Template -- Teachers @ Work

Introduction	The Impact of Experience on Wisdom
With Privilege Comes Responsibility	Being God
Can Wisdom be Taught?	The Classroom & Summary
The Effects of Culture & Ideology	Web Stasher: Win this excellent software

The Twin Towers of New York City were destroyed because a group of men were able to access, via the internet, rich information resources that enabled them to teach themselves the structure of tall buildings, the flight plans and schedules of airlines, fuel loadings and how to fly an airliner. Quite simply they had built up a set of skills that empowered them to be lifelong learners, the very thing that education systems around the world are attempting to replicate. These men had the capacity to access a wide variety of information resources and synthesise them into a conceptual framework, in their case how to create a disaster on an unparalleled scale. A wide variety of technology tools was required for them to access this information, process it, communicate it to each other and, with assistance from outside experts and a single minded passion . . . . they succeeded in killing over 3000 people.

Values: A principle, standard, or quality considered worthwhile or desirable. Worth in usefulness or importance to the possessor; utility or merit: the value of an education http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=values

From the above it could be argued that values contribute to or act synchronously with virtuous behaviours which in turn frame the foundation for making wise decisions but do not necessarily guarantee wise decisons.

Is this the exemplar of an e-learning society that we wish to encourage, to develop and hold up as an icon of success? Or do these skills, which confer upon the learner and the teacher such enormous power automatically have attached to them a certain set of responsibilities? The tragedy that was 9/11 was seen by most of the world's media in the context of extreme, fundamentalist terrorism, a fact which surely leaves us as educators with some underlying issues that need to be addressed . . . urgently?

If we are going to empower our young people with the capacity to be lifelong learners and in so doing allow them to "learn" about anything they choose then do we have a reciprocal responsibility to teach them how to manage this new-found "power for understanding"? In the traditional learning environment teachers provided a moral and ethical framework both implicitly and explicitly when teaching any given topic. The teachers within any given learning institution were expected to deliver information in a context that was constructive to society as a whole. However in a web- based environment the information comes with no such assurances. In fact the proliferation of hate, prejudice and "blind passion" motivated web sites on the Internet is staggering. Once they enter the Internet environment students have no moral coach to guide them. And yet we not only expect but actively encourage them to work in this environment, when more often than not they simply do not have the skills of discernment and its dance partner, wisdom to manage this “wild west frontier” of the information landscape.

Before we take this discussion too far it is imperative that we realise that this topic is more a philosophical one than scientific, and the burden of proof will fall upon the logic of argument and also the observations that we make of those about us who lay claim to possessing what we referred to as "wisdom.” Add to this our own judgement of what is wise, our beliefs and those values and virtues we hold in high regard, along with the influences of our own internal "faith".

The first step in this discussion is to accept that by default human beings are irrational, illogical, passionate and are spontaneously prone to doing silly things. If for even one moment you think that this species is logical, deductive and bound by commonsense, I urge you to go to a local football match and, with nothing but logic and good natured sincerity interrupt the referee and suggest that he/she needs to reset the penalty in favour of the visiting team because they missed an off the ball event!

The other issue that needs to be clarified is that your self-perception as being cleverer than your fellow earthbound travellers does not signify that you are less irrational, illogical, passionate or capable of doing silly things. What it may mean is that you are better able to cover up your silly actions than those less intellectually favoured than yourself, and so it may well be that people may perceive you to be wiser than you really are. Hence wisdom is not necessarily a natural human trait that can be applied to all circumstances but is rather a very desirable quality that we would all like to encourage and foster within ourselves.

If you use your metacognitive attributes for just five seconds you soon realise the folly of thinking that your intellectual superiority automatically leads you to making less dumb decisions. Thank goodness for the democracy of stupidity, it makes everybody endlessly entertaining, assuring us all that there will be no shortage of dinner party conversation about the silly actions of those we associate with or read about in the tabloid magazines. Whether your name is Bill Clinton or you are humble Jonathan Brown, living in a less than salubrious suburb in the Midwest of any country on the planet, you share the common misfortune of making surprisingly similar numbers of dumb decisions. Fortunately if you're Jonathan Brown, discussions of your stupidity are limited to the local neighbourhood rather than the rest of the planet, but by the same token, and somewhat unfortunately for Jonathan Brown, if he writes a book about his stupid actions and his indiscretions, publishers won't give him a $10 million upfront royalty payment. Such is the intricate justice of the universe. I am sure that a swings and roundabouts metaphor should be inserted here but rather than fill cyberspace with more junk than is necessary we will progress on our journey.

In the third century the Greeks were having major discourse on this very topic and although there was much discussion and no doubt dissension, the general view portrayed by their writings is that they believed that wisdom was embedded in the soul of the person at birth and hence there was no possibility for those not born with wisdom to be made wise through good teaching, experiences and encouragement. This of course was consistent with the then current social hierarchy of status, with which not surprisingly, they were less than keen to tamper.

The one problem with this view is that it is not a very (intellectually) democratic one, and while this is not a good reason to dismiss the conclusions of the Greeks, it does support the argument for investigating the possibility of teaching wisdom or at least encouraging it.

It should be stated here that there are no conclusive research results that validate what follows, and this alone should be good reason to pursue this further as a research thesis. At best these are speculative thoughts and conclusions following a succession of readings and discussions. From this perspective we would encourage feedback and commentary in regards to your own anecdotal support or otherwise, as well as research reports and findings you may be aware of.

“It is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things” (Henry David Thoreau).

Wise behaviour is set against a cultural backdrop. What is perceived to be wise in one culture may be perceived to be unwise in another. In a culture where ownership of goods is of primary importance the capacity to make decisions that allow considerable ownership may be deemed to be wise, whereas in a culture where sharing goods within the community is seen as wise the collecting of large amounts of goods may be deemed as unwise. Hence when we attempt to encourage wisdom in our students it is important that we realise that what we are teaching comes with considerable cultural baggage that could in fact include any attempts to encourage or teach wisdom. It takes considerable reflective thought to discern how this baggage affects our view of what is wise. In other words the values and ethics of the community will ultimately dictate what is considered wise. To take this to an extreme, there is a very small minority of people on this planet who consider the flying of planes into large buildings as being very wise, brave and wholly appropriate. Such is the scope of difference when it comes to perceived wisdom, virtues, and values that support wisdom.

These cultural ideologies can often be as totally transparent as they are extremely subtle. Every day we are guided by these ideologies in how we will conduct ourselves, what we should be wearing, what car we should be driving, where we should live, go for a holiday or jobs to which we should aspire.

Therefore it would be highly advisable when considering teaching strategies that might develop or enhance wisdom in our young people, that we are at least aware of the values and ethics of the individual in the first instance, and in the second instance the ideologies of the community as a whole.

Communities have become so diverse, both culturally and racially that it is quite common for any given community to have considerable disagreement over the values and ethics they consider to be appropriate. Hence decision-making processes that may be considered wise by some members are seen as decidedly unwise by others, depending on their framework of experiences, and the values and ethics that form the backdrop to their perception of what is wise. It is no wonder that local councils and government institutions along with the glitterati, are simultaneously frowned upon and loved for both their stupidity and their wisdom as a result of the same action, statement or innuendo.

Marcus Aurelius was born in 121, was adopted by the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius and succeeded him in 161. He wrote the series of books known as “The Meditations” and below is an extract from book one in this series:

The Meditations By Marcus Aurelius

Written 167 A.C.E. Translated by George Long

From my grandfather Verus I learned good morals and the government of my temper.

From the reputation and remembrance of my father, modesty and a manly character.

From my mother, piety and beneficence, and abstinence, not only from evil deeds, but even from evil thoughts; and further, simplicity in my way of living, far removed from the habits of the rich.

From my great-grandfather, not to have frequented public schools, and to have had good teachers at home, and to know that on such things a man should spend liberally.

From my governor, to be neither of the green nor of the blue party at the games in the Circus, nor a partizan either of the Parmularius or the Scutarius at the gladiators' fights; from him too I learned endurance of labour, and to want little, and to work with my own hands, and not to meddle with other people's affairs, and not to be ready to listen to slander.

This leads us to deduce that wisdom can be observed from the people about u,s and various aspects which we see as noble can be adopted and can become part of our own character if we admire that character sufficiently or if our society values that particular virtue. If in this case we succumb to wanting to meet societal norms then we may be predisposed to adopting that value/virtue. "The Meditations" also shows how the values and virtues that the human race has aspired to have remained relatively consistent over millennia. There have certainly been aberrations in this journey but overall the values and virtues we hold in high regard have been relatively consistent over time. It is these values and virtues that must form a baseline when attempting to make wise commentary or decisions.

Taking the above into account, those people who hold the opinion that wisdom could be encouraged (as opposed to taught), take the view that effective questioning is a key methodology for developing virtues and values that we may consider base elements of wisdom, and that through encouraging questions that rely on a set of values and virtues students can “practice” making wise decisions in reasonably authentic scenarios. In a paper by Susan Awbrey and David Scott (http://128.119.101.5/pastchancellors/scott/papers/critThink.html) the view is expressed that "inquiry and critical thinking form the process for discovering meaning in our lives" (p4). Inquiry and critical thinking may not be the only processes that are involved in encouraging the development of wisdom but they certainly appear to be important aspects that need exercising in order to encourage and possibly develop wisdom within our young people. Other possible high order thinking skills that may contribute to the encouragement or the development of wisdom include problem solving, decision-making and creative thinking. However, regardless of the thinking skills that we may encourage, and regardless of the cultures and values that we may express, children can and do make what many perceive to be wise decisions, as well as verbalising perceptive opinions based on insights gained from their observations. There is little doubt that encouraging high order thinking tasks involving virtuous and value attached scenarios contributes to a greater potential capacity for displays of wisdom.

The capacity for metacognition, the ability to reflect and examine our own thinking, draws on high-level thinking tasks such as critical thinking, decision-making, and creativity, and also contributes significantly to the capacity for wisdom. One of the preconditions for being wise is the ability to see situations from different perspectives, and to determine the possible benefits and negative results from any given decision or comment. Further to this and much more difficult is the ability to place oneself into another person's position, assuming their nature and their worldview. This by it’s very nature can be a particularly confronting exercise, as people's worldviews do not necessarily represent rational and logical perspectives of the world in which they live (other than your own of course!). It is this irrationality that makes it very difficult to take on somebody else's perspective and perceive their situation through their worldview.

The imparting of wisdom is especially difficult when the worldview of the people/person we are dealing with is in conflict with our own worldview at a personal level, which helps explain why the hardest people to advise wisely and deal with wisely are those closest to us, while it is relatively easy to give guidance to someone with whom we are not personally involved. This is why it is often vital that someone completely external to the situation acts in an arbitration role when dealing with conflict.

In order to be wise we need to take an almost "God like" position, removed from our own ideologically enhanced worldview. This is where faith inevitably enters the discussion. Individual faiths usually have as their centrepiece an extremely wise person who has left behind a collection of teachings about the nature of wisdom. It is not surprising then that many of the people with whom we come into contact and consider to be wise concurrently hold onto a strong faith in an external benevolent God. However we must not, on that basis conclude that a person who is unwise does not have a faith or vice versa, rather that those with a faith often appear to have increased ability to set themselves apart from a situation and make a God like assessment leading to a wise judgment call.

There is a second role that faith plays in regard to wisdom. With 20:20 vision we could have all been remarkably wise in many situations had we had time to reflect on and study the situation, rather than reacting spontaneously to the situation when our far more natural passionate, illogical nature predominated. This is a lesson we all should learn from the many conversations we have with ourselves as to what we would have said/or done. It is also possible to think wisely but refrain from acting on those thoughts lest in attempting to look wise, we present as foolish by making a "bad call." For many people faith provides purpose and a sense of mission in transforming wise thoughts into actions, with the assurance that this is what “God” would do in the situation. The assumption of course is that we know this God intimately enough to interpret his[1] actions in a wide variety of situations. In conclusion, many people, in their quest for wisdom spend a lifetime studying wise teachings, actions and sayings of people they trust and respect in an attempt to adopt a worldview that assists them to make increasingly wise decisions.

Back to the classroom: there is no doubt that exposure to the wise writings of historically significant individuals and faiths, puts learners in a much better position to make wise decisions.

It is also true to say that critical thinking skills are virtually essential to making good judgments. Inquiry learning processes also have much to offer those wishing to aspire to a degree of wisdom in their actions as this process provides a systematic way of analysing situations and issues (working against our natural perchance for passionate; irrational behaviours). However, even if all this is done there is still no guarantee that the student will be wise in any, some or all situations in which they find themselves. We are given a free choice over how we react to any given opportunity or situation, and it is our nature as human beings to be fairly random in the way in which we respond unless we discipline ourselves considerably and work against our own human nature. To attempt to do this is as natural as to fail to do it. Therein lies the nature of being human.

The role of inspirational people within our lives who through their actions and teachings provide us with the framework of what we culturally adopt as being wise, cannot be understated. Wisdom often stands above and beyond the ideology of the community within which we live and work. Ideologies are fashionable and change with the wind, whereas the principles that underpin wise decisions are immutable and have stood the test of time.

In the Christian Bible James (chap1v5) prompts the question "how should we obtain wisdom?" And the answer that he provides is simply that "we should ask God for it". This simplistic truism underscores the reality of wisdom as James perceives it. In order to be wise it is necessary to set ourselves apart from any situation, remove our own embedded worldview and make a decision/ judgment, or take action just as if we were God. However the improbability of this last scenario leaves most of us in a rather tricky situation with few alternatives other than to visualise an understanding/knowledge of what it would be like to have a totally independent and "true" worldview of each situation with which we come into contact. In other words we would need to trade places with God and make a judgment call from what we perceive His perspective to be. Unless we can sit down and chat with God and get to know him this is going to be quite hard to do but it may not be a bad place to start.

This paper has been somewhat of a conundrum as there will be those who consider these issues to have no place in schools, while others would wish that more “correct” commentary be made on the value of one (set) of virtues, ideals, values or faith over another, but that is not the issue. Wisdom transcends these personal frameworks, and wisdom is critical in an era when so much information is available to so many people in an increasingly democratic way, allowing knowledge to be created through lifelong learning skills. But let us not shirk our responsibility in the application of this knowledge. We may not be directly responsible for our learners’ life decisions but it is important that we (the greater community and the teaching fraternity) provide them with the framework of wisdom that empowers them to use their knowledge in a manner that will benefit their communities first and ultimately themselves through those communities. In order to achieve this it is imperative that the principles that govern values, virtues and ideals that are above the ideological culture of any given community, are encouraged and given the opportunity to blossom.

We are constantly seeing web software that offers much but delivers little but here is an exception. We work with the web for most of the day and we need effective tools that deliver improvements to our management of sites and resources. We have added Web Stasher to our toolbar and we are very precious about this screen real-estate as we cannot afford for too many toolbars to get in the way of what we are reviewing!

With that in mind we have 50 free licences for Web Stasher http://www.flexity.net/pages/webstasher.html to give away (we wrote the review before they gave us the free licences!). To win one just be one of the first 50 teachers or administrators to send us through the URL of your favourite education web site (other than us of course!). Simply e-mail your favourite URL to stasher@work.co.nz and we will send to you a code and instructions to unlock your free copy of this excellent software.

WebStasher is a toolbar for Internet Explorer. With it, users can save Web pages, selections, bookmarks and notes, and organize saved information using multiple project and category labels…all with a single click. Labels avoid the hassle of juggling folders when information is associated with multiple projects and categories. Label editing (deleting, changing or adding labels) can be done on either individual records or batches of records.

To reduce the accidental saving of the same information more than once, an indicator on the WebStasher toolbar displays whether the page the user is viewing on the Web has already been saved. In addition, a single click can display those previously-saved items in a new browser window.

WebStasher also makes it easy for users to retrieve information from their personal databases of Web information. Search criteria can include: single- or multiple-labels; phrases in content; whole- or partial-words in content; and date-ranges. Criteria can be combined in order to target searches and reduce the number of irrelevant records found. But WebStasher goes even further to help users uncover the information they are looking for.

The WebStasher interface ‘sees’ inside records without opening them. When a search returns multiple records, the user can display text that was highlighted on the original Web page, user-entered notes, and the Web page’s description by passing his or her mouse over a record summary. This makes it easy to find particular records.

We encourage comment, ideas and requests. Please send these to teachers@work.co.nz

[1] “his” here is of course used in a “gender neutral” capacity