Peter E. Pflaum Ph.D.
http://www.wiredbrain.net/

The Chestershire Cat, where nothing is left in the central office
but a smile.       

The critical issue in education and technology is the transfer of
power to skilled professionals who do the work of teaching. The
"X" model of the 19th century factory was of division of labor
into simple tasks so the workers followed orders and the owners
gave instructions. The "Y" model added a middle level managers
and staff. The factory became the corporation with layers of
lawyers, accountants, bureaucrats and specialized experts. In the
1960's something began to go wrong with the giant corporations
that dominated the world economy. The "Z" model was described by
Branch about TRW. Small groups planned and conducted systems
design and development without a huge overhead. The "skunk works"
and Northrop (North American Aviation) was institutionalized.

              The most competitive organizations are "quick,"
"smart," and flexible. Economic well-being depends on reducing
top down directions, middle level managers and staff and freeing
up creativity and customer response by small operational teams. 
Motorola, computer software companies like WordPerfect and
Microsoft have won over the old giants of like IBM, which now is
creating "independent" enterprises.

              Of the average $7000 per students spend by schools,
less than half gets to the classroom. Good private schools spend
less than half and do better - so they can select to some extent
but that's not the point, many teachers send their children to
non-public schools, maybe 40% in cities. Private school teachers
work harder for less money but have more freedom and are happier.
(NCES - survey)

             Technology - where teachers really do have more
information and control that the layers of administration,
supervision, deans, etc, etc., could make a difference. The
Consortium for School Networking could be a model for an
information and power shift.

                 The Secretary of Education and Labor sing the
right tune - but the NEA pays the piper. Why is the NEA afraid of
real reform? Are they afraid of all market forces? The members
are not happy and vote with their feet. Are they more like the
UAW at Caterpillar but not at Saturn? Reform is easy - we know
how to do it - Fiske's Smart Schools, Smart Kids lays it out. The
system can't reform itself and need more than a gentle shove. 
Social Pathology:  Real World?  A friend in mathematics once said
"The real world is only a special case and not especially
interesting." Economics has created the most wonderful,
beautiful, intellectual structure which is robust enough to have
special applications to the real world. It is a theology not a
science nor can it be. The "science" of man is something quite
different. The logical structure is based on 18th century
rationalism, and 19th century science and technology (production
functions ) with a little 20th century social science
(Institutional structure).   The psychological reality of
economic assumptions, has always been wrong in the real world.
Even big organizations and economists themselves are not
rational. They practice forms of social cults, with sub-optimal
goals based on personal ambitions, greed, power plays, goal
displacement, illusions, companies sell dreams and often live in
their own dream-world, they are human - all too human. The
shadows become real, the real is a shadow. Blue smoke and mirrors
is our biggest business.   The emperor has clothes but they are
not the shining gold that the false tailors have promised. But
then it's a living. Truth is an abstraction - we all find comfort
in a shared illusion.   Organization motivation, however, of the
principle economic institutions can not be ignored. The
motivation of the landed gentry, the desires and character of
capitalist and industrialist, the values of corporations, the
results of the separation of owners from managers, and new forms
of economic enterprise (The Age of Unreason - Charles B. Handy is
an excellent introduction) are too important to avoid. (Time
frame for saving and investment, take-overs, Token vs. real
economy are important issues that raise the real values and
motive of real people in real time.)   It is possible that
neo-classical economics is renewed. The structure is not really
dependent on the base assumptions. Market, monetary, fiscal,
policy, investment and factor analysis do not depend on a social-
psychological model. Each is a special case and there are some
very useful tools of analysis. A carpenter does not have to
understand physics.   The paradigm shift (should be the name of a
rock band) of the new world order, the Global economy, the limits
of growth, the oversized, over fed, over here technology -
creates new imperatives? What is the answer - I thought you never
ask?  A new bottom line - wealth not riches - productive long
term capacity - not profits - the goose not the golden eggs.
(Back to Adam Smith - who had good feel for predestined values,
things over which we have no power - put things back in the
limits of reality - we are not Gods we do not have unlimited
choices. Back in tune or out of the room. Back in touch - )  RE:
Personal responsibility: (and character)  In the Brothers
Karamazov, Dostoevski has the Grand Inquisitor interview Christ
who has returned. He tell Jesus that ordinary people just aren't
up to the challenge of making up their own minds and finding
their own way to salvation. Therefore the Church at the sure loss
of their own souls - is giving them the way. The Inquisitor knows
he can't save souls by formulas and ritual. But this is all
people understand and it would be cruel and dangerous to take it
away from them. Jesus is just going to have to die again - maybe
next time. Ideologies say the same thing - we know better - do
this or that and all will be well. People like that. Freedom is
not much fun it carries responsibilities.  No one can impose
freedom on another. Their is no solution from above - right -
left - center - The freedom is a state of mind.  I think, at the
moment, it takes magic. The other text is Wallace the Death and
Rebirth of the Seneca. When the current power structure doesn't
work there are ghost cults and belief in magic. The way of the
Sufi - is to be in the world but not of it - people need -
leadership - hope - guidance - but also freedom to be stupid and
wrong. The "fakir" can be different things to different people
and appear to be what is not - and at the same time not have any
doubts about what is real and what is "illusion". The magician
know its a trick and doesn't belief in magic. This is the way to
power - but it's not easy.   Martin Luther King says in that I
have a Dream speech - One day my little children will be judged -
not by the color of their skin but the contents of their
character. For those that want rights (back, gay, women, fat,
etc) I say that day has come. I do not judge you by the color of
your skin, who you sleep with, your sex or gender but the
contents of your charter. The Rodney King (no relative) rule
"Can't we just get along." The planet and our souls need
attention. The moral and political system needs leaders - let's
focus on the prize, folks.   The current word is "Sustainable";  
- In general system terms biological systems tend to exponential
growth only restricted by negative feedback - (Like in Central
Africa). Balance is a dynamic process of each genetic organism
pushing its limits and being pushed back by environmental factors
and competition. Human evolution through social technology has
temporarily pushed the limits on a planetary scale. The Club of
Rome report in the 1960's may not be wrong only a little off in
timing. (Limits to Growth = sudden collapse of whole systems ) 
There are no moral problems, or political problems, or economic
problems, scientific or technical problems but real problems -
which come with all these considerations. For academic and
technical reasons, we have divided reality up into departments.
(one problem is that the liberal arts have been pushed out by
specialist) The blind are feeling the elephant - with CAT
scanners, satellites, remote probes, macro and micro models - but
they do not understand the nature of elephants?   Edward O.
Wilson - Socio-biology argues that there are genetic programmed
groves - like language. One major grove in the troop or clan or
human group. The natural size of this group us under 80 members.
Groups over a certain size become impersonal. The solution to
almost everything is decentralization. A Global economy and
ecology but people making decision in small groups, in
neighborhoods, in regional organizations, as small as possible. 
This was called community action and self help projects.  RE:
Books and materials a REVIEW:  Covey, S.R. "Seven Habits of
Highly Effective People"      Record (1991), Covey Leadership
Center PO BOX 19008,      Provo, UT, 84605-9925 1-800-655-6839
Audio Tapes and      video tape materials  Wallace, Anthony F.C
"The Death and Rebirth of the Seneca,"

            New York Vintage Books 1972  Bennett, William John
"The De-valuing of America New York

            Summit Books 1992  Deming, W. E.  (1986).  Out of the
Crisis.  Cambridge, MA:

               Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 
"Humankind" becoming Human  Handy, Charles The Age of Unreason -
Harvard Business school      Press 1989  Maslow, National
Training Center Higher Reaches of Human      Behavior and
Motivation B-values  Fiske, Edward B. Smart Schools, Smart Kids,
Why Do Some      Schools Work  (Simon & Schuster, New York 1991) 
Frankl, Victor "Man's Search for Meaning"  Reich, Robert B. The
Work of Nations: preparing ourselves

            

            for the 21 st Century capitalism (New York, A.A.

               Knopf 1991)      The Next American Frontier(New
York, Times Books, 1983)   Senge, P.M. The Fifth Discipline: The
Art and Practice of

            

            the Learning  Organization (New York, Doubleday

            

               1990)  Sergiovanni, T.J. Moral Leadership, Getting
to the Heart of      School Improvement (San Francisco
Jossey-Bass 1992)     and Moore, J.H. Schooling for Tomorrow
(Boston: Allyn &

            Bacon) 1989  First: The small school - human - caring
- flexible -      ungraded - students learn at their own style
and pace.   Second: X, Y, and Z - X = The factory, Y = The Human
Relations (personality) other-directed IBM type - PR tries to
make people feel they participate and have power (but its not
quite real) - Z is letting go - in class giving up teacher talk -
using free groups and active learning. Students learn what they
want to learn -  Teachers guide and advise students (workers)
more than transmit information.      Students learn to learn and
find and organize and use

              information. Teaching students not subjects.

            Group theory from Mankarenko's Gorki Colony.     
(another reading) The Road to Life -  Quality : involves that
Paradigm shift in the values of     caring -  sincerity - honest
- character - principles -

             a Z theory principle not another management system   
  (MBO) but a shift in power and control. Responsibility

             and freedom. I think it involves "body knowledge" a  
   focus of the mind - being in the world and not of it -

             higher awareness - the dancer becomes the dance -
the

              lost of self-conscience. The still quiet voice
guides

              us without criticism. I can visualize the perfect - 
   - Facts follow vision -   Logos, pathos, ethos - the bringing
together of brain      knowledge (ideas in the head - many of
which are      illusions ) body knowledge ( feeling safe and
secure      enough to explore new worlds) being in touch - and    
 spirit - that which motivates us beyond ourselves      and give
meaning and purpose to all activity.  The global contex - Earth
values?  THE LIBERAL ARTS IN AN AGE OF INFORMATION: Some
preliminary thoughts      Peter E. Pflaum

            The classical liberal arts were the pool of culture
of the educated gentleman.  The social function was the uniform
set of knowledge and attitudes that tied together a social class
and cultural system.  In some way the classics acted as the folk
tales and myths of the tribal society in being the mystic glue to
hold their souls in place. There was also a secondary purpose of
mind exercise, where the process of learning was practiced and
knowledge management skills developed. The center piece of the
old school was ancient languages. Latin and Greek were the keys
to entry and the basis of skills needed by discipline officers of
the social system. (teachers, administrators, responsible civic
leaders)

            The new liberal arts should relate to the information
and skills needed by the knowledge industries, government, and
non-profit organizations of today and tomorrow.  These skills are
the ability of small groups to focus on clear objectives, to
gather information about the tasks (not reinvent the wheel),
assign task around the knowledge of the tasks required, and
evaluate performance and make corrective action as necessary. 
Theses skills can be learned but only in practice. They are not
only abstract and the application of the various types of
scientific method but practical skills. The core body of
knowledge in small group behavior, motivation, information
processing, critical analysis (systems thinking and hypothesis
testing), evaluation and recourse allocation. (benefit/cost
analysis) The model is the medical team, the research and
development group, the management functions in technical
organizations, marketing teams, etc.

            The functional uses of the humanities (outside the
ascetic and character building - or intrinsic value of art) is
awareness. The alert and focused mind of the professional is a
more powerful, therefore, socially useful than the listless and
vague awareness of lethargic employees.

              Education needs to be national or international,
creating a cultural and social bond with the body of educated
persons. It needs to be life long and continuing, adult education
should be integrated into the entry level and advanced learning. 
Education is no longer defined and limited to school so the
private and public employers need to be involved in the process.

             The educated person is equipped to both live a
fuller life and make a better living and there is no real
conflict between the practical and the humanities and liberal
arts. All that is necessary is to see the process as one of
learning to learn rather than specific job skills.  The virtue of
educated values and careful thought are useful in life and on the
job.  Student will respond with more enthusiasm to the great
liberal and cultural traditions of our society if they can see
the relevance in their own lives and fortunes.  They can use
ethics, history, novels, art to understand their experiences of
life and work.  Science and technology, politics and economics
become meaningfully with context of real life.  The effective
member of a modern organization can present ideas orally and in
clear writing, uses graphics and illustration, can work with a
diversity of people, and bring a sense of mission, value and
meaning to the activities of the day.

             The new liberal arts are both content and process.
The process need to be teams of explorers, the content related to
outcomes and performance.  If groups of faculty and students are
set out to put together a medieval fair and festival- costume,
music, art and architecture - along with an analysis of the
social political culture and its impacts on creative works- the
politics of Shakespeare, and Elizabeth I as a character in drama-
the art of war in the 16th century, the technology of sailing,
the facts of the grand armada- etc.  Then the same kind of action
and analysis of the American Colonies- a revolutionary festival,
the industrial revolution, Lenin  and the 10 days that shook the
earth. The humanities can be integrated into tasks and projects
that require planning, recourse allocation, analysis and even
scientific method, observation, recording, classifying,
hypothesis testing, and application of complex rules to real
situations.  Organizational skills as a liberal Art.

            C. P. Snow wrote about the two cultures of Science
and Humanities. Since knowledge organization in groups involves
both the science and technology of specialist but also the
values, growth and development of ideas and people, the social
structure and community - the insights of literature and the
arts, psychology and philosophy, economics and political science,
sociology, history, ethics, and the physical sciences - focused
on effectiveness and results- teaching and learning, building and
designing- selling and organizing as a collective activity.  In
this way the abstract become the concrete, the interesting become
useful.

            The economy of knowledge means that human capital,
skills and attitudes, are of great practical value and the
educational process is important.  An educated person understands
the learning process not as a set of obscure disciplines but as a
way of using knowledge to achieve results.  Literacy includes the
use of language, mathematics, graphic arts, computer analysis,
and technology. The knowledge of the world must include the
transnational institutions and ideas. (Professional association
and information transfers) Learning to learn and act on that
knowledge is central to the need for continuing learning in a
fast changing world.

            Plutarch in Paidea (Raising Children) says that one
should focus on the strengths and talents of learners. As people
achieve they are motivated to do more and it becomes self
directed. Performance depends on the use of strengths. Each
person learns differently and needs to develop their own learning
skills in their own way.

             The curriculum content would be problems or issues (
I think Green Bay in Wisc. and the United Nations University took
this approach ). Problems or issues do not come all wrapped up by
discipline - The undergraduate core curriculum could be focused
by a set of interlocking issues.  The first level would be
understanding history and structure. The land and people of this
area- the last few million years and the impacts of migration and
importation of European Civilization.

               The second year is focused on local ecology and
social structure. What is done and why? The economy of farms and
oil- the politics of agriculture and oil, the culture of the
central plains as reflective of values and personality (Giant).

            The third year would be the world context. The
courses could be: The Land and people, A, B, C Three semester
courses - ( 12 hours)  A. The land of the Southern Plains,
geology, history, peoples and cultures - economics and uses -
abuses and problems. An understanding of where we are physically
and geographically- who we are- including Native Americans who
have been around here longer.  B. The impacts of European Culture
on the Southern Plains - sooners and loiters The History of
Western Civilization that effected this area and American History
of the South West.  C. The biology of the local ecology Water
Quality, soils, sustainable agriculture - The human uses of the
resources.  D. General Systems Theory and Systems Analysis  The
Southern Plains in National and international context: (12 Hours) 
A. The economic and politics of Oil  B. The preforming and visual
arts in World context  C. Agricultural Economics in World markets 
D. Social and Economic Structures, the Local Firm and the World
Market  Seminars on the New World Order and the Ecology of the
Global Political Economy  Computer and mathematical models of
systems.  While a team develops content, individual instructors
have small classes and share large lectures.  The group meets two
hours a week with a instructor in a small group (to conduct
projects) and one hour in a large lecture to review content.    
RE: CHARTER School  Why does it have to be in Florida? The
charter school bill which was supported by the Governor (Layton
Childs, Democrat) and the Republicans (including the Education
Commissioner) was still born because the NEA, AFT and public
school establishment is still too strong. Support came from
"Religious Right" Empower America, very little from school reform
types. It may not be PC but different issues require different
coalitions and allies.  How about a National Charter school on
the INTERNET, home school base, evaluation and testing center,
support group, et al. Out of state credits are good anywhere.. K
to..life long learning - GED program, literacy, there is a lot of
Math and science on the WEB, virtual classrooms, school contacts
- ( A university lab school would be a wonderful base -) 
Politics after all is just another small business. Running is
expensive. It's important to put yourself into a position where
contributions increase.. Therefore everyone wants to have their
finger in the pie.. committees are collection stations on the
road to power. By public supporting the "charter" schools bill
many members worked to privately killing the bill. That way you
can collect from both sides.   Responsible government (a real
executive) and political parties (always vote at your parties
call, never think for yourself at all, and you can be ruler of
the Queen's Navy) spoil the game, as does line item veto's,
impoundment, and other steps that disrupt the ability to "deliver
the goods".  RE: When in the course of human events...  All
social arrangements, from families to Governments, from Apple
Computers to public schools are promises among people in their
meaningful pursuit of life, liberty and happiness. We are social
creatures, living in troops, clans, communities and our
individual welfare is dependent on the social contract with those
around us.  Our consent and active participation requires justice
in the use of power. Any institution can be destructive to 
itself and become dangerous to others, i.e. police, congress,
churches, military, and schools.   The world of my Grandfather
Edward, was much closer to the Ancient World than the world of
today. The public schools system is one of the few places he
could visit and find no substantial change. The steel and rubber
industry, in which he was a pioneer, is very different. The
households, even the church have changed under the impacts of
cultural evolution and technology. Most of all CHARACTER, values,
right behavior, trust, and the underlying psychological dynamics
of human interaction have changed. People treat and deal with
each other differently. Today would be an alien culture to this
world traveler.   Public Schools were instituted to meet the aims
of the deceleration of independence. Real opportunity depended on
having the character, skill, knowledge, and understanding
necessary to the pursuit of a better life and society. The
unequal distribution of wealth and power, so harmful to liberty
and democracy, would be partly balanced by free public education.
The social purpose of public schools was a reflection of that
"market", serving the needs of the "consumers". Their clients and
the families knew the VALUE of an education and the importance of
knowledge in ones life's opportunities.   When in the course of
technical and social change a institution must be fundamentally
changed, and the long establish patterns of social intercourse
disrupted, the bands that connected people broken, requiring new
assumptions, a painful emotional shift, and new requires new
assumptions, laws, powers and institutions be established, it
should be only for very good reason. People are mort likely to
put up with the devil they know. A decent respect for the
opinions of citizens requires that fundamental change not be for
light or transient reason but only because real harm is being
done to our lives and something will work better.   The public
schools are harmful, to the real education of our citizens, they
damage the character, values, and principles on which society
(all societies are based), hard work, honesty, trust, safety,
security, value for money, and other universal needs of an
organized society are being harmed by public education in most of
the schools (not all). Schools do harm not because of evil intent
or bad people but because the arrangement of the last century no
longer meet the needs of a global market.  Arrangement based on
traditional social structures of community, church, family no
longer provide the infrastructure of order and manners necessary
for civil relationships.   Therefore it is necessary, and a duty
to abolish these institutions and establish new ones more likely
to meet our needs.     How??? By a call for independence, let the
people decide, open up the market of ideas, arrangements,
democracy, freedom, enterprise, the America Way, the NEW
Frontier, and by looking at the 10,000 small effective schools in
every community in our Nation. Schools with purpose, and
organizing principle, leadership, commitment, honest, sincere,
and effective. People always respond to the deeply held beliefs
of those around them. A school without a belief system is a
school without a guiding light. It is impossible. So let a 1000
flowers bloom. I am not suggesting one right way.