Our Education System May Be Blocking Space Habitation

Now, I want to be very clear, a highly educated society is needed for space habitation. But, I think our high schools destroys important qualities of human beings that provides the emotional motivation behind space habitation. It destroys the morality of students and morality is required in the space field because shady operations who value profit over human life will not survive in space; space will find the flaws in anything and use that flaw to rip apart the mission. Our education system is not about education, but crystallization. Students are unwilling to think outside of the box, because if you stay in the box, you are guaranteed an A.

I wrote this essay for my final writing task of high school. We had to argue against one educational philosophy then create our own...

The degree is like Ithaca, but the journey to earn a degree has changed greatly. A college degree is not a symbol of years of honing and patient meditation on a field, it has become a symbol of a fast track to the upper-middle class. Students' “thoughts [do not] remain lofty [and]... a fine emotion [does not] touch their bod[ies]”¹. Students rush to take AP classes so they may earn credits to graduate from college a year early. Students expect a degree to bring them riches, only to come out of college passionless and doomed to mediocrity. Arriving at Ithaca does not make a man great. What makes a man great is the lessons learned from the road and a passion for life. However, in the modern day, this slow foot journey has been replaced with a bullet train, nonstop from childhood to Ithaca. But, something is lost in the most recent generation. Students do not have a reason to want to go to Ithaca and the slow journey the builds an understanding of what Ithaca, what a degree is, has been lost. Students are just placed on the train by parents who want their children to experience Ithaca, but do not when them to experience the hardships that make makes Ithaca a great place. Students will continue to have their humanity torn from them if we do not demolish those rail lines.

High schools still have a utilitarian mindset despite administrators' ongoing effort to make high schools creative. This has nothing to do with how the teacher conducts his lessons, the goals of the administration, or the intentions of the community; for no parent or teacher wants to crush the spirit of a child. It is due to the culture that has arisen around schools that encourages students to approach school with a utilitarian perspective. The ideal student of top schools like Whitney High School or Princeton High School is the student with a 4.0 GPA, a 2400 SAT score, and 36 ACT score. This ideal student is praised and lusted after so much that "confused kid[s have] parent[s who] t[ell them] it [is] okay to cheat if [they] earned an A, because [their] future was at stake. Just don't get caught, [they] are warned" ². This is reminiscent of Mr. Harthouse, one of the model utilitarians in Hard Times, who said "I am not a moral sort of fellow... and I never make any pretensions to the character of a moral sort of fellow. I am as immoral as need be" ³. It is as if the student were a machine, expected to give output without giving thought to aspects of humanity like morality or emotions and it is this utilitarian temperament that is creeping into our schools because of the over-reliance on grades.

The current high school system relies too much on grades. As a result the morale and the morality of the student are both negatively affected ⁴. Students cannot afford to fail (anything short of the model student is defined as failing) so they stick to topics that they are comfortable with and ideas which are already well proven. But, in the process they loss the joy of learning, the thrill of discovery and do not grow. Regurgitating information can guarantee an "A", and in a system where an "A" is next to godliness, that is what students will, unhappily, do. Uncertainty is required to keep the student interested and allow the student to grow⁵. Yet, uncertainty can bring a failed project, a failed writing risk, or a easily dismissed idea and to become like the model student, one can not fail, ever.

Furthermore, developing a strong moral fiber in the school is discouraged when grades are idealized. Not only in the sense of cheating, but in the sense of other acts where one's conscience must be the guide. Students who value grades alone (as opposed to self-improvement through learning) choose not to help others with their work; students who value grades alone will not look up from the textbook or even explore harder ideas ⁶. In the movie Smart People, Vanessa, a perfect example of today's model student, continues to study after learning her father is in the hospital with head trauma. Later, Vanessa is concerned not about her father's health, who has had his license revoked because of seizures, but is worried over her lack of transportation to the various resume padding extracurricular activities that have become a keystone in the passionless high school experience. Why should Vanessa or any student do anything but look at their books when they are members of a system which does not give rewards to the helpful, the empathic or the curious and which lavishes praise on the workaholic? Students who value grades alone do not learn to respect learning or life. They do not enjoy the rare experience that is life. They do not give the course material the time it needs to mold and shape a person or try to explore unmapped ideas.

In order to develop a passion for learning, the student must be pushed outside of his comfort zone. In search of the A, students would "rather accept an A in an easy class rather than fail a hard one and learn a great deal from it"⁷. The student who said this has lost the value of an education while remaining within his comfort zone. The most is learned when the student is challenged and occasionally fails. For example, a student can procrastinate in easy classes will never learn, until he enters the real world, that procrastination is a bad habit. Schools provide a unique environment where students can fail and learn from the failure without the disastrous consequences of the real world. This unique environment is squandered when students are too fearful to take risks; when student believe that everything they have worked for can be lost with each test or essay.

Thus over reliance on grades threatens the following traits which all students enter with: curiosity, the joy of learning, morality, happiness and passion; the on going search for the uncertainty and the trill of unmapped ideas; the certain quark and small gift that lights up a person when they are able to use it, the fulfillment the one searches for when they follow their dreams and the burning desire for growth. When these are lost, any hope of success is lost and mediocrity is ensured. Maybe William Farish did not intend for this to occur when he developed the letter grade system, but this incentive has created the opposite effect; students only want an A, they do not want to learn.

Tony Robbins, life couch and expert in leadership physiology, has said “I believe that the invisible force of internal drive, activated, is the most important thing in the world. I believe emotion is the force of life. All of us here have great minds... and with our minds we can rationalize anything. We can make anything happen”, but there are some people who have all the “education, money and background [they could ever want, but they] spend... their life going in and out of rehab” ^{8 9}. Knowledge is power, but this can not power the soul. One needs something far more powerful then knowledge to achieve, one needs a purpose, a focus, a passion. The current philosophy of high schools not only fails to to promote this essential ingredient to the human experience, but crushes it. “Melissa Roderick, the professor at the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago and co-director of the Consortium on Chicago School Research [speaking on college drop outs said] 'If you go into any urban high school right now and sit down with parents and kids and ask, 'What do you want to get out of high school?' there's only one answer: 'Graduate and go to college.'”¹⁰. This mentality is not limited to urban schools, across the world “graduate and go to college” has been the sole directive of all schools. While this objective should be held in high regard, it can not be the sole reason for the school to exist, which shall become the sole reason for the student to go to school; for the philosophy of the school is reflected in it's students. If it is the sole reason, there lacks an internal reason to graduate from high school and college. The student is simply told that he needs to graduate and go to college. This external reason is reinforced through fear of parents and fear of poverty. Those two reasons will not give the student the strength to complete college. For that, the student must realize himself that college is necessary for his goal in life. This is why schools must teach personal development. So that the students can find powerful reasons to support their actions. Once that happens, everything that student intents to do will be done. But, Tony Robbins also points out one more ingredient to success.

Emotional fitness must also be mastered by the student to be successful. If you where to take two job applicants from the same, elite college with the same grades and the same qualifications. It is a dead even tie between those two applicants. But, one applicant was completely unconfident, did not look the interviewer in the eye, was shaking like a dryer the whole time and seemed miserable. The other was confident, radiated passion and love for his work; he made everyone smile when he walked in the door and was full of seemingly endless energy. Who is getting the job? But this is not the only reason schools need to train students in emotional fitness. If the student falls in love, or lusts after someone or feels remorse for a past action, that student will be debilitated as these strong emotions rips through their body. If the student is not trained in emotions, that student will be overwhelmed. But, having complete control over one's emotions gives unstoppable power to that person. Sissy, in the novel Hard Times, was able to wield her emotions with devastating effect. Sissy who does not conform to the utilitarian model student and who is untrained in logic is able to convince Mr. Harthouse to leave town with a “blending of gentleness and steadiness that quite defeated him”¹¹. Thus, emotions play an essential role not only in life, but in success.

W.E.B. DuBois said “to stimulate wildly weak and untrained minds is to play with mighty fires”. The challenge of school builds the fire of passion in the student; to grasp new ideas and unmapped thoughts creates a longing for more of the unknown. Yet, because of the risk aversion caused by the grading system and because of the danger of pursuing the unknown, student stay within comfortable theories and ideas. Never really exploring past the area their teacher has laid out. This puts out this great, life giving fire the school ignites in the student. The student, fearing nonconformity, stops feeding the fire within, which eventually dies. Water is poured on this fire when the student ignores morality in order to become a copy of the model. Emotions become roadblocks and the student looses passion, the only difference between humans and computers. This will lead to the most miserable, lifeless people who come home to tired to take off their shoes. The mighty fire in every student must be protected or else the world will not grow, but will wallow in mediocrity. We must let this great forest fire burn in every student because only in fire does the seeds of youth become strong, mighty trees. ~ The Burning School vs. The Icy School: Destroying and Restoring the Passion and Emotion in Education by Daniel Sims A.K.A. Aron Sora. Republish with permission from me since I wrote it.

I want to quote the key line of my essay. "Thus over reliance on grades threatens the following traits which all students enter with: curiosity, the joy of learning, morality, happiness and passion; the on going search for the uncertainty and the trill of unmapped ideas; the certain quark and small gift that lights up a person when they are able to use it, the fulfillment the one searches for when they follow their dreams and the burning desire for growth. When these are lost, any hope of success is lost and mediocrity is ensured". This does not only apply to the individual, when a society losses these things, it is doomed to mediocrity and crystallization. A society that can not challenge it's ideas will not be able to adapt to space, which will need social concepts untaught of or unimplemented. Without curiosity, space losses something. We have explored because we wanted to know what was over the next hill; we were curious and that provides a lot of the motivation behind space exploration. Societies which are happy with remaining it's current state will not look to better its self or challenge its self. I think our high schools are making people risk aversive. Space is a huge risk, but the risk can be managed. High school students are trained to not take risks, period. Even if the risk can be reduced.

I can not prove this claim, but I think people who are in the space field are the most passionate people in the world. They could be making more money in other fields, they could be in a less politically challenged field, they could take a easier job with more security, but they are here. What amazes me is that so many NASA employees tweet and are blog about space. Space seems to run through the blood of people interested in it. Space is the motivating factor for most everything in these people's lives. In short, I have yet to find a truly miserable NASA employ or sad space cadet. Now, they could be having a bad day because their dream was attacked all day long, but ask anyone at NASA or Virgin Galactic a question and they will light up. This field is tough, yet we all in the space field have internal reasons to be in that field or else they wouldn't be there. Space is one of the most frustrating areas of human activity and we need a society which has passion for space; an internal reason to have a space program and our schools destroy this aspect of humanity. This is why Apollo failed in it's long term goals, we only went because of external reasons (Fear of the USSR) and had no wide spread passion or internal reasons for space.

So, I think we need a school system which preserves passion and the other critical human traits before we can develop space.

Reactions

-Is passion important in the development of a spacefaring species?

-Is our society risk aversive?

-Do you think our education system prevents the development of emotional support for space habitation?

-Can we think inside the box and still achieve space habitation?

Resources

1: Cavefy, C.P. “Ithaca” Nina Alvarez. 31 May 2009. <http://ninaalvarez.net/2007/05/03/poem-of-the-day-49/>

2: Humes, Edward. School of Dreams: Making the Grade at a Top American High School. Florida: Harcourt, 2003 Page 104

3: Dickens, Charles. "Hard Times: Book 3: Chapter 2" eBooks@Adelaide. The University of Adelaide. n.d. Web. May 27, 2009. <http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/d/dickens/charles/d54ht/chapter30.html>

4: Schwartz, Berry. "Barry Schwartz on our loss of wisdom." Feb 2009. Online video clip. TED. Accessed on May 23, 2009. <http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/barry_schwartz_on_our_loss_of_wisdom.html> 12:40 - 13:12

5: Robbins, Tony. "Tony Robbins asks why we do what we do" Jun 2006. Online video clip. TED. Accessed on May 23, 2009. <http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/tony_robbins_asks_why_we_do_what_we_do.html> 11:04 - 11:51

6: Schwartz, Berry. "Barry Schwartz on our loss of wisdom." Feb 2009. Online video clip. TED. Accessed on May 23, 2009. <http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/barry_schwartz_on_our_loss_of_wisdom.html> 08:28 - 09:08

7: Humes, Edward. School of Dreams: Making the Grade at a Top American High School. Florida: Harcourt, 2003 Page 82

8: Robbins, Tony. "Tony Robbins asks why we do what we do" Jun 2006. Online video clip. TED. Accessed on May 23, 2009. <http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/tony_robbins_asks_why_we_do_what_we_do.html> 1:03 - 1:26

9: Robbins, Tony. "Tony Robbins asks why we do what we do" Jun 2006. Online video clip. TED. Accessed on May 23, 2009. <http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/tony_robbins_asks_why_we_do_what_we_do.html> 4:04 - 4:10

10: Gehrman, Elizabeth . "What makes kids drop out of college?." HARVARD GAZETTE 04 May, 2006. . 31 May, 2009 <http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2006/05.04/13-dropout.html>.

11: Dickens, Charles. "Hard Times: Book 3: Chapter 2" eBooks@Adelaide. The University of Adelaide. n.d. Web. May 27, 2009. <http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/d/dickens/charles/d54ht/chapter30.html>

Image by josephleenovak

In Case You Skimmed

-Schools diminish passion in it's students

-Over reliance on grades threatens the following traits which all students enter with:

-Curiosity

-The joy of learning

-Morality

-Happiness

-Passion

-The on going search for the uncertainty

-The trill of unmapped ideas; the certain quark

-Small gift that lights up a person when they are able to use it

-Dreams

-If a society's members do not have these traits, the can not be passionate and active in space

Zealots in Space Habitation

You need dreamers and visionaries to make space exploration a success. Von Braun was a dreamer and I don't think we would have made it to the moon (certainly not as quickly) if he'd not been there.
We will always need zealots. ~Stephanie B of The Rocket Scientist and Ask Me Anything commenting on We Should Not Be Catered To

Don't get me wrong, the Evangelical Space Cadet and the Interstellar Zealot are two very important units in the war for public support of space habitation. These types of participants in the space movement are the people who change opinion by just speaking about their passions. They are the one's who paint a vision of the future that inspire hope for future generation. They are the ones who tirelessly work without getting paid and we are lucky to have had men like Von Braun in the past who pushed the huge boulder that is this movement when it has no momentum. But, I think these grunts of the space movement have major flaws that must be complimented with something. Just how tanks, infantry, and aircraft compliment each other on the battlefield.

My candle burns at both ends
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends -
It gives a lovely light.

~ Edna St. Vincent Millay

I think this points out exactly what zealots mean for the space movement. We are passionate about space, but we do not have the strength to be present continuously through out his multigenerational plan. If your dual-burning candle burns out during the night, one could very easily replace it, but there will be a few moment of darkness. In this darkness, I fear the space movement could be lost.

The problem is in the passing of the touch from one generation of zealots to another. This would not be a problem if you could pull interstellar flight off in 20 years, we can't. We can not guaranty that the older zealots will resonate with younger people to produce more zealots. This is a multigenerational plan and the movement will morph with each generation.

Having zealots in this movement makes it easy for us. Our passion; our space infused blood is shown through out all our works. That, in addition to our logic, cuts down our enemies who do not have a passion for destroying space flight. Furthermore, we serve as an inspiration reminding those cadets who may have been discouraged why they are in this field. I stopped blogging for about 2 months, but came back because I was still reading the works of those in the field.

Zealots are just an unpredictable blessing, we must plan for when they are not there. Because of the amount of time involved with realizing this vision, we must insure our movement is sustainable. A sustainable process have all it's inputs be predictable.

Reactions

What do you think the zealot's place is in this movement? Will they cause trouble for us each time the movement is handed off to the next generation?

Brothers of Fear?

I hope the 2012 "movement" and the space habitation movement are not brothers of fear.

Illustration by Bearman2007

 

The two movements are oddly similar. The 2012 movement's mind, heart and spirit are formed from human extinction and fear. While our movement has it's kidney, esophagus, and leg bones made from human extinction and fear. The difference is we would only be crippled if human extinction wasn't a problem. The 2012 movement would not exist if there where no threats to our survival. We still have other reasons to have a space colony. But, there is something else that makes us different. I wrote this for one of my English essays...

Logic is not the answer to the question that plagues the mind of every generation who hold the fate of the next solely in their hands: "how do we make this world better for the next wave of life". No, logic cannot come close to answering that, only passion and faith can, for logic is based entirely on the status quo. When logic looks out it's window it observes and draws conclusions off what exists today; when passion looks out, it dreams and schemes and fights with it's eye focused on a better tomorrow, a tomorrow where nothing today would suggest such a happy fate. No, looking at today can only lead to a conclusion of misery.

~ Passion Cubed Times Logic Equals Motivation by Daniel Sims

We answer that question which is on the mind of every generation, the 2012 movement does not. Which might make the 2012 movement more "logical", but we are more human. Consider today, everything you saw and read, very little indicates we will have a space habitation, what does support space habitation is overwhelmed by all the counter evidence that was produced today. But, we scheme, we dream and we fight. We are focused on a better tomorrow. We do not make the conclusion that humanity is lost, we fight. Sure, we are slightly illogical since we are scheming and making assumptions, but I can not conclude that humanity is lost and doomed. I can't explain how I feel, but even with all these indicators that humans are evil, I still feel humanity is pure and good. Yes, if I where to look at today's news events I would have to conclude humanity will die, I can not. I am not a computer and that is what the 2012 movement is for, computers and mind controlled humans. I am human and I fight for a better tomorrow even when it's impossible.

Yes, the two movements are brothers of fear but we do not have the same goal in life. The 2012 movement will leave the world in ruin and create suffering, this movement will at least give people hope. But still, I struggle with this human extinction part of the space habitation argument. I need help to solve this problem and find where it fits.

The Fire of a Launch

This is a comment for the Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee. The question is: What do you find most compelling about NASA’s human space flight activities and why?
Last updated: July 6, 2009
Passion, a mission, a purpose, a focus: this is what NASA's work does has given me and why I believe this nation, more then ever, needs NASA. The last two great periods for the US were wars, the cold war brought us unimagined achievements and WW2 brought unsurpassed industrial production. Those two times in history placed American as a leader in the world. But, war can no longer be our focus, for it threatens, not the lives of a few soldiers or a city or a nation, the all the human life on this planet. Humans are truly experts in war and the thought that war could lead to a day where the sunrise is not viewed by a human eye leads many to not focus on war. War can no longer be a passion because it today it means self destruction.

This is why we need a macro-engineering project. But not just any macro-engineering project. Yes, we can build a better city, a longer bridge, a higher building or a bigger canal, but they all lack something. It is just what we have done before, but bigger and they do not tap into something deep within our instinct. I believe humans are driven to protect and better the world for the next generation. Imagine a day when nothing, absolutely nothing, can wipe out humanity. Imagine a day where every star supports life. THAT, that is a purpose. Thinking of that gives life and energy to a person. Looking up everyday and seeing that there is nearly infinite possibilities and wilderness builds a huge fire in the heart. When I wake up, I first think of this possibility and when I want to stop studying or blogging or working on all I have to do, I look up. The fire will never die in me because of this; this mission has complete control over me. Space flows through my veins.

NASA shows this is possible, it shows that anything one dreams can happen. IT shows not even the huge gravity of Earth can hold back passion; can hold back a dream! Yes, NASA would be the worst, most inefficient corporation in the world, but they are not a corporation. Even human who sees a launch is lit like a candle out of the burning cloud of a shuttle escaping the chains of gravity and that will never, ever go out. This fire, in even one person, is well worth the cost of one shuttle flight, but this fire is not given to just one person. A launch lights the world! Once humanity is given this passion NOTHING will stop us. We will be an unstoppable species.

The beginning of the song used Star Trek: Enterprise intro places this nicely; it explains what goes through the mind of someone touched by a launch...

It's been a long road,
To get from there to here.
It's been a long
time,
but my time is finally here.

And I can feel a change in the
wind right now.
Nothing's in my way.
And they're not gonna hold me down
no more.
No they're not gonna hold me down.

'Cause I've got faith of
the heart.
I'm going where my heart will take me.
I've got faith to
believe.
I can do anything.
I've got strength of the soul.
And no
one's going to bend or break me.
I can reach any star.
I've got
faith,
I've got faith,
Faith of the heart.
~ Rod Steward - Faith of the Heart

I choose this part because we are not there yet. Humanity has put hundreds of years into this. Please, the dream of a day where the second part this this song, the part used in the intro, describes the mind set of those touched by the fire of a launch. That day will be when we leave this solar system. This is what NASA gives to us and justifies it's cost. Passion given to a human is invaluable.

Please, I, on my knees, beg you to not only keep the fire of the launch burning, but to expand it. Please, give what human space flight has awoken in me to everyone. Human space flight was the stepping stone, this allowed me to find the people to help me in my goals. Let NASA burn and pass it's fire across this demotivated nation. The thought of a human bathing in the light from another star will drive me, forever. Human space flight is NASA's passion and what it spreads.
Let humanity burn with passion!
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