[Chris Hibner]

Ken,

This latest message of yours is a little overwhelming. How do you respond to something like that? I guess I will have to try to repond to a few things.

I'm sure most people in the U.S. are aware of yin and yang, but some of the other ones are new to me (such as the river and the ocean, volume and water, etc.). I've heard similar tales in western philosopy (for instance, Tortoise vs. the Hare is somewhat similar to the river vs. the ocean - not exact, but similar), but these exact representations are new. They are very interesting to read.

There are a few things that I want to comment on:

Your comment on Education vs. Inspiration is right on the money. Without inspiration, there is very little education. One of the key principles of learning (from Thorndike) is the "principle of readiness". The principle of readiness states that "if a student is ready to learn, and has a strong purpose, clear objective, and well-fixed reason for learning, (s)he will make more progress than if (s)he lacks motivation." This is what inspiration is all about. You have to make the students WANT to learn. If they don't want to learn, then you'll have very little luck teacing them. It's the old fable of leading the horse to water...

Inspiration and motivation lead naturally into the mathematics - the universal language. People in the United States really do not understand how important math is (we understand, but we're engineers). The general populace doesn't know and, worse yet, doesn't want to know. Our educational system must find a better way of inspiring young school children about math. I can't tell you how many times I heard "we're never going to use this crap" (referring to math) when I was growing up. If we want to children to learn math, then we need to START with how they will be able to use it. First give them the motivation, then teach them the math. As it is now, you learn while being kept in the dark about it's usefulness, and then when you get to phyisics your senior year in high school you find out that it is useful. That is way too late! We need better motivation, better story problems (I don't care what anyone says, but who cares when two trains (one heading east and one heading west) collide? Show the students how they can change gears to get a new top speed of their go-kart, or how much hard drive space a file will take up. Here's one: if a file is 3.8 megs and you must download the file in under 2 minutes, what connection speed must you have? GIVE THEM SOMETHING THEY CAN RELATE TO!) This is where FIRST is doing a great job.

People are different / everyone is who he is because of the steps he took: I touched on this in my response Ken's last message. You cannot understand a person's actions without understanding their history. It is IMPOSSIBLE. What is perfectly normal to us is really weird to people from a different culture and vice versa. The only way to understand people from around the world is to first understand their culture and history. It's amazing what you learn. I'm no where near an expert in this area, but I have enough experience to know that what you will learn is a real eye opener.

Words are very limiting tools: this is very insightful. In my experience, "a picture is worth a thousand words" is also true. Drawing new concepts, and using pictures to communicate is often much more effective than words (especially if you're comminating with people from around the world). If you are ever having trouble with a concept, draw a simple picture - you will be amazed at how helpful it is. I remember in my first algebra class, my teacher would always say: draw a picture for every problem - it will make it easier. I always thought it was childish and for the weak minded. That was until I got to college and realized how stupid I was. I rarely do anything anymore without first drawing it out.

Lastly (for me), the scientific method: I generally don't believe in anything unless it has passed the trials of the scientific method. I like conclusive proof. Stories and anecdotes are great, but the placebo effect has more influence on people than they realize. If you want to claim something, have proof to back it up.

Whew. I would actually like to say a lot more, but I'm afraid of carpel tunnel syndrome. I really don't need to say anything - Ken did a great job. I suppose I just felt like putting my own spin on what he had to say, and maybe backing it up a little with my own experiences.

Keep up the good work, Ken. I hope people are reading your messages and it makes them think.