Logic – a super part of intelligence

March 17, 2013

I was wandering through the vast swamp of television availability when I encountered StarTrek. This episode depicted several historical goons including Gingas Khan and the hero of the day, Abraham Lincoln. Captain Kirk and Spock were sided with President Lincoln in a battle for their lives. The whole thing was very disconcerting to Spock, because, as he pointed out. “This is not logical.” When we watched with horror on “9/11” as the twin towers came down as a mighty burst of energy fueled by tons of aviation gas called to question the very essence of goodness versus evil. We were well within our realm of thought to have said; “This is not logical.” When x-ray, and Salk vaccine, and penicillin became routine, we could well have said, “This is not logical.” Instead however, we embraced these life saving technologies as a part of our routine, reducing pain and suffering and bringing new degrees of satisfaction to our mortal lives.

If, in fact, all of intelligence is available to us, as mortals; what can we do to be part of this intelligence gathering process? I listen to my family members as they share their knowledge of health, wealth, energy, dietary disciplines, and spirituality. I marvel at the things they know and practice. They talk of things so tiny they can only be “seen” in computerized animations.  Perhaps the recreations of Lincoln and Kahn weren’t so illogical after all. We can be part of knowledge gathering for good by creating a new version of education. We can create a positive environment in our schools/learning stations by guiding our students to use their innate intelligence, their curiosity, and their knowledge to build on the goodness available to God’s family.

The era of rote regurgitation is over. The era of one size fits all is over. If I hear one more student say they are bored with the straight rows, mindless busy work methods being plied, I do think I will puke. Watch this simple possibility work miracles. Plato tells a student to walk across a street, go into a store, select three pieces of candy, and return. When the student returns he is asked to describe his journey. He will talk about the number of steps, the amount of money, and a hundred other elements associated with amounts and values. He will do the same thing with the items he walked on, the ingredients in the candy, the marketing process, the agriculture needed to craft and grow the goodies, to wrap the items, the taxes required to produce the roads, the stores, the merchandise, etc. Then, he will go into the science associated with each element gaining knowledge – not just mountains of minutia – valuable insights into the rest of the world.

After several journeys he will have gathered significant knowledge dealing with specific criteria. I have marveled at the recalcitrance of educators in all realms to protect their turf by declaring that they are above the use of specific criteria and objectives. A thousand years ago when a team was provided a significant grant and asked to create objectives and criteria on which education (post-secondary) based and then evaluated; we found ourselves faced with the reality that people were frightened by such nonsense, especially in the humanities arena. Of course this resistance was all part of self preservation and a desire to avoid any kind of practical evaluation of either the teachers of the students.

As early as first grade, students can learn at the analysis level – way past mindlessly entering inane numbers on a page, they can discover what color is; why some people and plants are taller than others; why some people dress differently; why some people are happy and some are sad. When these students begin to ask questions like why are some people sick; why are some countries very poor; why do some people have big houses and others have almost nothing; they will begin to syntheses the data, the knowledge, the intelligence they have acquired and use it for good. They will have begun the true journey of life.

God bless you as you craft your journey through God’s vineyard.

Duane Jacobs, Fond friend, grandfather, brother, uncle, and cousin