Ideas I'm Pondering....

I thought I'd start sharing some of the ideas and quotes I've recently jotted down in my Commonplace journal.  Little ideas (some big ideas) and quotes that I've come across in the books and websites I am currently reading.  Some of them will intertwine and relate to one another; more often than not they will be random and haphazard.  And it should definitely be noted that these are ideas that I'm PONDERING.... I'm neither advocating them or countering them here... just sharing some ideas that I felt compelled to write down so that I could think about them a bit more.

Book Quotes:

From "Failure to Connect" (Jane M. Healy, Ph.d):

Neil Postman's "book Technopoly presents a strong case that change, per se, does not necessarily represent an advance. 'Stated in the most dramatic terms, the accusation can be made that the uncontrolled growth of technology destroys the vital sources of our humanity. It creates a culture without a moral foundation. It undermines certain mental processes and social relationships that make human life worth living.'" (italics are mine)

"Philosophical arguments aside, what we really need to think about is how to prepare our children for life in an information-loaded but depersonalized landscape.  Is it by connecting them to computers or by spending comparable time on giving them an early grounding in humanity? As one thoughtful scientist and father mused, 'should I spend the money on cello lessons or video games?' Not enough people are asking these questions."  (italics are mine).


Other Quotes:

From Rachel and Oliver DeMille's  A Thomas Education Blog post titled "The Key of Keys in Leadership Education" :

Allan Bloom wrote in The Closing of the American Mind that:

“People sup together, play together, travel together, but they do not think together. Hardly any homes have any intellectual life whatsoever, let alone one that informs the vital interests of life. Educational TV marks the high tide for family intellectual life.”