Seth's Blog: Confusing obedience with self-control

Seth's Blog: Confusing obedience with self-control: Compliant sergeants rarely become great generals.

Seth, once again lays it out as plain as day. Schools and companies reward obedience. that's nothing new. The problem is the part where the 'obedient' transforms to be 'self-reliant' - where 'control' becomes 'self control' - when we realize that we control our life.

It's a subject not taught in school, certainly not explicitly. We've created generations of people who require an external control. I see the problems students make when trying to live on their own. they seek out some form of external control - a job, a boyfriend/girlfriend, even a cause or community.

One way to get through school is to forfeit yourself. or rather, your self-control, identity...

This little blog post by Seth Godin has really given me quite a bit to think about.

It's funny there was a book that I found while learning to teach in Taiwan. It was called all kinds of minds and written by a North Carolinian pediatrician named Dr. Mel Levine. It seemed that he was an advocate for children and took their perspective in dealing with an out of touch school system. He went on to write another book about how young adults adjusts to life in the larger society outside of school and parents - moving out on their own.

I wanted to link to his work so I searched for him-and it turns out he was a pedophile. 50 some adults have come forward to accuse him. the day after the lawsuit was filed, in February of this year, the shit-bird shot himself.

What the hell is wrong with this place. 50 kids! 50 lives. and now no recourse. No chance to settle the matter. How crazy is that.

Anyway, schools and institutions should do more to help students become self-reliant and transform themselves from followers to leaders. I believe that, as we recognize this as a problem, new solutions will manifest. The whole OER, tutorial culture, P2PU.org, Edu-Punk, DIY-U movement shows promise of helping guide our institutions to a more student centered future.

Oh, and doctors should not rape kids.