Good Things

Intrinsic Good - There is no need for outside good or value to be given; that which is intrinsically good is simply good because of what it is.

Twenty Good Things:
1. Music
2. Prayer
3. Sunsets
4. Pets (any animals, but especially the ones that live in our homes and become our friends, siblings, confidantes, and children)
5. A deep conversation
6. A classic car
7. Movie night with close friends
8. Diamonds
9. Joy
10. Laughter
11. Hard work
12. Helping and serving others
13. Rain
14. Snow
15. A snowball fight
16. Exercise
17. The sun
18. Hope
19. Love (the kinds that God made)
20. Thanksgiving Day football game with my cousins and more pumpkin pie than we can eat...though we always try.

I am a practical person. I have always had a practical, logical, serious personality. And I can actually say "always". Wanna know why? Because when I was in Kindergarten, I complained to my mom that my friends were being immature. I was in kindergarten, and I was already taking life very seriously.

So that's my personality, you get the drift. So I find my "happy place" in a good book or a deep conversation with someone I trust. In September, when it was just starting to cool down, I would take my lawn chair and go outside. I would sit in my chair on the Mayfield quad and just enjoy nature while I read a book for class, or texted a friend. I even took my computer out there and made an outline for one of my classes. If a friend walked by, they would sit with me or stand and talk for a little while. I remember those days, though they were few, and they were just good days filled with good hours spent in good ways. Another good day was Halloween, and I walked down to Broadway with a friend. We saw the kids in their costumes, and their parents. We laughed about some of the costumes and said that the babies dressed like little bears were so cute. We walked back slowly, taking the path that goes by the stream that goes through downtown Siloam. It was a good conversation. I can't even recall most of what we talked about...but I am glad for the memory. It is good just because it happened, because we were together, being happy together. And I believe that's a good thing.

Cha-Ching! Oh wait. Wrong bank.

Blog Question #3. Push back on Freire's concept of education. Pick a passage and disagree with it.

So I'm good at arguing. It's energizing, in a way. In my life, there have been a few times that I have even been so good at arguing that I've convinced myself that I was wrong. You see, I tend to talk through my thoughts, so there are times when I don't even know what I'm thinking until I hear myself say it. With that being said, I am going to "push back" on some things that I read and thought, "Hey! That's not right!", but by the end of my post, I just might be saying "Oh wait. Yeah, I agree with that".

Freire's Quote: "In the banking concept of education, knowledge is a gift bestowed by those who consider themselves knowledgeable upon those whom they consider to know nothing. Projecting an absolute ignorance onto others, a characteristic of the ideology of oppression, negates education and knowledge as a process of inquiry."

Okay, I have never had a teacher who thought I knew nothing. They knew that I had not learned some things. That is the reason for schooling: to learn new things! Just because I learned long division in second grade doesn't mean that my second grade teacher thought that I was dumb; she realized that I was ignorant of how to divide "long" numbers. I don't agree that a teacher who is focused on filling his/her students' heads with new knowledge is participating in an evil system. My favorite classes were the ones where I learned something new every day, and we didn't necessarily have discussion every day. It is true that making learning all about new facts will make it boring. However, making it all about discussion, inquiry, and a personal quest is not the answer, either. Students need to be guided. They need a responsible adult, someone with their best interest at heart, to steer them toward the right paths. As Proverbs 22:6 says, "Start children off on the way they should go,
and even when they are old they will not turn from it." I am very thankful for the people who let me grow on my own, but I am also very thankful for the times that they helped me back on course.