Leonardo Boiko’s Diary

HERE’S MY ENTIRE EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY SUMMED UP IN A SINGLE SENTENCE:

“Take children seriously“.

NOW HERE’S MY ENTIRE EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY SUMMED UP IN ANOTHER SENTENCE:

“Help people do stuff better“.

BUT THESE ARE PLAGIARIZED SO HERE’S MY ENTIRE EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY SUMMED UP IN A SENTENCE I ACTUALLY MADE UP MYSELF:

I want to help my kids’ life not to suck.

AND HERE’S A LIST OF THINGS I THINK MIGHT HELP LIVES BE LESS SUCKY:

• slow life movement; “ganbaranai” (compare & contrast with simple life)
  • also slow food movement, localvorism
• polyamory
• unschooling
• barefooting (kids are right, shoes suck)
• the ongoing craft renaissance; maker, hacker, diy culture —tear apart your stuff, learn how it works, make things with your hands
• couchsurfing, carpooling, freecycling
• downshifting —”The trouble with the rat race is, even if you win, you are still a rat.”
• altmodernism; the artist as a rootless wanderer; local traditions are great & breaking them is also great
• queer theory; let the kids free from gender chains —boys can sew just fine, girls can fix cars too
• nonexpert age; the cultural acceptance of dilettantism; youtube, deviantart, guitar tabs, guitar hero & rock band, game building tools, flickr, blogs
• creative commons, free software, wikipedia; the sharing of intellectual work seem as positive and pleasurable
• rejecting over-protection; bring back dangerous games, playing with fire, chemistry kits, tree-climbing, violent cartoons; «dangerous» books
• non-competitive physical activities: camping-hiking-backpacking, parkour, (ethnic–) dancing, traditional martial arts, pleasure swimming
• an environmental conscience guided by the scientific method instead of knee-jerk feel-good emotional impressions
• microscopes, telescopes, & amateur astronomy
• good ol’ libraries & public art centers
• early & frequent contact with universities; universities seen as places to learn cool stuff not as gateways to highly-paying jobs
• punching bags
• cooking.