TED Community » Matteo Catanzano

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  A comment on Conversation: What is your favorite book and how do you choose your next read?

  Dec 29 2011: Friends & family, magazines, randomly walking in a charity book shop, classics...
  
  As for books worth sharing... The Elegance of the Hedgehog and Fight club.
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  A reply on Conversation: Why do we work ?

  Dec 29 2011: it simply gives us the resources to achieve them.
  
  I hope so too ! As for me I hope so too. My trouble is that I love many things. For now I have chosen to pursue one of them...
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  A reply on Conversation: Why do we work ?

  Dec 29 2011: Thanks for the inspiring reply. In order to explore this topic further I would like to take you up on a few points.
  
  1) "UNTIL, she divorced. Being divorced made her rethink her life, and she started her own design business, which she loves."
  
  Cancer, death, divorce, loss these things come as blessings in disguise to some of us. As was the case with your friend they engendered a realigning of priorities and a reawakening of passions not forgotten. What is frustrating about this case and many others is the role of parents and other figures of authority. I have experienced and witnessed cases, whereby there is a lack of trust in the individual, but more importantly of life itself. This contributes to this channeling of individuals into vocational degrees with a "higher chance of employability" and ergo stability. Although, not ill-intentioned there needs to be a realization that sometimes making kids believe that their passion should be kept a hobby and something more worthwile should be pursued, is a much greater risk than that of letting them choosing a path they are passionate about.
  
  
  2) "They are scared that their work will take over their life, so they make a conscious choice to just work to live, and not live to work."
  
  It is very interesting, I'd never looked at work that way. As something you choose over life. But, it makes sense.
  But tell me. Do the two have to be separate? Paraphrasing Ken Robinson, "my work is part of who I am, I could not stop working in the same way that I can't stop being" then why are we so obsessed with this dichotomy?
  
  3) "By contrast, many others choose to work in fields that give them wealth..." This could lead to a spin-off: Why do you want to make lots of money? And to make it short, my view of the topic so far is that it gives you a certain type of freedom. A good friend of mine once told me that money gives individuals the ability to choose. But, as we've learned, money doesn't buy happiness or fulfillment
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  A comment on Conversation: In your opinion, what should the purpose of education be?

  Dec 28 2011: To impart wisdom as well as knowledge.

• A reply on Conversation: Why do we work ?

  Dec 28 2011: I don't believe that there is anything wrong with work. As you say, it can be pleasurable and the sense of accomplishment is important in the life of each individual.
  
  You are right in saying that "many in the world cannot work at doing what they love, so they are forced to love what they do." But, then tell me: Why do people that can work at doing what they love choose not to ?
  
  I am more concerned with the attitude people nowadays have towards work. Seeing it as a means to an end. As if work in itself has no or little inherent value.
  
  Thank you for the link I will definitely check it out !

• A reply on Conversation: Why do we work ?

  Dec 27 2011: Are you suggesting that without money we would die ? May I remind you that people lived before money was created...
  
  That aside, are you saying that the sole function of work is to make money so we can survive ?
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  A comment on Conversation: Does life make / have sense?

  Dec 25 2011: You've asked a universal question which deserves a universal answer.
  The meaning of life is: fulfillment.
  Great. Can I narrow that down? No sorry... That's as reductive as I can get.
  
  We are all looking for fulfillment, yet what will cause this state of fulfillment is different for each one of us. Because, what might fulfill me, will not necessarily fulfill you and vice-versa.
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  A comment on Conversation: Does the future of education lie in bilingualism? Is it even possible?

  Dec 3 2011: True bilingualism is very difficult. I, like many of my former classmates, have had an entirely bilingual education. But, the issue is that of the "master language" people keep talking about. Few and by that I mean one person in 23 in my class, I would judge to be truly bilingual. This person had two mother tongues, so to speak, parents being one french-speaking and the other english-speaking. She took classes in english and french at the highest level in high school and is now pursuing legal studies in both english at french. Yes, she's truly bilingual, but she's the only one. All my other classmates including myself, although fluent in more than language, eventually 'chose' one dominant language. I put chose in quotation, because the choice is more of an indirect one. It depends on what language you choose to explore art, what language you use to communicate, what language you use to satisfy your curiousity, what language you can express yourself more easily in..etc.
  
  Now I don't mean to undermine bilingualism in any shape or form. I just wanted to make it clear that even if you teach two languages from kindergarten it doesn't mean the kid will become truly bilingual. What is more important though is that the kid will adopt a more international view of himself and the world around him.
  
  Look at it this way. Language is part of an individual's national identitiy. This identity is based on a collective set of values, experiences and behaviours termed culture that use language as a vehicle for sharing. Bilingualism can help break this construct of national identity and build one of international identity. When you start having more than one national identity, you realise the dilemma. One may be incompatible with the other. The construct collapses and one is forced to look beyond nationality.
  
  What if bilingualism stopped people thinking in terms of 'Us' and 'them' and instead encouraged thinking in terms of 'We'...?