Time to learn your ABCs, Daddio.

This is an interesting pedagogical strategy, that is pre-hippy, of letting children learn in whatever fashion they want. The kids in this video seem to feel they'll learn more if they constantly smoke cigarettes, ride motorcycles with wild abandon, and dress like members of The Cramps. The matter-of-fact narration describe the students as being, "allowed to find out for themselves whether conventions are good or bad." 




The school is trying to induce autodidacticism in these bee-bopping, leather-jacketed, kiddos. This is an astonishing approach whose only analog is home-schooling.

I would love to see a follow-up to see where these kids featured in the video are now. I suspect that unlike members of other British boarding schools, which are infamous worldwide for psychological cruelty, – if you don't eat your meat, how can you have any pudding?– these motorcycle ridin' kids probably grew up to be innovators in whatever field they chose. Sitting in a desk all day only prepares a kid for future cubicle work.

It seems like in the 1970s there was an educational movement, influenced by the Utopian politics of the hippies, that espoused the notion that the only rule, is there are no rules. The so-called Freedom School from the counter-culture film Billy Jack is an example I can think of, but I've never met anyone in real life who went to a school like that. An early Simpsons episode has Bart conning his way into a school for "gifted students" that allow the kids to set their own agenda. It doesn't work for Bart.

Looking at the educational histories of highly successful people, like Richard Branson and Bill Gates, it's hard not to notice that they took a different educational approach. Of course, I'm not suggesting that if you drop out of high school like Richard Branson, you'll wind up running a billion dollar empire like Virgin Atlantic like he did, you'll probably be destitute. But I like the idea of having kids discover their own path.

Thanks to Disinfo.com for the link!

Manic Pixie Dream Girls and Glamour Bombing

I always thought the Manic Pixie Dream Girl was a myth; a kind of quirky person, with child-like innocence, that only existed in romantic comedies. But they do exist, I've met a lot of MPDGs, who are mostly under the age of 25. When I ask them how they're doing, they say, "Happy!" real loud.

This sounds annoying. It really isn't. The world can be a dull, colorless, fluorescent bulb lit place. Culture puts a premium on being cool and aloof, and by its nature, sneers at novelty. The real-life MPDG seems like a reaction to disgruntled, seen-it-all bitterness. If people want to be quirky, even if it is an affected quirkiness, then more power to them. These girls only get into trouble when they realize that round-the-clock chipperness and positivity, isn't part of the human condition. Life gives us disappointment and defeat, and these truths are hard to deal with if one is in thrall to the Manic Pixie Dream Girl state.



Related to the idea of a real-life Manic Pixie Dream Girl, is the concept of Glamour Bombing. The Manic Pixie Dream Girl attempts to alter and skew reality by her very presence. Glamour Bombing is more anonymous. Glamour Bombing can be done by anyone, even you, dear reader, and is related, and perhaps a subset of Culture Jamming. Glamour Bombing has a less subversive nature than Culture Jamming, and is akin to doing "random acts of kindness." Yarn Bombing created by anonymous knitters, is wonderful example of this.

The quintessential example of Glamour Bombing is from the French movie, Amélie. The title character, who is really more of a Subdued Pixie Dream Girl, creates elaborate pranks, that try and make the world  a stranger, magical place.

So get busy, and make the world weirder. I won't tell anyone.

Jesters, A Much-Needed Branch of Government

I've always had a fascination with jesters. A jester was a professional entertainer, an invited member of court, who had the power to tell a monarch anything, unlike the sycophants at court. In a world, where appearance and reputation were everything, jesters behaved in the exact opposite of courtly conventions. Instead of trying to appear important, their distinctive hat reminds us of the jackass.

Every culture has some form of clown. But I really can't think of any worldwide analog to jesters, which I think have a political aspect. The only candidate I can think of is the heyoka of the Lakota. The heyoka consciously behaved opposite to reality and convention. In other words, the heyoka would laugh at tragic news, ride their horses backwards, and pretend to be freezing during heat waves. In the film, Little Big Man, one of the first of a bunch of movies where White Honkys save indigenous people, (eg. Dances With Wolves, Avatar), I always liked the ridiculous heyoka behavior.

I once read, in an obscure and dusty library book, that Jesters would paint their faces white, to remind the King of his own mortality. Memento Mori. Alas, Poor Yorick, Hamlet's old beloved jester, is known more for the death anxiety that his skull elicits than any jokes he told.

I think society, particularly politics and the religion of celebrity worship, could benefit from official and unofficial jesters. We have unofficial Jesters who are greatly rewarded. On the Left Wing, there is Jon Stewart and the Daily Show. On the Libertarian Right, there is South Park. Politically opposite, both are unrepentant truth tellers whose job it is to remind us the Emperor Wears No Clothes. Some extreme political camps have no Jesters, only naive buffoons.

I think it would be good thing, especially if we continue to have a Two Party System, to have a First Jester, who would have his or her own staff of Merry Andrews and Merry Andreas (Andrewlinas? What is the feminine version of Andrew?). This position would be elected, but not by popular vote. The losing Party would be able to appoint their own Jester. I could see situations where political partys, might take a fall, just so they could get their Jester in to mouth off wise cracks during press conferences.

Helpful Tip

For lunch today I went to a "Mongolian Grill" style restaurant. They had installed new high-tech touch screen thing-a-ma-jigs at the table, which would let you instantly order a drink or a brownie sundae, without bothering the wait staff. Real Star Trek kind of stuff. Truly, we live in the future.

When it was time to pay, my elderly Asian waitress decided to help me by showing me how the whole thing worked. I don't think I needed this assistance; I've been to the self-checkout line at the grocery store, but I went along with it.

The touch screen asked, "How Satisfied Were You With This Experience?" 


Our waitress peered over my shoulder, "Put in whatever you want."

Naturally, I punched in, Highly Satisfied. I'm a very good person. Maybe they'll give her a gold star if she collects enough of them.

Then, things got awkward. Our table-side Star Trek tricorder asked, "What Would You Like To Tip?"

As a helpful start, it suggested the exorbitant amount of 20%, and showed what kind of tip that would look like.

Again, my waitress encouraged me to, "Put in whatever you want."

I'm sure it's really hard to work in a restaurant, but after an awkward pause waiting for her to leave, I hit the little less than button, and while I was clicking the button – boop, boop, boop – she stood over my shoulder and watched her tip slowly diminish. Feeling much guilt, I stopped at 16%. I told myself that was still a lot.

John Cleese On Creativity.

John Cleese - a lecture on Creativity from janalleman on Vimeo.