Day: December 21, 2019

Fighting for reason and liberty.

Ed Hudgins points to the importance of speaking out critically in the face of the horrors of foreign cultures, especially as these cultures are imported to America. “[I]t is imperative to discuss openly and without concern for political correctness of irrational sensitivities that obscure the truth, the moral and cultural foundations of a free society.”

Ed is right. Free Speech is a powerful tool but we must use it! We cannot remain silent about the savagery of foreign religious practices; we cannot lie and pretend there is a moral equivalence between our culture and others; we cannot silently sanction the irrational – primitive or post-modern – in our culture or in the world. We must speak out and make moral judgments.

Speaking of the primitive and post-modern threats to our Enlightenment heritage, David Kelley, has an excellent introduction to the subject and the false alternative between pre-modern faith-based philosophy and secular irrational post-modernism. Most importantly, he defends modernity – reason, science, individualism, liberty, and capitalism. “Who speaks for those values? Who provides the intellectual defense? Who carries the banner of modernity in the culture wars? Among popular writers, Ayn Rand was far and away the most articulate advocate. At the center of her Objectivist philosophy, which she explicitly aligned with the Enlightenment, was a morality of rational individualism.

CONSTRUCTIVIST MODEL OF EDUCATION

In the constructivist perspective, learning is a process
of the construction of knowledge. Learners actively
construct their own knowledge by connecting new ideas
to existing ideas on the basis of materials/activities
presented to them (experience). For example, using a
text or a set of pictures/visuals on a transport system
coupled with discussions will allow young learners to
be facilitated to construct the idea of a transport system.

Initial construction (mental representation) may be
based on the idea of the road transport system, and a
child from a remote rural setting may form the idea
centred around the bullock cart. Learners construct
mental representations (images) of external reality
(transport system) through a given set of acti vities
(experiences). The structuring and restructuring of
ideas are essential features as the learners progress in
learning. For instance, the initial idea of a transport
system built around road transport will be reconstructed
to accommodate other types of transport
systems—sea and air—using appropriate activities.
The
engagement of learners, through relevant activities, can
further facilitate in the construction of mental images
of the relationships (cause-effect) between a transport
system and human life/economy. However, there is a
social aspect in the construction process in the sense
that knowledge needed for a complex task can reside
in a group situation. In this context, collaborative
learning provides room for negotiation of meaning,
sharing of multiple views and changing the internal
representation of the external reality. Construction
indicates that each learner individually and socially
constructs meaning as he/she learns. Constructing
meaning is learning. The constructivist perspective
provides strategies for promoting learning by all.
The teacher\’s own role in children’s cognition
could be enhanced if they assume a more active role in
relation to the process of knowledge construction in
which children are engaged. A child constructs her/his
knowledge while engaged in the process of learning.
Allowing children to ask questions that require them to
relate what they are learning in school to things
happening outside, encouraging children to answer in
their own words and from their own experiences,
rather than simply memorising and getting answers right
in just one way — all these are small but important
steps in helping children develop their understanding.
‘Intelligent guessing’ must be encouraged as a valid
pedagogic tool. Quite often, children have an idea
arising from their everyday experiences, or because of
their exposure to the media, but they are not quite ready
to articulate it in ways that a teacher might appreciate.
It is in this ‘zone’ between what you know and what
you almost know that new knowledge is constructed.
Such knowledge often takes the form of skills, which
are cultivated outside the school, at home or in the
community. All such forms of knowledge and skills
must be respected. A sensitive and informed teacher is
aware of this and is able to engage children through
well-chosen tasks and questions, so that they are able
to realise their developmental potential.
Active engagement involves enquiry, exploration,
questioning, debates, application and reflection, leading
to theory building and the creation of ideas/positions.
Schools must provide opportunities to question,
enquire, debate, reflect, and arrive at concepts or create
new ideas. An element of challenge is critical for the
process of active engagement and learning various
concepts, skills and positions through the process. What
is challenging for a particular age group becomes easy
and uninteresting for the other age group, and may be
remote and uninteresting at another stage.
So often, in the name of ‘objectivity’, teachers
sacrifice f lexibility and creativity. Very often teachers, in
government as well as private schools, insist that all
children must give identical answers to questions. The
argument given for not accepting other answers is that,
“They cannot give answers that are not there in the
textbook.” “We discussed it in the staffroom and
decided that we will only accept this answer as right!”,
or that “There will be too many types of answers.
Then should we accept them all?” Such arguments
make a travesty of the meaning of learning and only
serve to convince children and parents that schools are
irrationall y rigid. We must ask ourselves why we only
ask children to give answers to questions. Even the
ability to make a set of questions for given answers is
a valid test of learning.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

Really Walmart ? Plumbing ??

 
Walmart closed down five stores in the US. What\’s new ? This happens all the time – stores are closed and stores are opened. So what ? What is strange is the reason it was done and the manner in which it was done.

Walmart announced to its employees two hours before store closing time on Monday last week that the stores were closing from the next day.  The reason stated was plumbing problems !! That is the most unusual reason you might have heard for stores to close.

Walmart has a history of treating its workers, shall we say, a little less generously than most other businesses. But , even by their standards, this closure is curious. One of the stores that was closed was at the forefront of a strike a couple of years ago.  The whiff, that this was retaliation against the workers is strong. But the other four stores weren\’t the leaders of the strike – so why these five ? Where the four simply lumped together to deflect the real intention to get at those b%^&*s who dared go on strike ?

Telling people two hours before shift ends that they don\’t have to come tomorrow does not appear to be a humanly good thing to do. But there is no place for human feelings  in the business world it seems, at least in Walmart. To be fair Walmart is saying that all employees would be paid two months paid leave when they can apply for jobs in other Walmart stores and that if they didn\’t succeed in two months, the permanent employees would be paid some severance pay.

The ostensible logic for the short notice to employees is that apparently if you give them a longer notice, they would all steal the store blind ! A more \”acceptable\” reason is  that they don\’t have to legally do any better.  Is this what employee relations in Walmart have come to ?

The stated reason for closure is urgent and pressing plumbing problems that have to be fixed. Really ??? Nobody the city or amongst the employees seem to have heard of the \”ongoing and pervasive\” sewer problems before. No permissions have been sought from city councils for any repairs. Its difficult to believe that the emergency closure of stores is really because the loo is leaking.

Even the most charitable view of the issue has to concede that Walmart could have handled the whole thing better. But this is probably a symptom of the real problem – Walmart management does not rank handling employees with care and concern very highly amongst its business priorities. That\’s a sad commentary on the business world. If one of the largest corporations and employers in the world, treats its employees as impersonally as a pallet of stock, then it is no wonder that they are hated as viciously as they are. The very word corporation has become a four letter word. And by their actions,  corporations are doing their very best to justify that tag.

What a stink !

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

Job losses in India too ?

My good friend who goes by the moniker of Vaingluory, at least on my travel blog, messaged me drawing attention to this story .  The opinion piece from a headhunter is titled \’Expect 100,000 to 200,000 Jobs to be Lost Every Year For The Next Three Years\’ .
There is a lot of hyperbole in this – I don\’t think India is going to lose jobs at that rate. Certainly not from the IT industry . But there is an undercurrent of truth , and there is a chill wind coming.
In the last 10-15 years, India, especially in the IT and BPO sectors has seen a pace of job creation that has been unmatched in its history. The impact this has had on people\’s lives is very visible in India\’s cities. In any other country, these job numbers would have been a spectacular miracle that would have transformed the country. India has a huge population and hence this is only a small wave in the ocean.
The young have come to believe that this scorching pace is the natural order of things and that anybody can get a job for the asking. Of course, this can\’t last for ever. The IT industry has matured and the rate of job growth has slowed down. That is only to be expected.  The days of \”Tresspassers will be recruited\” are long gone ! Companies are not recruiting in the same numbers. They are asking some underperformers to leave. Some have to cut their costs and so some layoffs have happened too. I do not see any evidence that there is going to be a large shrinkage of jobs ; there will be a much slower rate of growth and there will be some layoffs. But the overall numbers is not going to shrink in a short span of time.
But some global trends are inevitable and they will have a big impact. The most important of them is automation. This is an inexorable trend and will affect all industries including IT. This is going to be the single largest impact on jobs. It\’s a global problem without any easy answers.
The second problem in India, is agriculture. Agriculture has always been the sponge – the vast majority of the Indian population is employed (more accurately underemployed) here.  This sector is increasingly becoming financially strained, for reasons that are peculiar to India . Small land holdings, a major water crisis, inability to make significant profits, and the extent of risks for which there are no commensurate rewards. All these make agriculture likely to shed jobs on a scale that will be gargantuan. This has profound consequences for India. Manufacturing or services simply cannot absorb this load and even if they could, there is a massive skill gap for agricultural workers to migrate to other sectors.
India has one big advantage – an already strong services sector which will keep growing. This has the capacity to absorb skilled manpower. Touch any area and India has actually a huge potential for job creation. Judges, policemen, health care workers, retail industry workers, logistics industry workers, even professions like carpenters, plumbers, electricians – everywhere we have a shortage of qualified people even today.  Jobs will keep getting created in each of these trades. Many of them will be self employed . Many of them  may be in the government ; for example if we have to have a policemen to population ratio that is even remotely comparable to other countries, we will need to add millions of policemen. Ditto judges. Ditto nurses. 
The issue is skills. India has a young population that is extremely keen on education and willing to work hard. It lacks a real effective skill building initiative. The National Skills Development Corporation, if it really does its job, can transform India.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

Your Father knows

“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:7-8).

People speak about “the power of prayer.” But prayer by itself does not have any power. The One to whom we pray has unlimited power. No magic words can be sprinkled into our prayers to force him to do what we want. God wants us to pray, but he does not want us to trust in the power of our payers. He prefers that we put all our trust in him.

The Gentile approach to prayer treats the words of prayers as if they have magical powers. Repetition is important for such prayers and incantations to work. In the Gentile world, special times are set aside for prayer and meditation, because those activities are seen as a source of power for the faithful Gentile.

Jesus denies to us these forms of babbling. He gives us no special words to use and no special times to pray. He places no value in the repetition of prayers. Rather, Jesus wants us to treat prayer as conversation with God. Talk to God in a way you would speak to anyone you respect. Have your mind on him as you pray, not on the mechanics of your prayer. Treat God as a Father who can be trusted to love you, to understand you, and to want what is best for you.

Failing to pray is a sin. The person who refuses to pray reveals that God does not matter to him or her. Misusing prayer is also a sin. Prayer itself can become an idol, something worshiped in the place of the true God.

Jesus makes genuine prayer possible for us. Our sins had come between us and God—including our sins of neglecting God and our sins of replacing God. Jesus cancels our sins by his sacrifice. His forgiveness opens channels of communication between us and God. Because the only Son of God sacrificed himself for our adoption, we now are children of God and are invited to call him “Father.”

Genuine natural prayer requires some effort on our part. Such prayer includes struggle, and often our prayers fall short of the ideal. The more we think about prayer, the more likely we are to change prayer into something God never intended it to be. Instead of thinking about prayer when we pray, we think about Jesus. We lift our prayers to the Father “in Jesus’ name,” but not because that name is a magic formula which guarantees that we will be heard and answered. We pray “in Jesus’ name” because the life of Jesus, his death on the cross, and his resurrection have made prayer possible for us. We pray because of Jesus. We pray with our minds and hearts set upon him. J.