Colin Taufer is the headmaster of Delphi Academy, my children’s school. He is a writer, one I respect a lot. Recently he wrote this piece for his newsletter.  He kindly gave me permission to reprint it here.

Exploring Education

by Colin Taufer

Ours is a technology driven society. Every day newer, better, faster, smaller, more powerful micro-gadgets hit the street, pushing yesterday’s older, slower, less powerful, not-so-micro-gadgets aside. The advance is swift. Technology marches on.

As a child, one of my most treasured micro-gadgets was a Sony Walkman. I could listen to an album’s worth of my favorite music on a compact cassette tape; it was my own personal concert. The sound quality was fair. The music would speed or slow according to battery strength. But it was cutting edge technology and it was fantastic.

Comparing the technology of the Walkman to today’s is laughable. With no moving parts, today’s digital music device can hold 40,000 songs and is a fraction of the size of the Walkman. And if that’s not enough, it’ll also store and display 200 hours of video. Incredible!

So what happened to yesterday’s micro-gadget maker?

The answer lies in this famous quote by educator Dr. Laurence Peter: “Everyone rises to their level of incompetence.”

Unfortunately, yesterday’s micro-gadget maker, the expert in the technology of compact cassettes, is a master of a dying technology. We can hope his expertise advanced apace with the technology and he is today gainfully employed in a related field. If this is the case, and we hope it is, we can correctly assume his core competencies, his ability to study, to read, to mathematically compute and to reason, were fully achieved in his schooling as a child.

But what of the micro-gadget maker lacking these solid academic basics? Without these components of competence in place, like yesterday’s discarded micro-gadget, his ability to make his way in today’s world has vanished. He has gone from king to pauper.

How does the educator of the present prepare today’s students to be competent with the unknown technologies of tomorrow?

The answer lies in the teaching of the basic academics, the traditional core competencies: reading, writing and arithmetic. Beyond that the teacher must add still more competencies: the ability to study, to communicate, to research and to reason.

All of these abilities, fully taught to a very high standard, give the young student a firm foundation upon which all future education can be built. And from there he can build his own kingdom no matter where the tides of technology and change carry him.

For, as the Scottish writer Thomas Carlyle said, “The king is the man who can.”

http://www.openfilm.com/videos/important_things/

My name is Gall Friedman, and I am a filmmaker. Recently I completed a short film, “Important Things”.

I started out as a writer. This has been my goal since as far as I can remember, tracking all the way to first grade and probably earlier – to tell stories that are entertaining and uplifting and give the audience that moment of escape from life, as well as inspire them in their own lives. To create characters you can connect with as if they were your own friends and give you a journey you wouldn’t have otherwise travelled.

Eventually I decided that if I want a film to be true to the story I wrote, I need to direct it myself, and further, edit it as well.
Which brings me to the short film I just made, my thesis project at the NYC Digital Film Academy. It truly is my creation – every word, shot, and cut was my decision (although not without the advice of others). Sure, I’ve got a long way to go before I’m in league with theater-quality films, but I’ve got to start somewhere, and I’m quite proud of what I’ve created.

I think what’s key as an artist is to ignore the potential barriers of “I’m not good enough” and “I’ll never make it in the industry” and just do it, because the important thing is that you’re creating art which others can enjoy, whether it’s your friends and family, or the internet, or a live audience. Just keep at it and you will get good enough and even make it in your industry, and in this way, continue to uplift and entertain, and I believe this is something incredibly valuable in our society.

I found this article and wanted to share it with you.  After checking with the author, who generously offered to share it with me, I am pleased to present…

Encouragement
by Elizabeth Spann Craig

When I got my daughter’s 3rd grade newsletter (when she finally returned to school after her bout with the flu), there was an entire page on a new technique they were using to teach spelling. The letter also asked parents to encourage children to spell carefully.

I was delighted to see this at the end of the letter: “Most importantly, don’t overdo it. Some places need to be “free zones” where children are free to express themselves without fear of the ‘red pen.’ Journals, poems, anything personal should be encouraged, not graded.”

I easily remember being 8 years old and giving stories for different teachers or adult friends to read. “It’s a wonderful story. But I’m so distracted by the spelling that I can’t really enjoy it as much…” The “wonderful story” got lost and so did the encouragement. I wasn’t asking them to grade it. I wanted them to like the story.

I think the same school of thought applies to adults. Obviously, spelling and grammar need to be perfect when we’re at the submission stage. But before then, unless someone specifically asks for line editing help, I think it’s much better to offer encouragement on content as well as advice on improving the manuscript (if that’s what’s asked for.)

When I gave my manuscript to first readers years ago, I didn’t know to tell them what types of errors I needed them to read for. Now I’d rather say, “Can you read this strictly for content?” unless I’m at the point where I need line revision.

The writing community is an incredibly supportive one. I think that’s because writers get constant rejection—agents, editors, reviewers, even critique group members. We get negative feedback on our work. And maybe we’re not the best folks to handle it.

I’ve read articles from some writers that say we shouldn’t give out false hope to writers who just haven’t gotten there yet. I don’t agree. No one’s saying the road to publication isn’t a rough one. No one’s saying not to do your homework and revise like crazy.

But every manuscript or poem or essay I’ve ever taken a look at has some worth to it. If the writer has cared enough to share it, there’s a spark in the words that belongs to the writer.

It might be an original idea or an interesting character, or a new twist on an old plot.

One of the critique groups I was in had a rule: you’ve got to find something good to say about the manuscript. You couldn’t just go in and rip it to shreds. You had to find some redeeming value to the piece. And there’s always something there.

Writing can be a very discouraging business. It helps tremendously to have people who cheer you on.

I discovered a treasure trove of cartoons today, all geared to writers!  Check out Inkygirl.com for great articles and cartoons!