TED Community » Michael Smith Jr.

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I'm passionate about

My writing. Whatever I write I try to put my absolute best into it.

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Anything, really. I love discussing any sort of idea with anyone willing to talk about and listen to what I have to say about it too.

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• A reply on Conversation: We need to begin laying the moral, ethical, cultural, and social foundations for our future TODAY

  Jul 21 2012: While you can't fix a problem before it's a problem, you can be proactive about things. That's what I'm saying. I'm saying we should start laying the foundations for our future now. These foundations, like any for our civilization, will lie in how we see the world and life. These foundations will be made up of values, morals, ethics, etc. I'm all for education, and that, in one way, is what I'm calling for. We need to educate people and give them an understanding of the things that might/will one day become normal parts of their lives or their children's or their descendents'. Understanding, along with cooperation, will bring about the values and beliefs of the humanity of the future. We shouldn't wait til something actually becomes a problem. We should either do our best to prevent it and think of a way to handle it when does.

• A reply on Conversation: We need to begin laying the moral, ethical, cultural, and social foundations for our future TODAY

  Jul 20 2012: I have to say I laughed at this.

• A reply on Conversation: We need to begin laying the moral, ethical, cultural, and social foundations for our future TODAY

  Jul 20 2012: You misunderstood, and it's probably my fault. I was a little disappointed when I realized that there was a character limit, and I probably should have made this more concise and to the point. Let me clarify. First, thank you for putting 1 out there for some people, but as one who leans more on the freethinking side of things, what someone says is God plan for us might be different than your interpretation. Second, I have no doubt humanity's greatness lies in its variety and our ability to use different viewpoints to our advantage. What will never be to our advantage, though, is letting the views of a few hold back the many. We've done it before and we need to do it again if we want to survive. We have to realize that certain things need to be done.
  
  Now, what I'm NOT saying here is that we have to get rid of/merge all religions/cultures/etc. I'm NOT saying we all have to have the EXACT SAME values, morals, ethics, etc. What I am saying is that we need to start laying out the values of the future now. For example, we need to make it clear today that clones are humans with human rights. They are not just mere slaves or organ farms. If we hammer that into our society today, it'll be less likely for someone to exploit clones in the future. I embrace our diversity wholeheartedly, but I also realize we'll have to be able to put aside some of our differences and some of our more archaic restrictions if we are to survive and grow.
  
  One more thing-just to clarify another thing-If we are to ever become the interstellar, intergalactic, space-faring, etc. species we dream about today, we won't be able to do so if we stay as divided as we do today. About 200 nations are in the world and are populated by over 7 billion people. Most of these nations have their own separate agenda, but only a few of the people have the human agenda on their mind in their endeavors. While, I'm not saying we'll never war against each other, I am saying we'll eventually have to unite as a species.
• +2

  A comment on Conversation: Without the use of negative consequences (punishments), how do we get unmotivated or oppositional students to follow classroom instructions?

  Jul 20 2012: As a student myself and as someone who often observes how his peers act, I'll do my best to answer this question.
  
  Right off the bat, I would try to motivate these oppositional and unmotivated students with rewards, and only use punishments in extreme circumstances. I say this because that's what some of my favorite and my friends' favorite teachers did. But as you said "without the use if-then rewards or punishments", this could be a problem.
  
  So, how I would handle them would make sure to maintain high energy, get them involved with hands-on activities as much as possible(I know you're teaching 8th grade math, but Pre-Alg and Alg offer up some interesting hands-on oppurtunities), maybe hint at some long-term future rewards, especially avoid dull and boring lesson plans/presentations, use repetition in sparing(Math requires some repetition but there's a fine line between hammering in a concept and causing insanity and discomfort), and ultimately, just make it as fun for them as possible.