《洞口的原始人》
我很擔心台灣現在這個趨勢，過去大學生在閒談中，如果別人知道而自己不知道會覺得慚愧，覺得自己知識太少了，水準太不夠了，現在不同了，不知道也不引為恥，反而覺得沒有必要知道，知識一斤值多少？怎麼樣？
一個朋友回國講學，說起有一天接到他母校系所辦公室的助教打來的電話，告知某某教授要出國開會，師母擔心教授年紀大轉機不方便想找學生幫忙照顧一下，她從校友通訊錄中查到他在加州，問他可否幫忙接機，他覺得義不容辭，就滿口答應下來，請助教小姐把行程傳真過來以便安排。
想 不到一看行程，他傻眼了，他住舊金山，教授在洛杉磯轉機，中間隔著五百英里，這怎麼接機？他再打電話去系裡，問助教知不知道舊金山與洛杉磯隔著很遠？ 助教反問道：不是都在加州嗎？ 他一時氣結，答不上話來。他說不敢要求那位小姐知道加州很長，從南到北得開上兩天兩夜的車子，但是舊金山與洛杉磯都是中國人很多的大城，有許多自己的同胞 住在那裡，並不是毫不相干的外國城巿，不應該這麼離譜。
我聽了想起天下雜誌去年年底「台灣人的國際觀」的調查， 許多人都只知道台灣本土，對外面的事情一概不知，也不關心，更不認為自己不知道有什麼羞恥，這種態度令我很憂心，因為不了解會產生偏見，世界上許多悲劇的 發生都是由於無知和偏見，有了解才會產生同情，有同情才會有包容，無知會造成冷漠，冷漠會自絕於人。
無獨有偶，有一位經商的朋友也 告訴我，他的女秘書請產假，代班的小姐替他訂去美國聖地牙哥的機票時，竟然訂到智利的聖地牙哥去了，那位小姐顯然不知道這兩個聖地牙哥有什麼不同，也不知 道一個在北美洲，一個在南美洲，更不會去推想公司的業務在北美洲，不應該是南美的聖地牙哥。
他責怪我們教書的沒有把學生教好，「沒有遠見，沒有世界觀也還罷了，」他氣憤的說：「還不會推想，不會思考，只會強辯，說你沒有告訴我是哪一個聖地牙哥！」
這兩件事都是小事，但是點出台灣目前教育的危機，幾十年來考試掛帥的結果是培養出一批 只關心自己，不關心世界，目光如豆的年輕人，凡是不考的都不必念，更不必知道，反正在國內生活也用不到外面世界的知識，光是島內自己的八卦都應接不暇了。
大 部分人不關心台灣島外的事，連金門、馬祖自己的領土都被忽略：官員在說話時常把他們忘記，教育部在制定母語時就把馬祖的福州話給忘了。外面不論發生什麼 事，報紙永遠只有一版的版面在報導，幾張圖片一登，剩下的文字空間有限，所以現在年輕人除了切身有關的時尚流行之外， 其餘國外大事連正眼都不瞄一下。
前 幾天我們大樓住進來了一位瑞士的訪問學生，與他交談之下，發現他對任何題目都幾乎可以侃侃而談，知識很豐富，我問他怎麼懂得這麼多，他說瑞士一直是歐洲會 議的中心，國際很多會議都在瑞士舉行，因此，他們從小就從報紙上讀到這些會議的主題：非洲飢饉、南非種族隔離、南美熱帶雨林的砍伐及中國人權的問題，他們 老師也時常帶他們去看這些國際開會的情形，要他們聽正反兩方的意見，他們每學期都得寫一篇與國際問題有關的申論文，他雖然才高中，但是他的世界知識遠超過 我們的大學生，令我感慨。
現在很多人振振有詞的說：本土優先，先台灣後天下，這固然沒有錯，但本土優先只是個順序，不應該因此而加 重本土考試內容的比重，不考外國史地，使我們學生連雅典這個世界文明發源地之一在那裡都不知道。我們是生活在世界之中，並不是我們就是全世界，當我們對外 面的情勢一概不知時，我們會誤判，會夜郎自大，會自我陶醉在國內情勢一片大好聲中，而頹廢下去。關起門做皇帝的結果，是有一天老本吃完需要開門上街買糧 時，發現糧食店已經被別人包下，不跟你做生意了。
我曾經看過一個寓言：有一個洞裡的原始人都是背對著洞口坐，當太陽出來照在經過洞口的 動物身上時，牠們所投射出來的影子變得比實物還大，原始人嚇壞了，更往洞裡擠，更不敢看洞外，更互相告誡洞外的可怕。最後，有一個原始人大膽的面朝外偷看 一下，發現洞外春光明媚、鳥語花香，那些可怕的動物不過是被影子放大的貓狗兔子而已，如果他們選擇面朝外坐，他們就不會被自己嚇到， 因為他們永遠背對著世界就不知道世界發生了什麼事，他們的愚昧無知使他們把世界排除在他們生活之外，不久世界也把他們排除在世界之外，他們就像透明人一 樣，不存在了。
我很擔心台灣現在這個趨勢，過去大學生在閒談中，如果別人知道而自己不知道會覺得慚愧，覺得自己知識太少了，水準太不夠 了，現在不同了，不知道也不引為恥，反而覺得沒有必要知道，知識一斤值多少？怎麼樣？老子就是大字不識幾個，還不是照樣當上立法委員？草根性才是當紅炸子 雞，說話越粗俗，上的報紙越多，飽學之士不再受尊重，年輕人崇拜的是敢罵敢脫的人。加上現在高中課本對古文部份的減少，孩子古文看不懂了，沒有辦法去接受 古人的智慧，文化的傳承斷了，我覺得這是非常可惜之事，讀歷史不只是以古鑑今，它主要還是品格的薰陶，讓我們知道什麼樣的行為是留芳萬古，什麼樣的又是遺 臭萬年，缺少了這些楷模，就演變成只要我喜歡，有什麼不可以。
不讀書使得現在的人無視，沒有眼光，不能從古人的經驗中擷取智慧，無膽， 不敢面對問題，像洞中的原始人一樣，永遠背對著世界，最糟的是無知，不能解決問題，所有的問題都用「拖」，一個校長的資格可以拖九個月不解決，一個老兵的 薪俸拖93天不核發，就如同一位前輩對我說精神病很難治癒，好在拖到病人過世，病也就沒了。
我很擔心現在大家都不願意去正視台灣的競爭力，只用拖的去敷衍，一旦拖到台灣沒有了，一切的意識型態、族群對立也就沒有了，大家同歸於盡。「孫子兵法」三千年前就說「知己知彼，百戰不殆」，如今不知彼，也不知自己有多少斤兩， 我們國家的前途究竟在那裡呢？
Students: Reading is Irrelevant
An interesting commentary from H. Bernard Wechsler which can be found at this link.
A 5-year study of the reading habits of 1,050 students (high school and college) and 875 executives reveals reading books is last on their hierarchy of values. It is an old-fashioned knowledge technology.
These results mirror the past twenty years of information technology. Public access to the Internet is a form of neuroplasticity. The computer changes not just our learning habits, but the function and structure of the brain of Homo sapiens.
Students
a) "Reading, there are better things to do with my time."
b) "I spend four-hours messaging my friends on MySpace."
c) "I rather listen to music, fire-off video games, or surf YouTube."
d) "Reading books is a school thing, not what I choose."
Executives
Surfing the Internet for news, CNBC for stock price listings, and Googling games and porno, occupies up to 40% of executives. The book publishing industry confirms the typical executive(college graduate) reads only one (1) book annually.
A recurring complaint by executives is based on their Cost-Benefit-Analysis of the reading experience. There is too limited a payoff for the time invested in book reading. Audio (Podcasts), Video, and the Internet, offers greater cognitive rewards than three hours in reading text. Is reading a book as cool as using their laptop?
So What
Educators labeling students and executives learning-challenged or folks with limited attention span, is a refusal to accept the attraction of new technology. Today students and executives demand immediate gratification for their learning experience regardless of their learning curve. Produce or be deleted.
So This
Reading by the majority of people in a society is a recent event. Reading and writing is about 6,200 years old, and attributed to the Sumerians in Mesopotamia (Iraq).
The original purpose of writing was for scribes to keep track of the wealth of Kings.
The system was simple, using wedge-shaped symbols on clay and baked and called Cuneiform. Reading and writing remained limited to Priests and the Nobility.
Not until Johannes Gutenberg, German printer in 1455, were books made available for the wealthy. He is credited with inventing movable type, a process of printing multiple pages simultaneously. Popular books, cheap and available, did not reach the public until the late 19th century.
Stress
Imagine curling up with a good book. Your mental pictures immediate change from stress, anxiety, depression and alienation, to deep relaxation and peace.
Information processing by reading or using your computer appears to be identical. Both are cognitive experiences, yet reading appears to elicit more personal emotions and improved learning skills. Only through reading does comprehension advance and vocabulary evolves into long-term memory knowledge.
Research indicates reading improves human attention span and learning motivation. Learning through listening (lecture) or by observation (visual) does not measurably improve concentration skills.
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洪蘭說的我想不只是情緒話，台灣確實有給我這樣的感覺，大馬我想也差不多是一樣，或許更糟糕的狀況也說不定。不過我不太喜歡洪蘭寫的這篇，覺得太悲觀，雖然也許比較貼近現實。第二篇是 H. Bernard Wechsler 寫的，講的東西比較是目前大家閱讀與學習的狀態，覺得他說得很明白，科技改變了我們的學習。我們現代的學習靠的是什麼？Internet 或許是一個比較貼切的答案，洪蘭說我們忘了古文，古人的智慧。如果把時間拉到早一點，洪蘭的求學時代，或更早至書籍普遍的90年代，他們靠什麼學習？靠書籍。
可是如果想想那個沒有書籍的時代，或許他們那些人的智慧也早已被遺忘得更乾淨。我們保留了他們的什麼智慧？金字塔對我們這些「人」而言，不過是沙漠中神秘的大石頭？文字的發明改變了世界一次，印刷術改變了世界一次，網際網路改變了世界一次... 衛生棉改變了女人一次，胸罩改變了女人一次...
H. Bernard Wechsler 寫的另一篇也不錯... 學習也是一種 fight or flight...
Have They Civilized You?
Can you remember the first time you got on a two-wheel bike? Can you mentally visualize your parent holding you upright? Did he/she yell at you for not learning fast enough? Did you fall and scare hell out of yourself? And finally, did you succeed or fail in learning to ride your two-wheeler? You are still a great learner.
Did you fall and scare hell out of yourself? And finally, did you succeed or fail in learning to ride your two-wheeler? You are still a great learner.
Your Inner Child was watching it all and had a mental camcorder; he/she and filed the bike experienceaway in your amygdala and hippocampal brain archives. It is still there decades later for future reference when attempting new learning experiences.
Comfort Zone
You still check with your Inner Child before attempting a new learning experience to determine if it is life threatening. There is a thin line between satisfying your curiosity to learn and fear for your survival. It is called your comfort-zone, being in in-the-zone, in-the-flow, and your status-quo.
All your emotional experiences after age three reside in the mind of your Inner Child for quick comparison and association. You print a face-to-face mental picture between childhood success or failure, and your present decision.
Cool or Not
Should I jump off this cliff and bungee jump 250 feet? Is doing 110 mph on this new motorcycle cool? Go to school out-of-state or stay in my own room and go to university locally? Your brain flashed back to your Inner Child experiences before making a decision.
You can excite them to life anytime you choose through your creative-imagery; they occur spontaneously when you get frightened. Google: fight-or-flight.
See the research at Johns-Hopkins University, by Chih-hao Yank et al. appearing in the journal Neuron, May 24, 2007. New Adult Brain Cells Rediscover
Their Inner Child.
Adult Brain Cells
This new research indicates newly born adult nerves (neurons) are like those of a developing child for one-month. So what? The adult cells are excited and powerful (like an infant) for learning and memory.
So What
When Homo sapiens ages, we get more hardwired than children; learning new skills and knowledge, including long-term memory, becomes inhibited with the years. Aha, but there is a window of opportunity for 30 days for all newly minted adult neurons.
What is wrong with desiring instant gratification, improved attention span and a shorter learning curve?
You can add these tools to your mind with Synaptic Plasticity; kick your brain into high gear by knowledge seeking activity. It is a choice.
Use It or … ..
Here's how. Use-it-or-lose-it means letting your Inner Child play games requiring cognitive involvement like chess and bridge. Watch Jeopardy, the History and Discovery channels, and permit your child-like curiosity to fulfill itself. Your adult may not need dialogue with others; your child within is still learning to socialize and empathize. You need to exercise it.
We suggest you take courses to enlarge your knowledge and skill base; scuba diving, how to knit, and speed learning, learning to read and remember three books, articles and reports in the time others can hardly finish one.
Alzheimer
Most adults stifle their Inner Child and his/her need to be on the go, spontaneous, and find answers for your life purpose and meaning. What's it all about, Alfie?
After college we stop reading non-fiction for supplemental knowledge. The average U. S. college graduate reads only one book annually: American Publishing Industry, 2007.
Ten recent scientific publications offer evidence your potential for Alzheimer Disease can be reduced up to 50% by adding daily cognitive experiences to your life. We live in an aging society and you will likely live into your nineties.
If you become a life-long learner, you help avoid Alzheimer by creating a fire-wall around your brain. Exercising your neurons, synapses, and neural circuitry through brain work, just as you do push-ups for your muscles, tendons and ligaments, will permit you to enjoy your senior years and be useful to others.
Google: Dr. David Snowdon, University of Kentucky, The Nuns Experiment.
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財團法人台灣閱讀文化基金會
Reading is Irrelevant??!!
Have They Civilized You?
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