You know there is without a doubt a BIG need for education reform.

There is so m uch potential we have as a country and global society. Taking this logic class t his semester has helped me greatly in my analytical strengths, "Strengths finder 2.0" but also just all around life. Logic is the science of thought and reason. And we as a people to some, if not many degrees are terrible at it! And we're no t even talking "Emotional Intelligence" so much because though it is connected i t is a separate filed of intelligence as well. it is not a natural process you h ave to be taught and educated and practice just like anything else. We are taugh t "what" to think not "how" to think, that's why classes like logic among others should be induced into the school system at a younger age and part of the main curriculum. Get them to think for themselves, think out side the box. We HAVE TO get beyond this idea that the core curriculum involves, focuses and repeateats things like math, science "not the process of it, but some areas of focus in it" , history...everybody knows them. And don't get me wrong those are very importan t but they are reintroduced year after year after year. Ask your self if you can remember even 50% of the details of what you learned. Tell me, with out looking what year Columbus made it too America, or tell me all the things Benjamin Fran klin accomplished. Go look in an algebra book and see if you can still figure ou t how to do half the equations. Point to Norway on a map. Now some of you will o bviously know the answers but statistically most you wont without looking it up. I sure don't. God knows I've killed a lot brain cells in my day though,ha. So I beg the question? Is all this math, history, geography necessary? Yes and know. obviously there needs to be a general level of knowledge in these areas to func tion as a society. But after that education needs to be come more decentralized " The Star fish and the spider". Students benefit more when their strengths and interest or engaged. Take a problem child with lets say a passion for playing th e guitar who is failing in school. Let a large focus of his education center in music. And a wonderful thing starts to happen. They start to fall in love with l earning, growing themselves mastering something. Then use this forward momentum of learning to spill over in other areas. Countless studies have been done in th e area of motivation. Studies show that work that requires less cognitive thinki ng such as moving boxes, flipping burgers, entering data and such, money influen ces a little bit. There is slight increase productivity. But when it comes to cr itical and creative thinking something weird happens. Money actually hinders wor k. But what does really motivate people is three things. Autonomy, higher purpos e and mastery. As a leader, and teachers are leaders! It's important to have goo d ideas, but if you want to do something great with those ideas, you must be abl e to influence others to join forces with you. As a teacher You need to be able to convince your students to share your vision of growth and then share their vi sion on what that is. You can use a tasty carrot or sharp stick -- both have the ir place -- but I think it's better to have a keener understanding of human natu re and what it is that motivates us. There is so much time wasted, and the effic iency of teaching people what to think instead of how to think is significant. T his is what Einstein has to say on the matter "The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination." "Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination wil l take you everywhere." And really we're bad at both I mean sure we are taught logically, 1+2=3. (conclu sion- Columbus was the home founder of Western Civilization (Premisses- because we have enough historical evidence to support that claim. But we are not taught how to think critically, openly how to set aside emotional biases. Look what tha t does. It creates separation, discourse, animosity. A prime example is what we see on T.V. Our leaders of America so to speak aka political servants, are often shown to be at each other throats when it comes to disagreements. They close th emselves off. Separate them selves from their opponents and demonize them. And n ot only do we do this within the nation we do it abroad as well. Even hidden beh ind the noble act of patriotism are elements of unreasonable pride and righteous ness. There is so much more to learn and dare I say important things to focus on in our ever pursuit of happiness and education.

To Be Continued. Please feel free to critique, edit or comment. Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, i t'll spend its whole life believing that it is stupid. ~Albert Einstein