Being awesome is unpredictable, different. It's also outgoing, growing, exploding.

Education should be awesome.

But that's not giving it a purpose; it's not a teleology of education. Any given purpose would inevitably suck.

Going off on a tangent. It seems to me that education, nowadays, produces more unhappiness than happiness in individuals. Given my short stint in college, I can't say I was actually happy. Though, I kept on telling myself that I should be happy.

On another note. Given that education has been reduced to a performative function of utility maximization through intellectual ability, then competitiveness is defined by how high an IQ you have. I'm not saying this happens everywhere, but, if you want to do well in some ivy league college, then IQ matters quite a deal.

...too many teachers today... — javra

get told what to do by folk with no idea.

It's not the kids who voted for Trump. It was the least educated forty year olds.

Yea. I was a high-school teacher in Compton once. Spoke from some personal experience. Kids that are intelligent—with a big emphasis on this—but don’t know how to subtract hundreds, don’t know who Hitler or Stalin was, and so on. You’ll note that “too many” is, however, not a blanket statement. That aside, are you upholding that society today is better informed about the world than it was a few decades past?

@Banno

I think there are domains of happiness and subjective well-being that education is able to encourage or promote. I don't think the strawman has any support from me to define happiness as a unitary entity that can be possessed.

are you upholding that society today is better informed about the world than it was a few decades past? — javra

Which society? I'd say that the US education system is in a state of utter decay. But here in Australia we have managed to keep a high degree of quality despite attacks form economic rationalists.

I think there are domains of happiness and subjective well-being that education is able to encourage or promote. — Posty McPostface

Hm. happiness and subjective well-being are a side effect of living with the awesome.

Ok. I was going by the US and what I know of Europe. Glad to hear, and quite hopeful, that this situation isn’t ubiquitous.

Hm. happiness and subjective well-being are a side effect of living with the awesome. — Banno

I'm in agreement. I just have the implementation in mind, as to how to promote happiness through education. Obviously, not everyone generically goes through that process.

I want to bring up the self-esteem movement that has grasped American high schools and other educational settings.

What's the deal with that movement? Everyone should get a reward for just being in school or what? Is this what trying to encourage happiness as a goal has resulted in? It's an utter failure in my mind.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-be-awesome/

Being awesome is unpredictable, different. It's also outgoing, growing, exploding.

Education should be awesome. — Banno

Hah, I really like this. It's a slick way to refer to what I'm come to know as 'becoming-other', a term here elaborated by Elizabeth Grosz (An Aussie academic!):

"Art is the opening up of the universe to becoming-other, just as science is the opening up of the universe to practical action, to becoming-useful and philosophy is the opening up of the universe to thought-becoming. ... [W]hat philosophy and art share in common—their rootedness in chaos, their capacity to ride the waves of a vibratory universe without direction or purpose, in short, their capacity to enlarge the universe by enabling its potential to be otherwise, to be framed through concepts and affects. They are among the most forceful ways in which culture generates a small space of chaos within chaos where chaos can be elaborated, felt, thought."

It'd be nice to add education to this.

I came across it in The Philosopher's Zone podcast, a while back; but it's been growing on me. Just downloaded the book.

It appears capable of bringing together my disgust at organisational irrationality and my views on pedagogy. New favourite thing.

Being awesome is unpredictable, different. It's also outgoing, growing, exploding. — Banno

Isn't it an attitude? If so, then it's possible to encourage, no?

There's another side to this thread that hasn't been touched on. If happiness is the goal of education, as it should be, then we ought to learn about unhappiness also.

It's only through caring and compassion that we can learn to share the sadness of others and the world, to paradoxically increase our own happiness. This subject is almost a taboo in colleges, due to the Puritan nature of Western society in my mind. But, learning about the suffering of blacks or other groups of people happens, fortunately, in college settings and even high school settings.

Which, brings me to guilt. It seems that this is an important emotion that can serve as an impetus to strive for a better society. Without guilt, we would not want to increase happiness for ourselves and others.

Isn't it an attitude? — Posty McPostface

If it were, it would be an attitude towards something. But that does not sound right, since there is not obviously an object that is awesome.

If happiness is the goal of education, as it should be... — Posty McPostface

That's not how it goes. Rather, happiness will be one result of education if you are doing it right.

If it were, it would be an attitude towards something. — Banno

No, it can be narcissistically directed at one's self. And, this does sound right because it happens every time we want to Instagram or tweet what we are/ate/did/said because we are so special and everyone needs to know how special we are. Obviously, none of this takes place in reality. More like some fantasy world that we construe.

That's not how it goes. Rather, happiness will be one result of education if you are doing it right. — Banno

So, how does that happen, then if you care to elaborate?

when what happens in the classroom is awesome.

Pretty circular. Whatever floats your boat then.

Pretty circular — Posty McPostface

I'd rather call it foundational.

I'd rather call it foundational. — Banno

Since happiness is correlated with awesomeness, then you do agree that education should promote happiness?

What if Nietzsche were a teacher. Just think about it:

To those human beings who are of any concern to me I wish suffering, desolation, sickness, ill-treatment, indignities - I wish that they should not remain unfamiliar with profound self-contempt, the torture of self-mistrust, the wretchedness of the vanquished: I have no pity for them, because I wish them the only thing that can prove today whether one is worth anything or not - that one endures. — Nietzsche

That would be awesome?

No; the result would be the dystopia pointed to by @javra.

I want to bring up the self-esteem movement that has grasped American high schools and other educational settings. — Posty McPostface

It’s been going on for a while where I'm at.

What's the deal with that movement? Everyone should get a reward for just being in school or what? Is this what trying to encourage happiness as a goal has resulted in? It's an utter failure in my mind. — Posty McPostface

Because it’s contradictory to our innate sense of merit, to feeling rewarded for successfully overcoming challenges, for doing good, and for being correct in our beliefs. It’s getting everything for nothing. And children sense that this is a vein, or empty, worth.

I could argue there are good intentions behind it—such as in wanting children to not feel worthless—but, from my experiences, it doesn’t work for the reasons just mentioned. In my experience, the hardest thing to teach is a genuine interest in wanting to learn, to gain more knowledge and, possibly, wisdom. This by learning how to question. The good teachers I had knew how to do so—thereby bringing about self-esteem in us as a consequence of our held effort and desire. Not by teaching that we should hold self-esteem so as to learn. Don’t know if this is what other as calling “awesomeness” but it certainly wasn’t about having fun in the classroom. It was about learning, and when there was a mutually pleasant, reciprocal interest on the part of students and teacher(s), the fun then followed.

But since I take it you’re looking for something more concrete, the number one way to making education better? Decrease class sizes. Make it more personal. This can only make things better regardless of the qualities of the teacher(s). There are other factors, such as in selecting for better teachers via better pay that draws in more candidates, but impersonal interactions are always a lot less effective than personal ones.

No; the result would be the dystopia pointed to by javra. — Banno

Then, share with us what aims should education promote?

Generally speaking N. sucks. Zarathustra is only superficially awesome. In the end he is a blowhard.

Because it’s contradictory to our innate sense of merit, to feeling rewarded for successfully overcoming challenges, for doing good, and for being correct in our beliefs. It’s getting everything for nothing. And children sense that this is a vein, or empty, worth. — javra

So, in the end, do we feel guilt or shame in getting something for nothing? Guilt is a powerful motivator.

I thought I did.

Setting aims for education is counterproductive. Instead, be awesome. But of course what counts as awesome cannot, by that very fact, be specified.

I can show you, I can't tell you.

I can show you, I can't tell you. — Banno

Whatever floats your boat. As they say, a rising tide lifts all boats.