Filtering by Category: Life Reflections

Why We Need To Stop Telling Kids To Think Outside The Box

November 23, 2017 / Oskar Cymerman

Stop Telling Kids To Think Outside The Box Because There Is No Box

Tripping on 'shrooms in Prague once I stopped by an art gallery window and saw it. It was an orange dog; the tiniest of canines. A stain of fluorescent orange paint in the bottom right corner of a sizable painting of some natural scenery. I remember the grass, the trees, and the people in it but in that moment all I could focus on was the strange orange dog.

I was 23, window shopping, and laughing too hard at a silly little orange dog on an otherwise green painting. Later, I was examining people's faces on the metro ride back to the Airbnb-style room I booked. Being aware I'm influenced I felt I could look into anyone's soul and know who they were. It was like a superpower that allowed me to see them for who they really were; if they were good or bad.

And in case the good people in my school district's HR department are reading this occurred 17 years ago, happened before I became a teacher, and was the last time I used psychedelics. It's just that I still remember that dang dog and wonder if my memory would be so vivid had my consciousness not been altered. For some reason, my mind decided it was significant enough to keep and maybe it uses it somehow to this day without me even realizing.

Using More Of The Brain

Steve Jobs, Richard Feynman, Jimi Hendrix, Jean-Paul Sartre, Bill Gates, John Coltrane, and The Beatles have 2 things in-common; they changed the world by being the GOATs (greatest of all time) of their respective crafts and they operated outside of the realm of conditioned and compliant thinking. Oh, and they all used psychedelics, so that would make it three things I suppose.

Why did they partake and was it responsible for their genius?

Did Steve Jobs get the idea for the iPhone after dropping acid? Did Richard Feynman gain a more intimate understanding of physics which he then used to explain its various phenomena in simple terms after chewing on his peanut butter and 'shrooms sandwich? Did Jimi Hendrix and John Coltrane reinvent their music genres thanks to the psychedelics they enjoyed?

I have no idea, but I don't believe so. My take is... these individuals discovered an entire, often unexplored world of expanded consciousness that exists inside each person's inner mind through their use of psychedelic drugs. In other words: they were given a key to open and access the part of their mind that allows creating work independent of their own ego and the rules and constraints of the world around them.

They did what we call "thinking outside the box." But more accurately, they escaped the box all of us are indoctrinated into. That artificial mind-conjured box that traps those who believe in its existence. That one conditioned response to the given stimulus promoted by school and society. The kind of mindset limited by and to its impoverished set of pre-programmed allowed beliefs.

But How Does Expanded Consciousness Apply To Education?

Sadly, it's the hokey pokey voodoo we fear. We don't teach it. Except that there's hard science behind it.

Typically, we teach subjects in isolation and want things done in a certain acceptable way. Most traditionally-educated students can be likened to androids in need of code upload before they can produce output. We are putting out mostly individuals who wait for someone to tell them what to do.

The creative ones are the weirdos who don't buy into the standardized way of doing everything. They innovate and succeed despite the school system, which undoubtedly gave them some tools. But the tools that really matter; ones that drive success, were procured when these outliers took on passions that had little to do with school. Their consciousness, or ability to look at problems differently and connect seemingly unconnected pieces of brain-stored information expanded.

This is similar to a brain on psychedelics. Scientific studies link psychedelics to increased neuronal activity. Multiple regions of the brain communicate more and more neural linkages form. The individual high on e.g. LSD experiences greater sense of self and the outside world thus understanding how the two worlds are linked more intimately.

So it seems individuals such as Jobs, Feynman, or Hendrix hacked their mind with psychedelics to form connections between neurons that would otherwise not link up. Then, and this is just my conjecture, they were able to tap into the same kind of mental processing when sober.

There Is No Box

I am NOT saying that we need to start giving students 'shrooms, LSD, or mescaline to get them to start thinking outside the box. I'm pretty sure that'd get us all fired.

What I am saying is we need to not just allow but help them discover the consciousness altering path for themselves so they can innovate. Let's help them change how they view reality. Get them to understand that the box didn't exist until we showed it to them, guided them toward it, and insisted they climb in and comply to all the law of men, science, and otherwise. The algorithm needs to be rewritten.

Mainly, let's stop telling kids to think outside the box. There is no box. Let's stop putting them in the box to begin with; limiting them with our beliefs and preconceptions, telling them they need to follow accepted rules without question and despite the fact that some of them are nonsense, and requiring one-size-fits-all products in our classrooms that stifle imagination and murder creativity.

Raise your hand and wait to be called on. Sit down and don't get up. Comply with all the demands of the teacher. Trust the experts. Turn in a 5-page essay, because 3 pages just don't cut it. Your hypothesis must always be in the "if... then..." format or else you'll lose a point. Take trigonometry because it's required. Take that hat off because that's just not acceptable.

Why?!?! Why do we do that?

We want our students to become leaders but we force compliance. We want them to be creative but we use one-size-fits-all approaches. We want them to think critically but we teach them to think exactly the same way we do and want it done. We want them to be passionate about learning but extort them to take subjects they don't like and cram in content they'll never use.

Look... some of these things might take a long time to change because they are outside of the teachers' control. But, you can change how things are done in your classroom.

You can decide and teach your students to question norms, beliefs, rules, and preconceptions. You can foster creative flexibility, because the book report does not always have to be an essay. It could be a website or a blog or a podcast. You can stimulate sharing of information between multiple brain regions by asking students to explain how Hamlet is similar to Tesla Model S because they're into cars or Call of Duty because kill ratio is where it's at.

But whatever you do stop telling your students to think outside the box. Tell them there is no box. Explain that the world outside and inside their inner mind is their playground. Allow yourself to play. Then show them how to play.

You have the power to change lives. Use it often.

Thanks for reading! I hope you found my article useful. If you did consider signing up for my newsletter below. I send it out on Wednesday and Sunday mornings. If you are looking for a new book that can help you add to your teaching arsenal and help teens learn check out my books on Amazon. Every paperback is $11.97 or below and every Kindle $2.99 until Sunday 12/3. You can take a look here.

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I teach, write, speak, rant to make the world better.

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categories / Life Reflections
tags / teaching teens, deeper learning, learning, teaching, creativity, innovation, psychedelics, brain

Let's Keep It Real In Education

September 25, 2017 / Oskar Cymerman

“I was taught that the way of progress was neither swift nor easy.”

— Marie Curie

Translation: If you want things to change, get your ass off the couch and do the work.

That's what Marie did. In a world full of men unwilling to accept a woman, an atheist, and a person who followed her heart, she had to work her ass off to overcome the sexism and xenophobia of her times.

In 1911, just before receiving her Nobel Prize, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences asked Marie not to come to Stockholm, so King Gustav V would not be subjected to shaking hands with an adulteress.

Of course, she went to accept the award in person. That was her second Nobel. She was the first ever woman to receive one, and the first ever person to receive two. She discovered radium and polonium and coined the term radioactivity. She earned many prestigious awards, honors, and posts for her work.

Ultimately, her work killed her. But before she died of cancer at 66, she changed the world. For women, for men, for all of us. And the way she did it inspires.

You see, Marie didn't just write a bunch of papers. She worked to apply what she learned to help humanity. She did not seek patents and recognition. Rather, she used her discoveries and knowledge to invent the first ever portable X-Ray machines. The Little Curies were used to diagnose over a million soldiers during World War I. Later, she raised money to build hospitals to use her discoveries to provide advanced treatments to patients. Today, we cure cancer and other illnesses thanks to Marie's work.

So What Does Marie Curie Have To Do With Keeping It Real In Education?

To me, everything. Marie understood that her work was greater than herself and she always saw it as more important than any personal achievement. She faced criticism and prejudice. She persevered. The work was too important not to and it did not matter what anyone else said.

I think the work educators do is just as important. We can't keep shying away from the difficult conversations, hard feelings, and tough decisions. I really believe it is the only real way toward meaningful and sustainable progress.

Beautiful words and flipping the script every time negative feelings surface is inspiring, but not always helpful. It is the kind of an approach that invalidates tough feelings our kids and we ourselves experience because we're human. Our humanness requires we process them, not simply shove them aside and immediately replace with growth-mindset. That's not real. Not always.

And while Marie Curie is my hero and compatriot, I would never presume to fill her shoes. I am not the champion for humanity she was, just a teacher pushing aside anxiety and introversion to muster courage to speak up and fight for what I believe.

That involves doing things I'm not always comfortable doing. Public speaking? Check. So, I started a podcast. Writing is one thing. This... the podcast... I feel naked. Here it is:

All teachers and administrators want their students to succeed in school and beyond. Many of us are noticing that our schools are becoming less effective at providing the right education to help our kids accomplish that. We see the need for change; a paradigm shift.

The few authentic voices and change agents we encounter get drowned out by the constant barrage of Band Aid approaches and empty words on social media. Hundreds if not thousands of educational technology blogs, which provide great tools, but nevertheless approaches that can easily be replaced with the next new thing. Would be leaders quoting themselves on slides encouraging, but not showing how. Noise.

“Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning. ”

— Benjamin Franklin

At this point, I wish I had the answer to help cut through the noise and make education better, but all I have is ideas. And, I have passion and beliefs. And, I have you. And, you have passion, beliefs, and ideas too.

Let's take this passion and spread it. Let's use our beliefs to help make education better for our students. Let's combine our ideas and create new ways and tools to help teach and guide our students. Let's learn, but let's apply too. Let's talk, but let's show as well.

I want to use my new podcast as a platform for meaningful change in education. I want to take a closer look at the things we often don't talk about, shy away from, or passively aggressively ignore. I want to explore solutions we fear to help make education better. I want to always find the courage to seek the right, not straight, often rough full-of-jagged-rocks road.

I promise you not to shy away from the ugly and the happy conversations.

I hope you feel a little uncomfortable when you listen because I believe the greatest progress happens outside of the confines of our safe places.

I hope you are inspired to seek your own answers, ones that benefit those you serve.

I hope the conversations will help you think and reflect and act.

And while I don't hope for it, I know and accept that I will piss some people off in the process.

Because on Keeping Ed Real, taboos don't exist. From now on nothing is off the table. In fact, let's just kick the table down and make our own rules. We must.

Because, while there will never be another Marie Curie, maybe there's a Manya Sklodowska out there; a girl full of curiosity, passion, and drive. Maybe Manya is a student who needs to be given direction by her teacher, or the teacher who needs to be shown the way by her administrator. We owe her that. She's tired of empty words and promises. She's ready for real talk.

So, let's keep it real for her, others, and ourselves. Let's Keep Ed Real.

Oskar

P.S. Click here for the first episode of Keeping Ed Real. I promise you it's as boring as unicorns flying over rainbows as fireworks are going off everywhere :)

Hi! I'm Oskar.

I teach, write, speak, rant to make the world better.

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categories / Life Reflections
tags / teaching, podcast, education, education reform, be the change

Why Experts Are Dead And Smartphones Super Weapons

September 12, 2017 / Oskar Cymerman

Experts are dead, smartphones are superweapons

The are no experts.

Expert - that idea is pretty much dead.

In this day and age, the amount of information grows exponentially. There are new developments every second. New things are invented and created every day.

I had a conversation with a student recently. Parker builds and races drones. He did a research project on them last year. He spent many hours over many days compiling the information into a video for English. A few days before he was supposed to present, new cutting edge drone tech hit the market and he had to remix his video. He loved it and didn’t mind, because he’s a complete nut about it but…

While Parker knows a lot about drones, and might be considered an expert by many, he is not an expert. He can’t be.

He builds, flies, fixes, and talks drones for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He knows more about them than 99.9% of people. He knows A LOT. But as soon as new drone tech hits the market, some of his knowledge becomes outdated in an instant.

This isn’t the future. It’s the present. Believe it.

So what does the future hold?

I have no idea. Remember? We’re all newbies at pretty much everything!

And maybe it doesn’t matter.

What matters is that we overcome our uncertainties, hangups, and fears and learn how to use present day technologies and tools.

This will make learning whatever technology comes next easier.

What matters is that we educate ourselves on ways information is accessed and applied today.

This will make learning whatever we need to learn later easier. Same goes for our students.

What matters is that from now on we show and help our students use tools that give them access to the future and let them participate in it fully.

We must leverage the tools available now, so students can teach themselves to use the tools of the future.

Nothing is more important in education.

So, if you still ban the most sophisticated learning super weapon ever created aka the smartphone in your classroom, consider the arguments above. Close your eyes and visualize the future. Can you see one in which kids are allowed to use all of the tools at their disposal? Or does it constrict and slow progress?

You have the power to change the world. Use it often.

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Hi! I'm Oskar.

I teach, write, speak, rant to make the world better.

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categories / Life Reflections
tags / focus, deep work, productivity, teaching teens, parenting teens