We have been discussing how the United States is cutting educational and scientific budgets while spending billions on wars and waste. The lack of priority in such spending is breathtaking as we lose a generation that could be receiving better educational opportunities instead of facing growing class sizes and fewer teachers. The same it true for our foreign aid. Education is our greatest weapon to fight radicalism and religious hatred. This film is an example of the potential of so many children that is going unrealized. Researchers from MIT found Kelvin Doe, 15, scrounging in trash bins in Sierra Leone. The homeless boy was looking for any electronic parts.
What this boy built from trash is amazing and inspiring. He is an example of why education is the answer to poverty, hatred, and intolerance. Doe is clearly a genius who deserves a chance to contribute to his country. In both this country and abroad, we are losing this generation but putting more importance on the creation of drones than doctors.
Source: Reddit
The great tragedy of most of these comments is the commonly-held fallacy that education is a push process, and if you just push it harder, you’ll get more of it. If the video shows anything, it shows the value of initiative and ambition, not education. It shows that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. Our problem is not that the American educational establishment lacks wealth, it is that so few American students have ambition and incentive.
The Bank of International Settlement (BIS) just reported that the world debt is at $100 trillion up 40% just since 2007, much of it contributed to government(s) borrowing. Just think in 1900 America was the largest creditor nation in the world and today we are the largest debtor in the world. So you are correct henrybowman, there is plenty of money, but it is really getting to our kids or is it being scarfed up by the various department(s) of education and other bureaucracies, government contractors etc.? Don’t you just love central planning? How many different educational bureaucracies are there in the US?
How about the “we” that most of the commenters are speaking of, leave people the hell alone to reach their potential.
Bravo! An impressive young man. I hope he chases and catches his dreams.
Rather than throw tons of money toward stilted playground equipment, why not throw in ‘loose parts’? http://playfullylearning.blogspot.com/2012/05/loose-parts-creativity-on-playground.html
This remarkable boy is certainly playing with loose parts. 🙂
Giovanna De La Paz
Everyone seems to think that more money will bring a better education for our youngster, but that isn’t necessarily true.
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That depends on how much they charge for it.
And into which doctrinal realm one wishes to go (“Education is one form of indoctrination.” – Noam Chomsky … an educator)
“Everyone seems to think that more money will bring a better education for our youngster, but that isn’t necessarily true.
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That depends on how much they charge for it.”
Some seem to pose the question as either you believe that more money is a panacea or you believe we can cut taxes and education budgets with no bad effects.
That just is not true. There is absolutely no reason to believe that children who are hungry or attend in dilapidated school rooms, or who do not have easy, inexpensive access to good text books do as well. All those problems are relatively straight foreword to solve with more money.
In higher education there is no reason for the US, the richest country in the world, to saddle graduates with debt that will take most of them a lifetime to pay off.
If we care about education, and we should, if we care about the economy, if you care about innovation then we need to make it easy and affordable for students to go on after high school.
Again the cost of education which is rapidly escalating out of the reach of middle class families, is a problem that is relatively straight forward to solve with additional funding.
Having said that, yes, there are many problems in education that are far more complex and will not respond to simply throwing money at the situation.
But we can be certain of one thing. Simply cutting back budgets for education will not solve any of the problems.
This boy has a great mind.
Giovanni, Our current dysfunctional education industry scoffs @ real world knowledge. The executives of this industry are Professors of Education. They are not just worthless, they are a liability.
Everyone seems to think that more money will bring a better education for our youngster, but that isn’t necessarily true. Just like the young man in this touching story, children best learn by the freedom of hands on. Lord knows, we have enough junk parts in our dumpsters and thrift stores to keep a young mind enthused for hours.
Steve Jobs hated school and was a college dropout, but he was an electronic genius who taught himself and worked with friends who shared his interest. Einstein was told that he would never learn, but through developing his interests at home became a great scientist and physics genius.
Edison similarly was told that he would not amount to anything, but through homeschooling and the freedom to discover his interests, he became an inventor of many items including electricity.
It was mentioned in the video that at MIT, these students are given the FREEDOM to work in the labs and discover for themselves. So why not let our students have the opportunity to do the same. If we want our children to learn to be critical thinkers, inventors, and innovators, give them freedom to explore and discover, then even the child considered to be mediocre will amaze us.
I once had a student who had the gift of drawing. He was so talented and self taught. Yet he hated art class, because he had to follow the directions of the teacher and there was never any time for him to use his God given talent to create his own art.
What we need is to inspire and give students an opportunity and time to discover on their own–and in the way of money, that costs very little to nothing.
Note that I learned electronic by recycling parts in a dump (of Flipper, TV, fridge) … dad was giving coins to the guardian, and I was playing in the electric and electronic parts…
Now I’am an engineer in electronics. I learned young how things can be dangerous, and how making something work is long and difficult.
some physicist at MIT should learn that.
Education and social support are our greatest weapon to fight radicalism and religious hatred.
And it’s just what a progressive civilized country should provide for all its citizenry, to ensure that basic needs are met (and that each child can reach his potential). The morally right thing to do.
Billions more is spent on corporate welfare in this country than is spent on social programs to ensure a . Billions right into the pockets of the wealthy, the corporations (many that engage in outright criminality).
I wish more people would tutor in poor schools. It would become clear that poor children, many of whom are going without adequate food and shelter, are indeed, incredibly smart.
The oligarchy of our society is making choices which harm everyone, even themselves. There is all this potential in people. We should nurture it.
This country spends more, and gets MUCH less, on education than any other country. Like the military/industrial industry, the education industry is fat, lazy, and corrupt. Throwing money @ a dysfunctional industry is the worst thing you van do. The industry must be eviscerated, err..reformed. Then change can occur. However, not all the blame falls on the industry. We need to deal w/ an incredibly self destructive cultural mindset that tells black kids, being smart is being white and uncool. Flotus and Potus, but particularly Potus, have spoken well on this topic.
Many are not aware, but around 1900, only about 10% of our society went to public schools and many though us to be one of the best educated societies in the world. They were the poor and had high dropout and truancy rates even then, as today. It’s probably even worse today.
I suggest the the wealthier the majority, i.e. the average person, that the more likely they will help the poor as it is well documented that the middle class are much more philanthropic that the wealthy.
We however tax our middle class beyond their means. As an example Norway has tax deductions for the average citizen equal to about $36,000 US. That means for everyone, the first $36,000 is basically tax exempt and some even higher.
If we did that in this country, do you know what that would do for, especially the lower tax “tears”. tiers. We are literally taxing the poor and lower middle classes into poverty and than we wonder why they’re lined up for food stamps and welfare benefits. It’s not that their not paying the other fair share of the 114 other taxes our society offers. We tax everything, so they are paying way more than their fair share and way more than they can afford. And then we wonder why so many of the poor are getting rapped up in drug gangs, causing huge incarceration rates. The prison business seems to be happy though.
Maybe the new shots in the new Feinstein spy war will free up some of the gross waste of the spy boys and redirected it to kids like Kelvin Doe.
I hope so.
Dredd, A great story and there are many great things happening out there. However, those that hold their breath waiting for the political economic machine to do what is in the best interest of the majority, have never been able to hold their breath that long. It will take a mass uprising to stop such actions and the so-called intellectuals, despite our fears, will have to be a part of it. However, who joins us and what we do has not been agreed to in some 250 years.
An idea; There are now two electrical producing technologies that “will” change our world, ready to go to market. These technologies could alter our world far more than any uprising can ever. They’re, of course, getting quit a lot of push back from the establishment with one company reporting two of their systems being confiscated by the local utility after first being granted permission. The least efficient of the two systems can produce electricity at 1/10 the retail price of today. Both systems have had at least two University verification done and yet for the most part they remain under the scrod of darkness. Just think, 95% less oil tankers, pollution, less pipelines, less centralized electrical production, less oil refineries, 95% less electrical lines and transformers and no real need of a electrical grid. less fracking, less oil wells, less etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.
I bring this up since MIT was involved in the initial suppression of cold fusion. Now there are courses on it at MIT and they were at the International Conference on Cold Fusion held at the University of Missouri last year where one company, Defkalion Green Tech, via video conferencing showing their system in operation.
If you think I’m lying or exaggerating, please watch the following video and read the article.
This is the story from the network TV show “Phenomenon; the Lost Archives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htgV7fNO-2k
This is an article about MIT sponsoring the upcoming Colloguium on March 21-23 2014 on CF/LANR (Cold Fusion. Low ? Nuclear Reaction. Most are calling it (LENR) Low Energy Nuclear Reaction as the argue the various theories.
http://coldfusionnow.org/2014-cold-fusionlanr-colloquium-at-mit/
The suppression is obviously still on. I think it is time to set up a ghost funding site and make sure these technologies see the light of day. Pun intended. lol
The key is for everyone we can find to chip in a little money. Try to remain as stealth as possible, as long as possibly.
I’ve spoke to both companies, mostly Defkalion and they are rearing to go. The other Company Energia Universal and their Tesla technology, is already making units for sale but have shut down sales after the confiscations of their two systems. .
An amazing young man whose future just might be a little better because of his experience here in the states. Let’s hope that education can received more funding than defense.
And while Kelvin was clearly scrounging for parts, it looks like MIT found him as part of a technology competition in Sierra Leone (according to MIT mentor shown in the video: whatsnext.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/14/diy-africa-empowering-a-new-sierra-leone/).
Still a fabulous story of course!
Beth! I read your wonderful blog, I’ve been low carbing it for several years now.
What a great kid, I wish him much luck. Admirable that he is concerned with projects to help his fellow countrymen.
It is interesting that many of those that call for better education also call for heavy taxation and regulation and the resultant redistribution of the majorities wealth that ends up in the hands of the military industrial complex. Despite this happening for thousands of years, they continue to hold on to the economic chains they revere. Each than must look at their own survival and determine how they are connected to this redistribution of wealth and generally find conclude that it is not in their best individual interest to change a thing.
Are you sure he is/was homeless?
Amazing and shameful that some would argue it is more important to cut tax rates than assure education and nutrition for children.
Amazing….