of all sorts, in other countries, at home, in the city, ‌ this is great. What we are suggesting is that we no longer pigeon-hole learners to any of these spaces. You want to learn on a boat. Great. But let’s not say now, that you are a boat learner only. Maybe tomorrow another space will behoove you. Change is good. .
Once we understand that learning can and should occur outside the classroom, it will become commonplace to see students engaged in learning activities throughout the community .
Perhaps we recapture of a child, in the city, in the country, in the wild.
play
Perhaps we invite wilderness back into our spaces, our people. Perhaps we create spaces of permission, where people have
nothing to prove. Spaces where we have no raised eyebrows, because we believe/realize,
there is never nothing going on. 93/ch 4
http://redefineschool.com/632/neocortex-not-threatened/
matters.
95/ch4
If you are so inclined, share/read/create/do/be/believe in more here:
http://redefineschool.com/632/social-non-fiction/
as seen in the link above – the stories/dreams are happening, all over. no way to record them all. and yet. the huge desire we have is ‌to hasten the day that everyone gets to play at this. ‌ to hasten equity - everyone getting a go - today.
contents 1\ a problem (sinkhole) 2\ a solution (loophole) 3\ a framework (syncwhole) 4\ a people (thumbhole) 5\ a public (holistic)
5\ a public (holistic)
What if the secret to sustainability, is true grit.
99/ch5
Perhaps redefining school in this manner could be the root of all problems/solutions/life. Perhaps if people can see it played out, they will believe enough, to take charge of the day, as the day, in their own cities.
Perhaps we start credentialing per our community. How are the people around us doing? Ie:
imagine a community such as mine, Loveland, CO. You, a university, or a CEO of a company, come to me today, asking if Peter is a good fit, if he’s worth consideration at your establishment. I say, most likely not. I explain to you, that currently, Loveland has 400+ charitable organizations, so one would think we wouldn’t be dealing with homelessness, our county wouldn’t be 6th in the nation in suicide rate, etc. I say, I wonder what the heck has Peter been doing, letting that happen in his community imagine you come to me a year from now. Loveland no longer has 400+ charitable organizations, but rather, one kitchen table. They have connected. They engage in ongoing conversations, conversations that matter. They’ve freed people who were homeless up to take care of their own situation. Because they question how we spend our days, health has improved, people start to believe they matter, the suicide rate has gone down…. And now, now I say to you, … yes, Peter. Peter is perfect. Whether or not he helped to change our community for good, he has been living in it. He’s associated and with people that are free and are practicing their art. Peter is gold. Peter is indispensable.
Perhaps we’ll start to realize, genius isn’t (doesn’t need to be ) rare. Perhaps when we facilitate authenticity… finding all the geniuses inside.. waiting to be seen/heard/loved. Perhaps we call facilitating curiosity/authenticity – school. Perhaps we carry that out - in the city – as the day. Imagine 7 billion such researchers/entrepreneurs/happy people.. no?
ie: Angela, Jack, Brittany, Ruchi, Jacob, Eesha, Boyan, Adora, Ash, Nikhil, (Socrates at 9), Caine M, Logan, Birke, Oscar, Piper, Xiuhtezcatl, Caine S, Sylvia, Lucas, Albert (et al), 4 yr old pianist, Chase, Satori, Everett, …. you..
101/ch5
103/ch5
What we have…
What we need…
1. people who want their days to
1. people (perhaps you) who believe they own the mattering of their days [most don’t believe it’s legal/possible to think for themselves]
2. tech that can aggregate/organiz e large amounts of data, et al
2. a means (perhaps tech) to connect people in a more timely/serendipitous manner [ie: to ground chaos & hasten connections if everyone is thinking for themselves]
3. space - where we are now
3. an ecosystem (perhaps a city) full of eclectic spaces/people/ resources [and very few rules - a huge sandbox]
4. time – now
4. time (perhaps the day), not tacked on to the already busy day, this can’t be after hours [well it can, but not if we’re seeking #1]
105/ch5
•
• • •
how to ensure the focus doesn't go toward the sync, and like agriculture, we lose site of the why, and focus only on some pre-determined efficiency. perhaps we keep the focus on curiosity - the natural whimsy of a person. becoming more and more natural, the more free the person truly feels. ie: the more they feel they have nothing to prove. how to create a device (some small chip you can add to your necklace, bracelet, bobby pin, glasses, headband, shoe, cell phone, laptop, earring, ..?) that you determine when to take it off, put it on. how to be the least intrusive to people - worldwide - who are doing/being - wearable? how to create/sustain an accessible/abundant data base - via redefinition of public ed - the only ask is that you put it on for minimum of 10 seconds a day... to talk to yourself. so then we have a ginormous data base.. from every person, for at least 10 seconds a day, to draw on.. to see what we have been missing in regard to the interconnectedness in our own city.
107/ch5
redefineschool.com/632/ 1-2-2-whyhowwhat/
Perhaps until we jumpstart/placebo us back to us, we need to focus on a synchronicity of things that matter..
109/ch5
just until we start believing in us, in learning, in curiosity. [again/ever]
Perhaps what has not yet been experimented with:
1/ a city-wide experiment, to provide an ecosystem of
eclectic people/resources;
111/ch5
2/ an as-the-day experiment, rather than adding something
or after hours (after school/work).
113/ch5
ok. so perhaps a crazy book title…
say it fast enough.. you hear – bs. but perhaps not so crazy… if it reminds us, that without you (u), this is bs. more on needing you… to be you.
a be you book.
http://redefineschool.com/about/story/a-be-you-book/