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Themes and Images of the Future
• globalization• proliferation of knowledge• new disciplines and interdisciplinary efforts• instant communications• unprecedented competitiveness• the genetics revolution• new forms of criminal activity (cyber)• Possible/probable clash of civilizations,
worlds
Newly at a premium in this century
• Out-of-the-box thinking• Flexibility, “just in time” responses• Going beyond the disciplines• Problem-centered teams• Complex “Hollywood style” projects
and productions• Forms of nonlinear thinking• Beyond power point!
The Disciplined Mind
• The ways of thinking in the major disciplines• Science (correlation not same as causation;
matters of evidence vs faith, opinion)• History (role of human agency, no experiments
possible, avoid presentism, each generation rewrites)
• Mathematics (beyond formulas, engage in discovery)
• The arts (beyond popular forms, formal properties, ‘reading’ ‘writing’ avoiding intentional fallacies)
• Beyond the literacies and ‘about-it is”• Professions, arts, crafts involve discipline(s)
But No Cigar
• Artur Rubinstein’s failure to practice
• Rigid applications, no stretch, no flexibility (my favorite whipping boys—evolutionary psychology and economics ueber alles– rational choice)
The Synthesizing Mind
• Scads of information, especially on the web
• Largely undigested and unevaluated
• The synthesizing imperative• Good, bad, and “so-so” syntheses• Psychology (my discipline) has
dropped the ball
Towards Synthesis
• Goal (your best guess of what the final synthesis will be like)
• Starting point (including earlier syntheses)• Method, strategy (epistemic
frames/forms,schemas, including narratives, taxonomies, equations, maps, metaphors, images, meta-narratives, embodiments);
• First rough draft• Feedback of various thoughts• Your best synthesis, pro tem-just in time
No Cigar
• Procrustean efforts– Efforts that attempt to do too much—or are otherwise eccentric (e.g. the textbook that should be a doorstop)
The Creating Mind
• Mastering one or more discipline-10 year rule
• Synthesizing what is known• Going beyond the known– thinking
outside the box, an imperative in the computer (algorithmic) age
• Good questions, new questions• Robust, iconoclastic temperament• The ultimate judgment of ‘the field’
The Respectful Mind
• Diversity as a fact of life, at home and abroad• Beyond mere tolerance • Need to understand others– perspectives,
motivation– emotional and interpersonal intelligence
• Not just students alone, or students and adults; also among parents, teachers, administrators—inappropriateness of ‘corporate, top-down model’ for schools and perhaps even for corporations
Promising
• Commissions on Peace and Reconciliation (more than two dozen countries)
• Barenboim-Said Middle Eastern orchestra
• Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project (intercultural penetration, transmission, syncretism)
Two Instances where (rightly or wrongly?) I changed my
own mind• Scarves in France• Cartoons in Denmark
• What of the recent ruckus about Mozart’s Idomeneo? Or Jack Straw’s remarks about wearing veils in Britain?
Ethical Mind
• Higher level of abstraction than respectful mind
• Conceptualizing oneself as a (good) worker
• Conceptualizing oneself as a (good) citizen
• Acting appropriately in both roles
Ethical (Good) Work
• Excellent, expert, high quality• Ethical, socially responsible, moral• Meaningful, exciting, intrinsically
motivated
The Perils of Moral Freedom
• Students know the “right thing to do”
• Some do it• But too many deceive others and
themselves—why should I be more ethical than my peers seem to be?
• Is it enough to intend to use proper means in the future?
No Cigar
• Compromised Work --Demise of valued institutions in journalism, law, etc; Within education, letting the tests trump everything
• Bad Work (Enron/Plagiarism); Within education, giving students the answers to the test