- From EdRev online
magazine*
-
- Email:
info@educationrevolution.org
- www.educationrevolution.org
-
-
- Reflection of
a Baby Boomer on the Eve of the New
Millennium
- by Jerry
Mintz
-
-
- It was in
1948 that I first became aware of years. I was five years old. As
the new year approached I could hardly believe that it would never
be 1948 again-- That it would never come back. Never! To me, it
was like the death of a year.
-
- And the idea
of death did haunt me through my teen years and beyond. I remember
for some reason being sure that I would never live past 26. Maybe
the fact that my brother died at 20 when I was 23 had something to
do with it, but I'm quite sure I believed that before Billy died.
So, in a sense, everything after that has been gravy.
-
- I wrote a
letter to myself when I was 14, to be read periodically when I
grew older. I still have it. Among other things, in that letter I
said that I thought I had a clearer perspective on the universe
and existence at that time than I would later, because when I
would be older I'd have some job or business or organization which
would occupy so much of my time that I could never see things in
true perspective. Not that I thought I understood much back then.
In fact, one aspect of the later delusions I anticipated was that
I would actually think I knew some true things when I was older.
"You may not be confused about these things, or just not think
about it, for 'growing up' may just be a way of rationalization to
stop from going 'crazy,' at least in society's eyes." And I warned
myself, "Remember, adolescence is a different person, not to be
looked down upon!"
-
- I remember
many years later that I suddenly came to fully realize that in my
life I would never truly get the answers to my deepest
questions--That I would never live to see how things came out in
the end. I was furious about that. It was focused in such a moment
that, of all things, I have the image etched in my mind of shaking
my fist at the television set, which I was watching at the time.
And after that realization, for some reason, I finally lost my
fear of death.
-
- Exactly six
years ago I had heart angioplasty for a 90% blocked artery, and
three months later it recurred because of scar tissue from the
first procedure. As I recovered from that, I woke up in the middle
of the night and wrote this four liner:
-
- And then one
morning you don't wake up
- And everyone
says how surprised they are.
- You would
have been the most surprised
- But nothing
surprises you any more.
-
- So, I called
my naturopath friend and went a different route, changing my diet,
my lifestyle and my attitude. Now I'm in very good health, even
playing the best table tennis of my life.
-
- But I
clearly remember calculating when I was 14 that if, by some
miracle, I survived until the end of the century, that I would be
an unfathomable 56 years old at that time. Well, that time is now.
I guess all the rest is really gravy!
-
QUOTES FROM THE YOUTH
PANEL
- at the "Spirit of Education"
Conference, 2001
- Jerry Mintz, editor, Education
Revolution E-News
-
- From
Jerry:
-
- In the last issue we
mentioned that we will have a section of this issue of the
Education Revolution Magazine devoted to the statements of the
students from the Youth Forum at the Spirit of Education
Conference. Here are a few examples:
-
- Genevieve:
(16)
- I'm in public school and I
feel totally just…squashed. I do not feel free to do what I
really love. Everything is formatted, all about points and grades.
The child is never considered. We get all the same assignments,
the same stuff, and we're not the same people. It doesn't make any
sense. If somebody said to me what do you want to do, what do you
love to do, I would be ecstatic. It's not that difficult to do,
it's pretty simple. You just have to be open to that option I
think
-
- Nell: (14)
- For me it depends on who you
are as a person. Some people don't have a good home life and don't
know who they are and the public school system doesn't help there.
But if at home you are encouraged to be who you are and you know
who you are you can survive. It's about who you are. If I went to
public school … I don't want to go to public school …
but I know I would do fine. I know people who become passive and
don't know what their opinions are because they've become stifled.
That makes me really sad
-
- Yashoda:
(13)
- "One of the things I'm
afraid of is not being accepted for who I am, but being judged by
the way I dress, the way I walk, the way I wear my hair. Most
people dress the way they dress, not because it's the way they
want to, but because it's what they think other people like. They
are so afraid of not being accepted that they will chop off all of
their hair. They'll get facial surgery so people will like them.
They are so scared they won't be accepted. It's not totally
conscious. But it's not OK with me."
-
- Kyle: (14)
- "My biggest fear is that one
day growing up I will forget everything that I feel now and stand
for and I will just become another one of those people wandering
around the streets doing what everyone else does and doing it
because it's easier. Just because the path less taken is harder
and longer and I just couldn't stay the course because I wanted to
take the easy way out."
-
- Clay: (17)
- "I get my courage and my
dreams from my freedom. If you're told that you need to know what
you're going to do when you grow up, does that inspire you to go
on and do it? It's in the time that I have to think for myself
that I become empowered."
-
- Sky:
- "Recognizing that you can
never completely know yourself is an enormous part of knowing who
you are."
-
- Zack: (15)
- "Ask us our ideals in any
given situation because we'll always have something important to
say. … Take with you now what we've shared and don't let it
stop here. Keep listening, but treat us like equals too. We don't
just want to be heard. We need to hear from you also. It's not
what you can do, it's what we can do; it's going to take everyone
to make a difference"
-
- TABLE OF CONTENTS OF EDUCATION
REVOLUTION MAGAZINE #33
-
- News
- Our Changing World, by
Albert Lamb (see below for contents of this
section)
- Wali, by David
Harrison
- A Tale of Two Tests, by
Dana Bennis
- The Grip is Tightening,
by Leonard Turton
- Eureka! It's Adamsky!
From an Interview with Alexander Adamsky
-
- Being There With Jerry
Mintz
- September-October:
- The Spirit of Learning in
Hawaii
- A Democratic Youth Forum
Speaks Its Mind, by Jerry Mintz
- July-August:
- Landing in England
- Life in the Cotswolds
- Home Education in England
- Summerhill's 80th Reunion
- Russian Alternative
Education 10th Anniversary Conference:
- A Russian Alternative
Education newspaper
- From Moscow to the
River
- Floating Meetings
- The Kids' Ideal School
- Artic Education
- The Last Day on the
Ship
-
-
- Mail and
Communications
- Edited by Carol
Morley
-
- General Communications:
Public Agenda survey, American Psychological Society study,
OBESSU's project, Ken from U Mass, Tech-savvy mentors, History
books thread, iEARN info
- Montessori Schools:
Montessori in Tomorrow's Child
- Magnet Schools: Magnet
Schools of America
- Public Alternatives: Dave
Pugh's probation, NEA against standardized testing, McCensored,
Protests against uniforms, High school journalists censored, RPPI
on real school choice, High Stakes in Wisconsin, Paths of Learning
resource index, Texas scores
- International News and
Communications: Australia, Brazil, England, India, Israel, Taiwan,
United Kingdom
- Home Education News:
American Homeschoolers discussion list, Home Ed makes Time,
Homeschoolers' Camp, Social Skills study
- Alumni News: Modern School,
Vershire School
- Teachers, Jobs, and
Internships: 17 listings
- Conferences: 5 listings
-
- Changing Schools
- (a special section of
EdRev)
- Edited by Albert Lamb
- Table of Contents
-
- The "Traveling
Home-Schooler" Looks Back, by Jenifer Goldman
- (Click
here
to read this article in its entirety)
- Who Was Makiguchi?, by Brian
Covert
- Saving Our Children &endash;
A Japanese Approach, by Dayle Bethel
- Democracy in Schools, James
Friis-Lawrence
- John Gatto: A Radically
Uncivil Society, An interview by Utrice Leeds and Jerry
Mintz
- Have Meditation Bench
&endash; Will Travel, Peter Christopher
- Book Reviews Edited by Steve
Rosenthal
- Natural Learning by Roland
Meighan
- Guerrilla Learning by Grace
Llewellyn and Amy Silver
- Inspecting the Island by
Hylda Sims
-
- Jerry Mintz, Managing
Editor,
- Education Revolution
E-News
- Alternative Education
Resource Organization
- 417 Roslyn
Rd
- Roslyn Hts, NY 11577, USA
- 516 621-2195
- 800 769-4171 (USA only)
- Fax: 516 625-3257
- Email:
info@educationrevolution.org
- www.educationrevolution.org
-
- Click
here
to view
contents of this issue of the Journal for Living -
- Kids on the
Edge