Mubayiwa

2012-01-24T16:37:00.001-08:00

2012-01-24T15:24:00.000-08:00

Zimbabwe Cricket team supporters in New Zealand. Good luck guys... I hope your team wins.

2012-01-22T19:59:00.000-08:00

An image for a function... Zimbabweans in New Zealand...

2012-01-19T19:52:00.000-08:00

Too many hearts yet one is enough ...

2012-01-19T19:41:00.000-08:00

Trying to make something out of nothing...

We were testing out a new camera and recording at random. When welooked over the footage it became clear that we had been shooting nothing butbanal conversation and uncomfortable silences (pretty much expected). Someone(Larry, I think) came up with the idea that we should all make short films outof these useless recordings, and so we all did that.

We could probably come up with something about artistic expressionthrough restriction or how film can turn the commonplace into something(arguably, in our case) more interesting with the help of music and thefragmentation and reconstruction of everyday life, but we only did it ‘cause wethought it’d be funny and it is to us at least.

project target time: 45 munites

2012-01-19T18:51:00.000-08:00

Afro-beat in Downtown Auckland....

2012-01-18T18:42:00.000-08:00

Wishes and horses... I wish i could find time to translate this book to English....

2012-01-18T18:38:00.000-08:00

...dropped my jaw

2012-01-17T17:01:00.000-08:00

I have a dream....
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the jungle of today and tomorrow, this dream worries me still.
That the bushes of the jungle shall rise as one against hikers....

2012-01-16T19:43:00.000-08:00

.... more than a wolf?

2012-01-16T19:36:00.000-08:00

... however it always helped others whenever he cried wolf-wolf...

2012-01-16T19:33:00.000-08:00

... did not know what a wolf looked like .....

2012-01-16T18:25:00.000-08:00

... the boy who is going to shout wolf wolf!!

2012-01-13T02:11:00.000-08:00

Of resolutions and whatever...

New Year resolution

1. Must have only 5resolutions this year

2. Gotta stay focused for once

3. Gotta draw/paint moreand record my art more frequently.

4. I gotta do my Canada trip but remain with enoughfor Botswana.

5. Less Facebook (kikiki)… less Facebook now that’s funny.

70% of my last yearresolutions failed, I do not know why… only # 4 worked (it was over executed)

Be imaginitive
Will not wet the bed and blame it on the glass of water that "spilled on the bed"
Clean my room (kikiki)
Will do Facebook at the end of day.
Will keep toilet paper in my car.... never trust public toilets
Clean underwear (kikiki)
Keep an big distance when driving behind police cars (paid about $800 last year on two occasions)

Oh School, where thou art?

2010-10-15T16:21:00.000-07:00

1957 vs. 2009

Scenario :
Jack goes rabbit shooting before school, pulls into school parking lot with rifle in gun rack.

1957 - Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack's rifle, goes to his car and gets his rifle & chats with Jack about guns.

2009 - School goes into lock down, Tactical Responce called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his ute or gun again..
Counsellors called in for traumatized students and teachers.

Scenario:
Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.

1957 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.

2009 - Police called, arrests Johnny and Mark.
Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.
Both children go to anger management programs for 3 months.
School board hold meeting to impliment bullying prevention programs

Scenario:
Robbie won't be still in class, disrupts other students.

1957 - Robbie sent to office and given 6 of the best by the Principal.
Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.

2009 - Robbie given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie.
Tested for ADD. Robbie's parents get fortnightly disability payments and School
gets extra funding from state because Robbie has a disability.

Scenario :
Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.

1957 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to Uni, and becomes a successful businessman.

2009 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang.
State psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison.

Scenario :
Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.

1957 - Mark gets glass of water from Principal to take aspirin with.

2009 - Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations.
Car searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario :
Pedro fails high school English.

1957 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English and goes to Uni.

2009 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state.
Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist.
AFRE files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro's English teacher.
English banned from core curriculum.
Pedro given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.

Scenario :
Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from Cracker night, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a bullant nest.

1957 - Ants die.

2009- Tactical Responce , Federal Police & Anti-terrorism Squad called.
Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, Federal Police investigate parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated.
Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario :
Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary.
Mary hugs him to comfort him.

1957 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.

2009 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job.
She faces 3 years in Prison.
Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.

.

Group-work and bullies

2010-10-04T19:00:00.000-07:00

.

Mishna (2003) identifies students with disabilities and/or learning disorders as being at risk of being picked on by bullies. It is the teacher’s duty to assist in the pairing or grouping of students to enable them to learn from each other and with each other. Students who have trouble in processing information and languages can be mixed with those who are eloquent. They will help each other during project development and it could likely to leads boost their confidence when they participate in researching and presentation of art projects. Peer ecologies will be built or repaired by promoting dialogue in class (Johnson & Johnson 2003).

During the research process students seek to understand, analyse and develop their work as the project progresses. This is a form of reflective practice (Willis 1999, p. 91) when student draw from past experiences and enact drama or make paintings. Students engross themselves in elements of group dynamics. They reflect, contribute and solve problems thereby deepen their understanding of human relationships.

In order to engage students in group work I would carefully plan and engage in a critical praxis with the students. My aim is to make students work together continuously throughout the different stages of the project.
Critical praxis is a problem-solving approach which involves working in groups and engaging in dialogue in order to find solutions.

During the process of critical praxis all students are encouraged to contribute equally and bullies get to put themselves in the place of the less powerful. When they engage in the process of research and rehearsals, it is hoped that the students gradually understand their behaviour (as bystanders or bullies) and what effects they may be causing. They may also experience how victims may have felt. This is called dispositional reflection (Hillier, 2005, p. 9) as students explore the subject of bullying by sharing experiences and personal views. They get to appreciate the different personalities of peers. Another form of reflection which can be exploited is experiential reflection. This reflection is the looking at and re-living the real experience of an incident. The stories generated and put in context can be used to bring back past experiences but caution must be taken so as to avoid traumatising victims.

At the exhibition and performance stage of a critical praxis cycle the art exhibition acts as a third person who brings the bully and the bullied together in form of a mediation as it reaches out and persuade the people to consider their actions.

.

WTF- what tha ...?!

2010-09-20T14:39:00.000-07:00

OMG!!!
Finally, we cn use the interweb language officially… have u heard that the dictionary is being rewritten!! OMG omg!!! Its like all these thumb words are coming to life. (LOL). @ least I cn tell my teacher to STFU if he # my essay up.
Dd u know that our broz and sistaz in the hospitals were the ones who started using LOL = little old lady now we LOL for Laugh Out Loud #notkidding.
So expect to see (essays and official letters) more words like

• BFF: Best friend forever
• WTF: What the Fuck
• Defriend: Stop being someone's friend, a la Facebook
• LOL: Laugh out loud
• OMG: Oh my god
• TTYL: Talk to you later
• Hashtag: Using the pound sign (#) to create a keyword, a la Twitter
• Interweb: A funny term for the internet
• STFU: Shut the fuck up!
• LMAO: Laughing my ass off
• @Tom
• bromance
• BRB
• lipstick lesbian
• tramp stamp

CU / TTYL

.

of maths and teachers

2010-09-19T16:50:00.000-07:00

Oh m-a-n!

I could be a governor of the reserve bank or chief architect by now. I am not very sure how this will help in your search for a direction in life but it my encounter with maths… I always share this with my anyone who cares to listen and I get their views on issues.

I did not like Maths at secondary school because I failed to see how 70% of it related to my life and the teacher used to descend on us with a rode. This may be why I became a star in the arts (probably it means Maths teachers are good motivators for artists) But previously at primary school – my friends were losers and where bad at all subjects, (Hope they are not reading this post) So I guess by association I became unmotivated to try maths. Back then I was convinced maths was not hands-on/interactive as Art, Drama, Music or history.

I saw maths as operating within some confines of ordered rules. RULES rules rules… My peers and I did not have much room for rules. Looking in retrospect – those poor teachers were real heroes – teaching 40-50 pupils per class times 6 classes per day! They had to set many rules to control classes and the subject itself seemed to come in anchored rules in it!

But sports and board gaming rules (wooh hooh!) group/team working, play challenges (yeah!) So I guess had we had smaller classes and game/play based learning we would have understood maths. Now that I design and teach Art I am using maths every minute… I always feel had I had a strong maths foundation I could have designed some teleporting machines by now…

I think the assessment part of the subject and community/government expectations drove my teachers up the wall. They were judged on our pass rate, irrespective of our large numbers, shortage of books, Maths and science teachers (no support staff).

I will always pay tribute to those teachers, although I did not make it in their beloved subject...

Role of the arts

2010-09-16T16:26:00.000-07:00

The arts entertain people but also play a big role in the process of teaching and learning. However they also promote violence in the society. Recent studies at Harvard University viewed music and film as having a lot of violence resulting in an average of 3,500 youths killed and over 150,000 youths are arrested annually in the USA alone due to violence triggered by popular music and film. (Lee, 2004; Cromie, 1998). The same music and film also promotes good social behaviour and reduce bullying in schools (Emerson & Shelton, 2001, p. 181; Kaukiainen, et al., (2002).

The arts aims to cultivate students’ awareness and appreciation of the beauty of anything whether physical or non physical. They expand people’s perceptual habits as it teaches them how to view, analyse and interpret realities. Lambert (2006, p. 46) identifies critical thinking, analytical thinking and creative inquiry as qualities developed by art education. These qualities must be exploited in order to balance power in peer societies.

Creating harmony in peer groups is difficult without a democratic learning system. Once there is democracy at school, bullying is likely to be reduced and learning from each other and with each other will occur. (Dream hey!?).

In their attempt to democratise education, educators must plan to, and operate as facilitators of learning. Students can be asked to suggest art projects they wish to undertake about bullying. The students and teachers may guide each other in the formation of research questions, parameters and development of an art project. In so doing students will own their learning. Dewey in Shor (1996, p. xi) noted the potency of progressive education as its inclusion of learners in the development of their own education. If will be easy for them to follow and live up to what they would have designed for themselves. Learners feel empowered and inspired by being in control. If this process is done carefully every child will participate thereby becoming an inclusive approach. The educator’s role will be that of an observer and guide.

Since bullying is a relationship problem (Kaukiainen, et al. (2002, p. 269), the arts must be focused on creating productive relationships among peers. Grassroots programmes like the New Zealand’s Cool Schools Programme (Barnes 2007, p. 56) buddy system, Peer Mediation Programme, peer hotlines must not be left to operate on their own. They must be supplemented by efforts from all subjects especially the arts. This must not be a one subject effort.

What is bullying?

2010-09-15T00:30:00.001-07:00

Bullying is an anti-social behavior whose characteristics ranges from physically and verbally abusing others, rumour mongering, pinching or denying others of materials or stopping them from participating in social activities (Banks, 1997, p. 1; Barnett, 2005, p. 1). Smith & Sharp (1994, p. 2) defines it simply as a systematic abuse of power while Askew (1998) sees it as a continued effort to gain power and dominance over another by using force. These definitions position power and abuse as the centre of bullying. There are bullies who target sexuality (homophobic), some target the disabled or those with learning disorders (disablist), those who prey on gender differences (gender bullies) and racist bullies (Espelage & Swearer, 2003, Mepham 2010, Greenhan, 1999; Whitney et al., 1992). Their methods of bullying can appear as unrelated to power and abusing but can cause trauma in peers thereby depriving them freedom. Therefore any repeated calculated behaviour which disregards other people’s liberties can be treated as bullying. Haner et al. (2010, p. 56) sees bullies people with rapport problems. However it should be noted that children under the age of five do not qualify to be labeled as bullies. Looking at Piaget’s cognitive development theory, these children are still at the sensorimotor and preoperational stages and do not fully understand relationships in order to exploit them. When a toddler hits or claws others it must not be treated as bullying. They have to develop mentally and emotionally to understand their action before they can use or misuse power (Smith & Sharp, 1994).

The most researched bullying is the student-on-student bullying but there is evidence that teachers can also be bullies or can be bullied by students and this affects learning and teaching. Marr & Field, (2001, p. 167), in their book Bullycide: Death at playtime, gave an example of how teacher bullied a student who later hanged himself in the United Kingdom. The incident looked at the importance of constructive, relevant feedback in learning. Unconstructive feedback destroys self esteem. Teachers must always consider what they say or do to students. In a 1995 case a former teacher - Benson Pope, was accused of bullying to which he claimed he did nothing improper but later apologised[1]. He may have been sarcastic to his students but sarcasm leads to humiliation, school avoidance and social exclusion in students. This may be a reason why up to 30,000 students per day, slip school in New Zealand (TVNZ, 2010). Students lose confidence because they are humiliated. This also applies to school leadership when dealing with teachers (O'Moore, 2000).

[1] After being presented with written complain evidence, Benson Pope apologised for entering a girls' shower rooms and dormitory students were undressed.

What are peer groups?

2010-09-15T00:24:00.000-07:00

The term peers refer to people who share the same qualities like age, interests, class and social status. (Bradford-Brown, Eicher, & Petrie 1986). Some peer groups are based on neighbourhoods, race or ethnicity like the Killerbeez gang of South Auckland (Time.com). ZeroBoys (Chitungwiza) or gangs of Manhattan.

Members of a peer group tend to influence each other to behave in many ways. The influence is relatively easy to spread as peers tend to understand each other and readily accommodate each others views. Members learn from positive and negative behaviour of other members. They are also a source of reassurance, protection, motivation, advice for group members (Wentzel (1998, p. 203; Felmlee et al., 1985; Ladd 1999). Usually peer groups share common standards in terms of behaviour, however it should be noted that the homogeneity of the characteristics changes when there is an imbalance of power in the group. Olweus, (1994) noted that those who acquire more influence in the group or who actively seek to control others will start to infringe into other members freedoms thereby starting to bully others.

Authority ...

2010-09-13T21:08:00.000-07:00

What is it?

Authority must not be confused with power. Weber treated authority as dominion or rule. Michaels, in the Encyclopedia of Social Sciences [online] treats authority an inborn ability, or gained ability to control a group. Authority is almost the same as power only that it has a legal endorsement to it. It is possible for one to have power but have no authority and vice versa. A teacher is legally mandated to issue instruction to a class, but the children have the power to decide whether to obey or disobey the teacher’s instruction. For that reason authority can also be seen a relationship between a person who has legal or popular power and those he/she commands. In this case it is the directing of orders by leaders to followers. This view is based on the thinking that some people are superior while others are inferior (Freire did not like this. I, for one would reserve my comment on that view).

In extreme cases, leaders/teachers/bully is usually not answerable to the 'less important followers/students/bullied'. (I am tempted to talk of the Hitlers of this world). This is rife in the oppressive relationships which may be between teachers and students, parents and children or the aristocrats – the commoners. Although a leader may have authority, the power they have can be negotiated successfully by those affected by it. "Negotiate." (I like this term, it is less graphic) .... ummm....so negotiate peacefully or otherwise)

Ooookk, so... What is bullying?

Of the arts on controlling peer bullying...

2010-09-13T20:44:00.000-07:00

The concepts of power and authority play a big role in the existence of bullies in peer groups and the resultant quality of education in the school system. This writing explains how learning takes place among peers and examines how peer power affects teaching and learning. It suggests what the arts can do to demote bullying. It will suggest what the arts can do to empower peers and enable the teaching and learning within peer communities. Prevalent in peer communities are problems of peer segregation and bullying. These issues counter attack democracy among peers resulting in autocracy. I will look at ways through which the arts have been used to counter and redress anti-democratic tendencies. My hypothesis is that power imbalance among peers has detrimental effects on members of peer groups (both the weak and the strong). How can teachers intervene and attempt to balance power in peer ecologies at school without being dictatorial? In answering these questions I may see if the arts can “liberate the oppressed (bullied) by using their reflective participation” (Freire). (or how can the arts liberate the bully from .... What? his ego? his power hunger? Attention seeking?) This research is based on reading papers, books, journals and online publications. The understanding of social behaviour, peer group dynamics and the role of the arts in peer education require that I define concepts like power, authority, and bullying.

What is power?
Power is the ability to effect change or control events. The Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s dictionary (2006, p. 1118) defines power as the aptitude to exercise control, or influence others to do something. (Emerson 1962, p. 31; Dugan in Morgenthau 2003, [online]) defines power as ‘anything that sets up and maintains the control of man over man’. It may be an object, a person, a belief, a concept or an institution. The idea of a man dominating another man with or without the latter’s consent is the type of power which will be examined in peer groups. These facets of domination can be without or within accepted moral reasons or legal frameworks, but both forms of power do have an effect on learning and teaching.

Power can be obtained through coercion and force (Berkowitz 1965, p. 181). The power which is acquired and kept by unpopular means is retrogressive both in society and at school. The force which is progressive and promotes democracy is ‘power with’ the people and not ‘power over’ others (Kreisberg 1992, p. 19; Freire 1970, p. 55).

Ury, Jeanne & Stephen (1988, p.7) said that coessive power stops individuals from acting as they wish normally by constraining them or by strictly controlling resources. (oh, oh! govts of the world may be defined as pack of .... (least you quote me) This may be a teacher’s control of a student.... or when a bully sets social parameters on a victim thereby limiting a person’s freedom. In a school situation, in order to avoid punishment, a student may work hard and finish their project in time. The possibility of a punishment becomes a threat which forces a student to do what they did not feel like doing. Similarly a peer can threaten undesirable action on another peer, in so doing fear is generated.

However power is not permanent, the one who yields power and the responder (victim) have the potential to yield the same power (so be careful in life, the tables may turn...). The teacher’s role is to facilitate the balance of power through a carefully planned process of democratizing peer relationships.

So...
What is authority?

Questions and more questions

2010-03-04T21:45:00.000-08:00

Phew!!! I stumbled across the word ‘curriculum’ in my readings today and ended up reading more about it. Like always are there veiled features in the curriculum? When you send a child to school, what are you looking forward to?

The probable answer I will get is - I want them to become lawyers, nurses, teachers, scientists … How do they become that? They follow a curriculum at school. Ok then, what is a curriculum?

It is defined as a course of study or an Instructional plan of skills, lessons, and objectives on a particular subject. Narrow though, but so far so good. The question then is who makes and sponsors a curriculum? Aha-a! Aha-a! so I read on.

A socialist state/community will promote socialism in schools; a capitalist state/community will base its school system on capitalist demands similarly a monarchy or conservatives will construct a curriculum that will promote them. This made me want to look at the purpose of schooling?”

A curriculum directs learning. Most curricula promote servitude. They groom the youths to be able workers, loyal and hardworking ‘machines’ and good consumers. Some aim to realise corporate goals. A bank will sponsor those who are into accounts, those with a potential to be future investors spenders. Fast-foods industries will sponsor potential junk food consumers… Behind every school curricula there is a social, political and cultural agenda.

Talking of a cultural agenda, I went through a school system which taught me lots of 'junk' knowledge. I learnt in detail about the tundra regions ecosystems, wave bank erosion of the coastal areas of Britain, and some Shakespeare literature. I was in rural Zimbabwe, where snow and ice is unheard of, let alone the icy ecosystems, there is/was no sea nearby and the largest body of water was a seasonal pond - less than 100m2. I learnt the ‘thou, wherefore art, Thou art not so unkind as man's ingratitude… (Shakespeare). I never used it since then. I had to cram all this in order to ‘be learned’ Oh! Oh! We had a stint in ballet dancing classes, bless the missionary’s wife.

Progressive educators believe that education is about constructing social intelligence/awareness. This awareness will then enable individuals to fit in the society thereby enjoying and extending their freedoms. Good enough if the lessons I learnt were meant for my society then. Lucky I succeeded and move on. What about the 999 fellow students who did not make it though? In the progressive educators’ belief above, I can sense an element of trying to teach people to conform … if one is taught to ‘fit in’ (where is the freedom, then?)… Let me stop this because I will end up talking of what is freedom?

Oh! Oh! There is something called a hidden curriculum. Yes hidden. It exists. It is argued that it is as weighty as the official school curriculum. This is the unwritten social rules and expectations of behavior that we all seem to know, but were never taught (Bieber, 1994). They are learnt stuff from schools and non school settings. These are usually negative. From the schools, once upon a time in Zimbabwe, the government started promoting political economy education. This subject was socialism disguised as economy education … it did not live long before the government cut the funding. The hidden curriculum had schooled to people understand and to see through some socialist practices that were detrimental to society. The socialist government was shooting itself in the foot.

So ‘they’ decide what to include, omit, whose history, ethos, politics, how material will be taught, by who, to who, and how facts will be represented. To me the curriculum is political. Anyway I do not really understand it. Let me read further…

.

Of fashion in education

2010-03-03T21:34:00.000-08:00

My love of discovering new things has driven me to sniffing out e-learning. My question is what is it and is it worth studying at university for 3 years? My first thoughts were - it is just an educational trend, a contemporary noise, a fashion, something that will end with time. But which educational theory and practice was not a trendy back then?

By way of definition, I understand, e-learning to be the use of electronic technology to enable learning. The central tools are the gadgets that act as gateways into the cyberspace (computers, cell-phones) so it is cyber/web based learning.

So its being trendy will stand the taste of time when something else overtakes and replaces computers and cell phones.

Computers and cell phones disregard time and location of both teachers and learners. One can learn/teach while in a bus going home, in a train out in the vast plains of Africa, Asia or on the high seas - anytime. (An old joke: A cell phone rang while the owner was in a toilet… and he asked the caller who told you that I am in a toilet?). It all depends on your gadget’s capability. It is a learn/teach-here-and-now-whenever situation which is regulated by one’s desire.

However e-learning is not trying to destroy traditional learning. Rather it is trying to work alongside old methods of teaching and learning. From the old methods, people copy and apply pedagogies. Without pedagogy, e-learning becomes simple play with computers. Similarly without pedagogy, the much revered traditional classroom situations become mare wastage of time and resources.

.

Mr Pythagoras, is this true?

2010-01-17T15:14:00.000-08:00

Not that I want to discredit Mr Pythagoras, but to discuss and give credit to nations where it is due.

See, Pythagoras was a well travelled man. And as you know a travelled man is a learned man. It is in such travels that he rose to being a mathematician, philosopher and a religious leader.

Around 535 BC, he went to Egypt where he studied and adopted the Egyptian priest’s way of life. This included religion and science. He later went to the Middle East (including Babylon and India) where he learnt music, geometry and governance. He went back to Greece where he established Western civilization. Thus Greece became the powerhouse of western civilization.

Before dwelling much into it, it should be noted that Pythagoras spent a long time studying in Egypt, gained unlimited access to top secrets of the state, but he did not record his lessons and ideas gained while studying.

He is well known for the Pythagorean Theorem – (geometry theory) which states that in a right-angled triangle the square of the hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle), c, is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides, b and a—that is, a2 + b2 = c2.

The people of the Nile region knew that a triangle with sides 3, 4, and 5 make a 90o angle. That is how they built the pyramids. The Babylonians and the Chinese knew this theory for more than 1000 years before Pythagoras.(like the Rozvi, Batonga et al around Mosi oa Tunya... It was David Livingston who discovered the local waterfalls, irrespective of the point that people lived there).

So the most important thing to him was to keep everything as a secret. A cult was born. Members of the cult were not allowed to talk to anyone about the cult beliefs. Recruiting was a duty for a few people. They worshipped numbers and every aspect of life was linked to numerals. The cult was divided into an inner circle - mathematikoi ("learners") and outer circle - akousmatikoi ("listeners").

The secretive nature of his cult meant that everything started from their leader and all credit was given to their leader - Pythagoras. There is no evidence that Pythagoras himself worked on or proved this theorem. ( … is there?)

However there is irrefutable evidence that the Chinese, Egyptians and the Babylonians knew about this theorem and actually built structures which are still standing today.

That is what I think I understand from my reading around...

So what ancient technology is out there waiting to be exposed and exploited for the good of mankind?

You may have heard of the Voodoo and Thunder taming and lightening manufacturing cultures... How can we harness and make cheap electricity out of this technology?

.

Hey son, it is educational. Now play with it.

2010-01-13T15:00:00.000-08:00

The word robot means forced labour - slave (robota in Czech). It make sense to me when automated workers (machines are not paid for their labour). Now the slaves are getting into everyday life. Is there going to be a William Wilberforce and the abolition of I,slaves?

My dive into the pool of technology in human life has taken me to robots that are self controlling. It makes me reflect on Will Smith's movie - I, robot (2004). Not that I am looking forward to some rogue robot turning against us. But who knows the future if the UK, in 2008 has started to use what they call a rapid educational development (Red), simply put - a robot to teach phonetics in classrooms. Well, they are justified to use robots. Why not use a robot or a parrot when teachers are following a predesigned way of teaching.

Children are fascinated by robots. The question then is; should our children abandon cardboard boxes, canes, and other toys. I think toys like boxes and recycled stuff actually spark off children’s imagination and creativity. Kids make up some fantasy worlds while playing with such objects. They assume different roles take control of objects. A thing they will definitely need in their future. But robots, although predesigned to carry specified tasks, also support imagination and kids control them.

Some robots are pets (dogs), are actually guarding properties and warning off intruders… (couple of sensors, triggers and memory chips). Same applies to nanny robots and surgical assistant robots.

So … Hey, son play with this toy, it is educational.

..

Of robots and teddy bears

2010-01-12T20:24:00.000-08:00

Came across an article about robot … It set me wondering what it will be like when robots finally take over teaching and care-giving jobs.

Imagine robot in front of a class, explaining mathematics, biology or chemical concepts and formulas. Well probably the new role of the teacher will be to monitor the robots while seated in a control room on campus.... Wishful thinking?

It may be a make-believe situation but research into service robots has demonstrated close bonding and attachment by children, who, in most cases, prefer a robot to a teddy bear. That alone sends signals to whoever is concerned about tomorrows education. Well the bonding can be explained in terms of human preferences. I for one would prefer active interaction with my toys. I would not like a situation where I do all the talking, thinking and action without active response/feedback from my toy. (a teddy bear does not respond to stimulation (or does it)).

Extrapolating on the research’s observation, it is most likely that interactive robots will take over from teachers…

PS (This is the time you start panicking and SCREAMING)

--------

Are gadgets worth the attention

2010-01-10T17:51:00.000-08:00

We are busy trying to accommodate and balance reality and the virtual (fantasy). Well, I am talking of how we are taking time to do some second life, twitter and facebook, and using online calendars etc – brings me to asking if it is really important to take time off from reality and immense self in the virtual? I think taking time to sample other going-ons in life is worth the effort. It does not have negative effects on the family if it is done in moderation.

The University of Maryland’s research has it that ‘… today's mothers spend more hours focused on their children than their own mothers did 40 years ago’ irrespective of the perceived increased demands of modern life. Fathers are not spared either. Fathers are spending more time with children. Well, I for one, do. Look at what your dad/mum did and how you are doing now. Not that they were bad parents…

Because of the handy gadgets around, multi-tasking has roughly doubled. The research went on to say that in 1965, mothers spent 10.2 hours a week tending primarily to their children - feeding them, reading with them or playing games, for example - according to the study's analysis of detailed time diaries kept by thousands of Americans. That number dipped in the 1970s and 1980s, rose in the 1990s and now is higher than ever, at nearly 14.1 hours a week.

Today’s mothers are ‘experts’ in child care or understand better how children develop (child psychology) or simply they are exposed to a wide range of mothering techniques from the world cultures??? (now that the world is a global village???).

Cell phones and cancer

2010-01-07T18:44:00.000-08:00

Cell phones are affecting the way we relate with other human beings. Most human traits are missed during communication, people's verbal communication (gestures, tones and accents), are suppressed. Some people can hardly stand up and deliver a speech or a simple greeting but they can text and email in a flash of a moment. Just imagine how one will attend a job interview or stand before a court of people. I bet you cannot text your way through a court system. (Oh! here, I do not really know what I am saying). I guess even in video-conferencing, gestures are equally important.

But should we be afraid? There are some good and bad effects of technology, I agree, but this is not a new phenomena. History tells us that the move into industrial era, from the agricultural based economy was not smooth either. People were not comfortable with the shift which changed every facet of human daily life, but they lived through it. Now computers are changing every aspect of our lives.

The creepy side
Actually, I was reflecting on a discussion we had at the pub about cell phone radiation and its possible health hazards. Yes, now I can keep my phone coz now I understand that cell phones do not cause cancer. It is true that they emit little amounts of radiofrequency energy in the microwave range, but these are so low that they do nothing to the human body. On hearing about the ‘microwave’ classification, it shocked me at first as I imagined putting a small version of a domestic microwave oven to my ear. Wow! That was very disturbing indeed.

Reading around the issue of cell phones and radiation I understand that only high levels of the radiation heat up cell tissues and cause them to ionize. In this process, DNA and genetic molecules lose electrons due to the heat thereby damaging them. Testes and eyes are likely to be damaged more than any other organ on the human body. Lucky enough, people do not put cell phones to their testes and eyes.
Talking about this subject matter with friends, they brought up a subject of electromagnetic fields (EMF) and their possible effects on the human immune system. I listened to the talking and listened to them listening to themselves talking. I ended up listening to the cold creep going up and down my spine. Yes, I realised that I was surrounded by hazards, it was a question of time before I fall victim to EMF. Or probably I am already a victim.

They said that EMFs are low-frequency waves which come from all electrical goods. Just think of anything that uses electricity and you’ve got it. EMF health consequences range from leukemia to suicides, from brain cancer to birth defects. They talked of how EMFs adversely affect the functioning of pineal glands which produce a hormone (melatonin). Melatonin then affects the psych, reproduction and promotes the development of cancer.

The only thing I was happy about the whole discussion is that I can buy and use a gaussmeter to detect electromagnetic fields at home or workplace.

Ok! So much for devices which are now yardsticks for social status. Creepy as EMFs may sound, I will be proud to own an iphone.

Crying over spilt milk

2010-01-06T16:27:00.000-08:00

This is a Book review by The Weekend Mirror - Zimbabwe
Date of publishing - 30 July, 2002

Title: Chikuru Mari Mwana Anofa
Author: George Mubayiwa
Publisher: Zimbabwe Book Development Council
Year: 1998

IT is disheartening that usually people live on regrets. But at times it doesn’t pay for one to cry over spilt milk, as the saying goes! According to George Mubayiwa’s novel Chikuru Mari Mwana Anofa people have turned their backs on social integrity and concentrate on pleasure. They become spendthrifts and silly vagabonds with no social vision at all.

Let us start by analysing the root cause of Danai’s poor decision-making. She is an orphan whose mother died of snakebite. The father commits suicide on considering the problems ahead of him as insurmountable. Upon her mother’s death, Danai is given to Mrs Muturiki, a friend of Danai’s mother who turns out to be cruel. Mrs Muturiki ill-treats Danai and as such, Danai learns life the hard way. Danai decides the possible ways to make both ends meet and this marks the turning point for her life. Her friend Esta returns from the city and the two plot to sneak away from home at dawn. Danai becomes very ecstatic on simply considering herself employed as a housemaid. Her intellect is grasshopper minded and this only serves to highlight her limited sophistry, as she is illusioned by cheap cosmetics and beautiful dresses. Literally put, Danai has already crossed the bridge before she even got to it as it were.

Duped by her hypocritical boyfriend Ruzvidzo, Danai adopts a resigned and retarded reasoning. A moment of temporary socio-psychological asylum engulfs her when she is picked up by the police and sent to Chivhu General Hospital where she gives birth to a baby boy, which she allegorically names Nhamo (poverty). In Shona they say chirere chigokurerawo. Lit: Nurture it for tomorrow it will look after you.] Instead of nurturing the welfare and seeing to the general upkeep of the baby, Danai decides to dump the baby at the Muturikis as if to punish them for letting her down as an orphan. She fails to realise that she is the author of her own doom. She is the mind behind her pauperish life. She goes to Rusape (p.60) ... kunge ari kutiza mombe dzejana , idzo asinei nadzo uye dzisina kumurwadza kuwana. [Lit: As if she is running away from someone else’s cattle which she has been assigned to look after, the cattle whose sourcing did not pain her.] As if it was a principle, Nhamo undergoes the same ill treatment just like his mother under the tutelage of the Muturiki family. Nhamo makes similar fatalistic choices as his mother as he steals $30 from the Muturiki’s bedroom and heads for Mutare where coincidentally he works with his father Ruzvidzo at another construction company. The two find themselves to be natural not as father and son.

Nhamo temporarily climbs the economic ladder as a salesperson in Gweru but eventually he turns out to be a legendary drunkard. One day he evokes havoc in the pub when he is on his drinking spree and arrested for that. He turns out to be a staunch womaniser, enjoying his time with such money mongers like Rozi whose residence was known to him only as the pub. What emerges here is a severe damage of the moral setting and the decency of the traditional Shona society. Its sense of value judgement and ethos are violated and compromised by the individual’s misguided choices. Mother and son fall in love strictly on the basis of money while father and son engage in eternal personal grudges and undertake direct and physical confrontation. In fact, the bonds that should unite the family are snapping than uniting and the root cause is imprecision in decision making during teenage. It is coupled with people’s desire for lavish and expeditory lives-the desire for life that is lived and celebrated around the dollar orbit. This can also be seen in the character Machipisa in Mufaro Mwena.

Machipisa dumps her son in Mukuvisi river. However, a Good Samaritan, well kept before meeting Machipisa who cries crocodile tears in regret, picks up the son. George Mubayiwa is arguing that rushed conclusions together with unconsolidated decisions lead to intensified jeopardy and in the long run, this make life less enjoyable. Danai pleads in the end (p.107) that ,Ichokwadi here kuti chikuru imari nokuti mwana anofa? Mwana mukuru nokuti mari haitauri, haitumwi. [Lit: Is it true that money is more important than the child? The child is more important because money is not human.] The wanton destruction of valuable property at the end of the novel represents the author’s advocation. He is strongly condemning the unnecessary elevation of material life at the expense of nurturing the natural or the spontaneous human life as provided by God.

The other lesson learnt here is that nothing can be done and goes without any traceable reparations and this is what we see in the novel Chikuru Mari Mwana Anofa. Therefore, for whatever decision one might make, the Australians say, “your boomerang will always find you.”

Art... what art?

2010-01-05T16:14:00.000-08:00

Foul taste of the new

“The highly touted work of Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin is less beautiful than a teabag ... beauty has left the artist's studio and gone to live in the supermarket or factory” Stephen Bayley (2001).

The above assertion is true only if art is judged on beauty terms only (attractiveness, cuteness). Bayley may have to withdraw his statement if we look at the broad aim of art and especially contemporary art. Contemporary art promotes awareness of the self in relation to humanity and also builds personality. It can be a route for escapism from realism or an arena to fight reality. Tracey Enim and Jackson Pollock are contemporary artists who modelled their art on self and humanity not beauty.

Their art, like all modern art, has been troubled by the accuracy of definitions art and when does artwork become junk. It is experimental (avant-garde art) and often goes over traditional definitions and societal norms. This is mainly as a result of increased international interaction and the desire to map out new social parameters. Breaking local rules and being non-conforming saw artists like Tracey Emin’s My bed (1999) getting nomination for the prestigious Turner Award and Pollock becoming the greatest American artist of the day.

Tracey's exhibition invoked diverse reaction ranging from adoration to outrage and ended up being sabotaged. Cherry 2008 talks of two men who drank from exhibited vodka bottles and jumped onto the exhibited bed. The public started clapping as they mistake the two performers to be part of the exhibition. The museum guards did not know how to react. Such is the ambiguity of contemporary art. This reaction may not have been anticipated but demonstrates the new face of art, not that of beauty.

Art as a search of self within humanity is centred on the artist’s life, and their feelings or unfeeling. As in My bed (1999) Enim displays a lot of disclosure, an effort to say it as is. This presentation prompted a Japanese visitor to the museum to make the bed and rearrange the junk around the bed. To the visitor it was morally wrong to leave a bed unmade and let alone an unmade bed in public, but that was reality in Enim’s life.

Her work, Everyone I’ve ever slept with (1995) she breaks custom in gender discourse, that a lady talks to the publics about her sexuality. She encroached into the realm of ‘personal as political’. This is a feminist ideology that states that everything we do is a result of the political situation. Ironically a list of people she slept with included her brother. This is a disconcerting yet challenging an idea to think of. Like My bed (1999) people interacted and engaged with this work not only mentally but also physically. People had to kneel down and/or crawl into the small tent. There is nothing beautiful about kneeling and crawling but I think it transcends the idea that art patrons just stand admiring art without taking some physical action.

Probably the most significant factor in contemporary art is patronage. As opposed to traditional art whose patrons were the clergy and the aristocrats; contemporary art is sponsored by industry, design houses and governments with hidden or weird agendas. These patrons are not interested in beauty but creativity, controversy and changing the course of history.

One artist who benefited from globalisation of art culture is Jackson Pollock. After second world war, the Museum of Modern Art held workshops on the position of ethnographic objects in modern societies, it was from these workshops that Pollock got enthralled by native cultures like the American Navajo who used sand in their image construction. This was the birth of action painting.

In action painting, Pollock interacted with his material using gestures and the result was a huge and larger than life doodle which cannot be described as a simple doodle or pattern but simply as a painting. The paintings are not representative of objects; they are nothing metaphorical but just paintings. He did not attach meanings to works of art. His art is like that of Enim – therapeutic.

Photographer Hans Namuth concentrated on Pollock’s “mythic” process of creating paintings rather than then art itself. He portrayed him like half a choreographer, half a voodoo priest blessing and dancing around his canvas. Western culture disapproves black magic. Pollock learnt this from Mexican mural artists Jose Orozco and David Siquieros. These artists believed in continuity of their traditional history to the contemporary culture. The media and patrons including the American Congress for Cultural Freedom were quick to sponsor and promote this norm-breaking new trend in art.

His painting process incorporated Jungian archetypes, Afrojazz music, painting and personal emotions. As a result of all these components he produced paintings of quick decisions and positive accidents. They were impulsive thus they cannot be repeated. Chave (p. 333) commented that Pollock's art is very chaotic, it has no harmony, no structure, totally devoid of technique. This was a shock to the traditions of Paris school as they could not accept and assimilate him. He simply failed to understand it.

It is not about art
Jackson Pollock struggled with alcoholism and frequented psychological interventions. Tracey Enim is suicidal, a victim of rape, abortions, alcoholism, and frequent bouts of depression. But above all it is about politics, gender politics (Enim) and cold war strategies (Pollock).

The American CIA supported Pollock’s posthumous exhibitions as they advance their goals of making America a front runner in global art and undermine socialist realism and the growth of socialism. This made Eva Cockcroft describe Pollock as a Cold War weapon. While Art critic Craig Brown was shocked as to how "decorative 'wallpaper', essentially brainless got praises equal to the art of Diego Velázquez and Titian.

Although Tracey does not clearly point out that her work supports women liberation and civil rights movements, her work underscores the importance of ‘personal as political’ philosophy. The women’s campaigns freedoms of choice, expression, to vote … That may be the reason why Elton John, George Michael, Naomi Campbell, Charles Saatchi are among her collectors.

It can be observed that contemporary art is not only for beauty but politics of the day, daily struggles, self expressions and the process of getting a work of art is equally as important as the end art work. Or is it really?

Where the hell are the teachers?

2010-01-04T19:18:00.000-08:00

I am going to talk about my experience with technology at school and now. I really do not have an in-depth knowledge of what I am writing about but because I can, then, here is my writing. Probably this is a result of what technology has molded us into.

I have always watched and wondered what really is happening to the school system? Well, the 'old school' system?

I saw the disappearance of the cane and I rejoiced because it (the cane) haunted me day and night during my primary school days and it made me run away from subjects like mathematics and physics. The teachers in these subjects used to compare notes (well that is what I thought then) on how to beat us and how many of us they had beaten during the lesson times.
I can imagine them going like,
"Good afternoon Mr Xxy, how did it go this morning?"
"Oh, Mrs Bcd, it was almost a depressing start. Dofo got his tables right, but I got him for "bad" handwriting"

Punishments at school acquired a new jacket and not everyone could administer it. Even the policeman's wings were clipped remarkably during “these winds-of-change period". We were children, under 18, therefore the "loser cop" had to exercise restraint - for his behaviour could do a lot of long term harm to our fragile being.

In came school counselors/psychologists and liaison officers who micro-managed our lives at high school (the dude seemed as though he was out to get my parents on parenting technicalities). In retaliation my parents would keep an "eagle eye" on all of the school psychologist's statements and lash back at him or me depending on who gets the psychologist's letter (mum = lash on me, Dad= lash on the psychologist). I could not make mistakes and learn from them coz I was protected. Are our grand children going to learn from how we are making ourselves accountable for the behavior of our children, or own up to their misbehaviour, even criminal behaviour?

When I did poorly at the end of the year, Dad would tell us, of what was wrong with the school system or my teacher. Mum would highlight all of the time wasting moments I had pretending to be Pele or George Best. She preferred the school to demand and sometimes force her to do my school homework. When the homework required parents to - sign and date every piece of homework “we” did. Of course, I got high marks coz she did the flipping homework, I had to put it in my handwriting and she would sign it.

Mum knew that the teacher was the way out of poverty, his word was gospel truth. The teacher's judgment and comments was the centre of personal growth and there was no other was besides Devine intervention.

Religious education faded into the background, as too many religions found their way to the schools. "Religion-less people" were gaining ground, hiding behind articles 18, 19 and 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human rights. A particular point in my time is when we did a Human biology lesson on reproduction. Some of our 'religious parents' expressed uneasiness when some of us took the science lesson home and educated any minor who cared to listen. 'Sex education is just wrong when it comes out of a teacher's mouth', that was my community's verdict. Probably sex education was supposed to be a hands-on experience, something like, a make-a-mistake and forever-suffer-the-results. (My culture does not take divorce kindly).

I have attached two diagrams which are well known in our culture but whose labels cannot be said in the presence of members of the opposite sex. You can only say them out only if you are either angry or faceless. In either case you may end up fending of verbal attacks from elders or the public.

Now we have managed to pin the teacher down, new technologies are flowing in. Where we can shout, use and abuse revered words. Make lyrics and do the sodomy we sign about. No teacher or parent can say it is wrong. Anyway who are they if 2Pac or 50cent can say and do it on TV in front of even the President.

The teacher is now not always right. This is bloodcurdling to many male teachers whose egos and genes do not accept such challenges lightly. Such challenges would mean war in the bygone times. That may explain why there are a few male teachers in the classroom now.

On the other hand I am not suggesting that technology is bad, but Video games/Avatars are rapidly replacing real friends. Is there going to be a time when our great grand children will look back and laugh at our obsession in the make belief friends on Second life.

To me, I think, it all started with the

• Low cost books (Mid 1980s) - The low cost meant that not only the teacher had access to printed material but everyone could see, read and/or at least try to read and comprehend.

OR

• Radio lessons, the 30 minute -wireless lessons which reached the remote parts of our third world countries. Well they taught us about a Mr. Churchill and Mr. Hitler. Or about underwater volcanoes and Icebergs. (by the way I was in the miry depths of rural Zimbabwe. Not even one of my ancestors and relatives had heard of/or seen an ocean, a volcano, ice or even snow.

• Television – almost every program was about America and anti communist. Seeing Peter Fonda playing a president who was the kingpin in stopping a Russia instigated nuclear war. Or Andy Warhol’s bean tins and how they were earning him unimaginable money.

• Audio Cassettes, cassette players and head phones – Audio books. I preferred the boom box version of cassettes.

• Teleconferencing

• VHS and CD/DVD

• Interactive CD/DVD - gaming, teaching and learning materials,

• Typewriters and duplicating machines (ditto machines)

• Computers, scanners and printers

• Web 1.0 (more of information presentation) personal websites, company websites

• Web 2.0 - collaborating in information building (information sharing, video sharing) social platforms- YouTube, blogging, Flicker, Twitter or Clouds and threads...

• Mobile phones (smart phones) - texting, group audio conferencing

• Ipods/podcasting

• Media players - mp3 players….