. . . even the optimists are going on the condition of just bearing up and making life as good as they can where they are.

I'm an optimist and that's how I feel to a T

   her opinion is that the entire world is just tense, waiting for "something" to happen, even if it ain't the end of the world.
She says everyone (I 100% agree) is acting like the cattle and horses do before a hard storm when they get in foul moods, antsy and edgy, flighty, not knowing which way to go.

  I think she's right. I noticed it starting last December. It was barely discernible at first, then it got more noticeable around late Jan, again in late March-early April then it made it's biggest leaps in July August and Sept. I think "it" is still building, people are waiting to "See what happens next"

  I agree w/ your Grandmother that we can pickup on the general atmosphere around us, just like the wildlife and domesticated animals do prior to any number of events....Case in point; Have you ever walked into a Bar, and felt the "electricity in the air" just before a donnybrook starts, or walk in just after it's occurred? One notices a palpable "something" in the air....How about that time when you've walked into a house and instantly picked up on the fact that someone there is sick, or some other thing is unusual or out of place, just something intangible that you can't put a finger on....without apparent any visual nor auditory indicators?

  It's the same thing in many instances in life, we just have become so occluded to what goes on around us in this hectic jumble of day to day modern life that, for the most part, we've closed ourselves off from being able to perform what is probably an ancient built-in survival mode that the lower forms of life still have access to, as they are leading a much less distracted existence and in doing so, are most certainly much more capable of such heightened perception.

  It's not magic, Psychic slop, nor is it Jedi BS, it's just freeing up disk space in the nugget and setting your noodles to "Receive". Sort of a self-preserving, "Stop to smell the roses" kind of concept.
  There is many an instance, in many a true account, where people described therein, talk about something along the lines of; " Just knowing something wasn't right" or " You could just feel the ^{insert mood/feeling etc.} when you entered" so on and so on.

  I just think of it as a sort of "Col. Cooper's Color Code" for the parts of the brain that most of us have switched-off and probably shouldn't have.
 

We evolved to survive. If your gut is screaming something is not right. Then it is very likely your gut is right.

Humans put off all kinds of subtle signals to warn others around them. It is much the same for any social animal.

I have seen that test a few times before. It is a lot of rote memorization with a tiny amount of logical reasoning and no questions requiring analysis, evaluation and synthesis.

It is a great test if you want a drone to work in a large industrial facility as basically a cog in a large machine. Which is honestly what they were educating children for at the time.

A good modern educator is trying to teach critical thinking, logical reasoning and the ability to analyze, evaluate and synthesize answers to completely novel problems. Rote memorization is becoming more and more useless as technology progresses.

It doesn't do a whole lot of good to memorize a programming language if you are going to be using 10+ in a single lifetime, Or if those robotic arms you are working on are upgraded with new technology almost every 5 years. 

It will take some time to change our education system to produce children for our new information age/post industrial age system.

Agreed.  Rote memorization ( and a slide rule) allowed the generation in question to do math functions in their heads that today's high school graduate would need a calculator to solve.  The test depended on the folks taking it to have the basic knowledge to solve problems appropriate to their situation which in most cases ( certainly for most Kentuckians of that time )did not involve being a "drone" in some factory.  If you want a lesson in analysis, evaluation and synthesis try being a farmer in an age without weather satellites and betting your own money every year that you could do it successfully.

I have seen that test a few times before. It is a lot of rote memorization with a tiny amount of logical reasoning and no questions requiring analysis, evaluation and synthesis.

It is a great test if you want a drone to work in a large industrial facility as basically a cog in a large machine. Which is honestly what they were educating children for at the time.

A good modern educator is trying to teach critical thinking, logical reasoning and the ability to analyze, evaluate and synthesize answers to completely novel problems. Rote memorization is becoming more and more useless as technology progresses.

It doesn't do a whole lot of good to memorize a programming language if you are going to be using 10+ in a single lifetime, Or if those robotic arms you are working on are upgraded with new technology almost every 5 years. 

It will take some time to change our education system to produce children for our new information age/post industrial age system.

I agree with you about "good" modern educators but that is an increasingly scarce commodity.   As evidence of that fact I would point you to the majority of colleges and universities that are delivering worthless goods at inflated prices.  Recent news articles have examined this phenomenon and it was outlined early on in the book "None Dare Call It Treason" by John Stormer.

A few did great things and solved amazing puzzles. The great many were not those few people.

It is extremely common to look back with rose colored glasses. You know the great figures. They changed industry/science etc etc.

You just gotta ask yourself. What 12 year old is 'messing around' on his/her tablet right now creating the seed of autonomous programming to control robotics. What child is perusing the great information well available today and sees the functions flash into his/her brain to harness fusion effectively. We do not know those great people yet. 

They can see these things not because of rote memorization. They do not need to remember these things. That glowing screen in front of them holds the details. The synthesis of a new idea and plan is what they need. The details can be looked up later. 

They can see these things not because of rote memorization. They do not need to remember these things. That glowing screen in front of them holds the details. The synthesis of a new idea and plan is what they need. The details can be looked up later. 

I do believe that there is a need for a balance of both.  All of the above ^ that you listed are great, but where will we be, if our young people can not name the three branches of the federal government, let alone the functions of each?  Or how many states are in the union?  Or who George Washington was?  Or what a verb is?  Dynamic thought and problem-solving abilities are important, but some things you really should not have to go look up...  Some things really need to be memorized.

And the ability to easily memorize material is an important skill, in itself.  It is not antiquated or out of date.



Kaso

I do believe that there is a need for a balance of both.  All of the above ^ that you listed are great, but where will we be, if our young people can not name the three branches of the federal government, let alone the functions of each?  Or how many states are in the union?  Or who George Washington was?  Or what a verb is?  Dynamic thought and problem-solving abilities are important, but some things you really should not have to go look up...  Some things really need to be memorized.

And the ability to easily memorize material is an important skill, in itself.  It is not antiquated or out of date.



Kaso

Do they need to know the three branches, OR the function they play in preserving liberty and adding to a functioning society of free people? Do they need to know the number of states, OR why there are different states and the rights held to the states? Do they need to know who Washington was, OR do they need to know why he did the things he did?

If you can logically reason, and synthesis the importance of the elements of any system. Then the details of the names of such system are minimally important.

A book, and the information contained within, are nothing on their own. The ideas the information can inspire in humans is where the true magic is in the world.

Insects can memorize information. I would hope a human would strive to truly understand the world around themselves.

Do they need to know the three branches, OR the function they play in preserving liberty and adding to a functioning society of free people? Do they need to know the number of states, OR why there are different states and the rights held to the states? Do they need to know who Washington was, OR do they need to know why he did the things he did?

The answer is not an 'either, or.'  It is absolutely BOTH.



Kaso

The "new information / post industrial age" meme is one of the most corrosive ideas that has ever been foisted on our society, in my opinion.  Until everyone can print every non-consumable item they need, you need industry, which means you need workers in your economy, or you are exporting tons of money and only a fraction of your people have real jobs.  Everyone needs the basic info memorized, so they can function without running to another person, book or computer.  The truly exceptional DO memorize a lot of stuff, it just seems to be a function of that type of mind.  And they don't need a glowing screen to come up with the next great equation, just something to write on.  Sometimes not even that.  Einstein's work was done with "thought experiments", just his imagination.

I will answer Coelacanth in a very simple manner.

I want to be with the party that can look at the 'glowing screen', rock or iron ore, and see the tool hidden inside waiting for his/her mind to release.

That human will likely see tomorrow. I pray the other humans do not get in his/her way too much in the process.

Fair enough.  I get the impression your views and mine are yin and yang in relation to this question - that is, each essential in its own right and incomplete without the other. 

As I have pointed out, though, having a base of knowledge is not an inconsequential thing - especially in day to day interactions with other people and the world around you.  When something needs to be done immediately, if not sooner, taking time to tease the information you need out of the internet or the cloud or even a book may not be a luxury you can afford.   The assumption of a high tech, industrialized society with lightning fast access to nearly unlimited amounts of information is just that - an assumption. 

We do a similar thing at work. We have books (binders, really) of our rules and procedures, with paper updates that come out periodically, that we're supposed to keep up to date. As a supervisor, I'm supposed to care deeply that people have gotten their revisions placed in their books.

I don't. Why? Because all of it is available on computer, and in the rare event that you NEED to look something up and the computer is down, each station has a current copy. I cannot tell you the last time I actually pulled out one of the SOPs to look something up. I open the PDF and search for the term I need, which gives me the entry I need and all cross references. But we continue to slavishly maintain the books, because it's what we do. It's the same logic behind rote memorization, only less appropriately employed.

Never, ever memorize anything you can look up, unless it is useful as a timesaving measure, or it is something you NEED to know by heart. And, FWIW, I would place things like the basic ideas of the Constitution, BoR and Declaration of Independence as things you NEED to know by heart, because those things embody how you operate as a citizen.

Mike

My opinion, for what it's worth-

If you want to throw a big blanket over it, and then just fill in all the details underneath with volumes of all the details that cause and effect would bring across America's social spectrum?

We are at the tipping point of a 50/50 ratio of those who believe in self-sufficiency vs. those who want to be taken care of, and the pendulum is swinging the wrong way....

And the kicker is, most of the politicians we've elected BELIEVE that they can can take care of us better than we can.