Jul 3 2009: Most of technology is supposedly just a predictable extension of the human nervous system and with an ever-narrowing spectrum of utilization a unit of technology increasingly expands his lead on the natural counterpart. Calculators outpace human calculating skills, cameras outstrip the faculties of the human eye. All that's left for People is consciousness, the ability to piece it all together in a coherent and meaningful system. Yet, regrettably, all technological advance will eventually produce atrophy in human counterparts of the skill imitated and thus it will be very little for consciousness to piece together in the end. In addition, as machines ape us, we turn progressively into machines through assimilation. And the sad part is that even if we decided to choose a second path, we are only to find, ever so often, that the system has become an end of itself or 'progress' is so self-validating that all it needs is its own inertia. I suggest authors like I. Illich and Langdon Winner.
Jul 3 2009: A very relevant recommendation would be John Taylor Gatto's book Underground History of American Education, which goes extremely deeply into why institutional school has become like it is, like you've described. His other essays are illuminating as well.
Jun 2 2009: The case in Estonia is no different from any other small country out there - being bilingual is de facto imperative, not merely a matter of an advantageous choice. The marginalizing powers of being literate in only one sphere of culture are immense, and the public at large are perfectly aware of the fact. So, like most other children today, I have been studying English from grade one - that's 11 years now, which indeed constitutes more than half my life. People of my generation, including myself, use plenty of code-switching between English and Estonian in everyday communication. Whereas I have still retained satisfactory levels of mother tongue, with all its peculiarities, the same can't be said for the really young. I'm seeing loathsome mutation in language use of my little brother (in second grade) for example. The most terrifying being the conversion of English idioms into Estonian by verbatim translation, exemplifying the predatory qualities of international languages. Beware.
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