436 Interview with Israel Shamir on sex & discipline in high schools of the Soviet Union

Interview with Israel Shamir on sex & discipline in high schools of the Soviet Union

(1) Children need space to discover for themselves that they emanate from spirit
(2) There should be vouchers for Jewish schools so PUBLIC school kids could go there
(3) Kids' Headquarters, Inc.
(4) HIGH SCHOOL -- 1957 vs. 2009
(5) Initiation of teenagers in Norway
(6) Chinese pupils top global education league table; US students lag
(7) Australian students fall behind rest of the world
(8) Boston school system is churning out illiterate students - teacher
(9) Pupil threatens teacher: "I'm gonna break your jaw". Anarchy in Britain's classrooms
(10) Politically correct educators lament a return to rote learning
(11) Schools infested with drugs: teen survey
(12) Migrant pupils top the entry tests for selective schools
(13) British teachers boycotts standards tests
(14) Parents "should be banned from smacking kids"
(15) Interview with Israel Shamir on sex & discipline in high schools of the Soviet Union
(16) Universities destroy knowledge
(17) Psychic Healing: a mental attitude of health, strength and fearlessness is the key to physical health

(1) Children need space to discover for themselves that they emanate from spirit
From: David West <dgwest7@gmail.com> Date: 16.01.2011 04:00 AM
Subject: Re: America produces, in its schools, idiots instead of intelligent children - Dr. Wu Tao-Wei

> The problem, instead, is that we've outlawed
> discipline (in over-reaction against "the
> Authoritarian Personality") and abandoned
> adult Initiation of teenagers.

Hello Peter. As a 63 year old father of a 12 year old, a teacher of teenagers, and a general world citizen, then this topic is of great interest.

I think that it is important for children and in fact all people to be given the necessary space to discover for themselves that they emanate from spirit, that they are much more than a body, and even more than mind.

We should be helping younger people who have been led astray to return to the path, where they can truly discover why they were born?

Until such time, problems will escalate.

Comment (Peter M.):

You are a foreign teacher teaching at a high school in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China. You once told me that you find the approach there too top-down, ie directed by the authorities, rather than students working things out by themselves.

On the other hand, the Chinese approach seems to work. In recent international tests, Chinese students surpassed Western students; and these tests tested for applied knowledge, not just rote learning. See item 6.

Of course, only 30 years ago China was a basket case. So the credit goes to the Japan Model which China copied. But Asian schools basically use the same old-fashioned methods OUR schools used in the 1950s & 60s, before Political Correctness.

I agree that bottom-up learning (ie done from the student's own initiative & interest) is the most enduring and rewarding; but top-down rote learning is beneficial for those who have not learned to think for themselves.

One thing you would not have encountered in Chinese schools, is students putting their feet up on the desk. I've seen that in Australia, and it was done in front of the teacher, who ignored it.

In our more anarchic government schools (as in item 9 below), we need cameras in classrooms, to bring wild students to heel - and expel them (if they refuse to behave) for the sake of the other students.

But what to do with them? We've got rid of all the jobs for 14-year olds. Israel Shamir has some pertinent comments on the way it was done in the Soviet Union in the 1970s & 80s (item 15).

(2) There should be vouchers for Jewish schools so PUBLIC school kids could go there

From: The Patriot Dames <subie-sisters@thepatriotdames.net> Date: 16.01.2011 10:34 PM
Subject: Re: America produces, in its schools, idiots instead of intelligent children - Dr. Wu Tao-Wei

Peter,
....in it's PUBLIC schools. You know, the ones totally changed by busing. Busing, the Jewish idea that was rescinded a year later but they went through with it anyway.

Don't blame the American people for the destruction of our PUBLIC schools. Jewish kids don't go there. That's why so many white kids are in private schools and are home schooled.

I suggested in one of my YouTube videos that there should be vouchers for Jewish schools so those PUBLIC school kids could go there....and that would fix the problem.  YouTube yanked that video pretty quick.
Susie

Comment (Peter M.):

It's not a matter of race per se - all kids are affected.

(3) Kids' Headquarters, Inc.

From: Dave <dakersting@earthlink.net> Date: 17.01.2011 03:54 AM
Subject: Re: America produces, in its schools, idiots instead of intelligent children - Dr. Wu Tao-Wei

> The problem, instead, is that we've outlawed discipline (in over-reaction
> against "the Authoritarian Personality") and abandoned adult Initiation of
> teenagers. If anyone has good ideas on how to reinvent such processes, I'd
> like to hear from them.

Hi Peter,

My organization, Kids’ Headquarters, Inc., has been doing deep field research into that question and all questions pertaining to the urgent need to develop a viable theory of minors’-rights – new child-socialization processes to replace the system which came to predominate the globe in history’s (and prehistory’s) Darwinian struggle to kill or be killed, enslave or be enslaved, colonize or be colonized – the system which has absolutely depended on developing the neurotic, insatiable, compulsive-dominant adult populations which Freud and everyone else has consequently perceived as normal.

We have developed several perfect, real-life community models of how a system can really work, and I would be happy to explain our findings – but I can’t be sure if you will open this email, since doing so might lower you in the “opinion” of Jeff Blankfort – an opinion which, as you have stated, means so much to you ...

As to general minors’-rights work, I’ve been running the only “alternative” or minors’-rights-based children’s program I know of – now in our 28th year of operation – first in Berkeley CA, for 8 years, also running “interest-based learning” (precisely-structured woodshop) programs in all sorts of public and private schools, including some of the very wealthiest and some of the most “troubled,” now entering our 17th year at our gorgeous private location in Marin County California – extremely successful – applying and developing the only articulable theory of global cross-cultural minors’-rights standards I’ve yet encountered – the most revolutionary process conceivable – yet applauded by well-educated parents all across the political spectrum.

We have been, for example, the only organization, world-wide, to present the minors’-rights or child-advocacy angle on the question of adult use of nude children in mainstream adult entertainment, or, that is, as insensible materiel for “artistic” free-speech.

I would love to offer the results of our deep field research, particularly into the real-world forces that sustain defacto racism and extreme gender-roles in their worst forms.  ...

For what it’s worth as a sample, Dr. Wu Tao-Wei’s perceptions of America’s youth-related policies are quite consistent with the realities my organization has explored in depth – though he is limited by the lack of deep direct involvement, which KHQ has cultivated.  For example, something else must be added to the combination of television and junk-foods cited by Dr. Wu Tao-Wei – that something else is: being forced to sit through boring classes with totally disingenuous teachers, that would make anyone stir-crazy, combined with a family-and-school community that never recognizes the actual child, but merely tries to interpret him through and mold him into the tv-imagery.  Modern kids almost never play outside, unless they’re in adult team-uniforms, in adult-organized adult social events, with adult referees.  The first sign of the falseness is the use of the term “medication” to cover up the reality that the kids are simply being drugged, in order to finish the job the daytime concentration-camps (called “schools”) are supposed to be doing: keeping them off the streets and out of everyone’s hair.

The Kids’ Headquarters, “hands-on” children’s program “The Planet” provides direct resources for children – all designed to help them discover their own power to comprehend the world and themselves independently – remedial work, against the current of what the schools are doing, and often washed away by it – except in several instances evident at all times, wherein we make it possible for very special or specially needy kids to succeed in truly existing at all.

Anyway, if you’ve gotten this far, try, for starters, clicking on:
    http://www.kidsheadquarters.org/planet_main.htm

(4) HIGH SCHOOL -- 1957 vs. 2009

From: jane butler <iristimefleur@yahoo.com> Date: 10.01.2011 12:13 PM
Subject: yesterday/today/tomorrow...?

HIGH SCHOOL -- 1957 vs. 2009

http://www.infowars.com/high-school-1957-vs-2009/

Infowars
May 7, 2009

Scenario 1: Jack goes quail hunting before school and then pulls into the school parking lot with his shotgun in his truck's gun rack.

1957 - Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack's shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.

2009 - School goes into lockdown, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.

Scenario 2: Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school.

1957 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins.. Johnny and Mark shake hands and ends up buddies.

2009 - Police called and SWAT team arrives -- they arrest both Johnny and Mark. They are both charged with assault and both expelled even though Johnny started it.

Scenario 3: Jeffrey will not sit still in class, he disrupts other students.

1957 - Jeffrey sent to the Principal's office and given a good paddling by the Principal. He then returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.

2009 - Jeffrey is given huge doses of Ritalin. He becomes a zombie. He is then tested for ADD. The school gets extra money from the state because Jeffrey has a disability.

Scenario 4: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt..

1957 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college and becomes a successful businessman.

2009 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy is removed to foster care and joins a gang. The state psychologist is told by Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison.
Billy's mom has an affair with the psychologist.

Scenario 5: Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.

1957 - Mark shares his aspirin with the Principal out on the smoking dock.

2009 - The police are called and Mark is expelled from school for drug violations. His car is then searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario 6: Pedro fails high school English.

1957 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English and goes to college.

2009 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against the state school system and Pedro's English teacher. English is then banned from core curriculum. Pedro is given his diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.

Scenario 7: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from the Fourth of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle and blows up a red ant bed.

1957 - Ants die.

2009 - ATF, Homeland Security and the FBI are all called. Johnny is charged with domestic terrorism. The FBI investigates his parents -- and all siblings are removed from their home and all computers are confiscated.
Johnny's dad is placed on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario 8: Wally falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Nancy. Nancy hugs him to comfort him.

1957 - In a short time, Wally feels better and goes on playing.

2009 -  Nancy  is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison... Wally undergoes 5 years of therapy.

This should hit every email inbox to show how stupid we have become!!

Not only "stupid" but have allowed "those in power" to take total CONTROL OF OUR LIVES!!

WHEN WOULD "YOU" LIKE TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT ???

(5) Initiation of teenagers in Norway

From: leo schmit <leoschmit@yahoo.com> Date: 17.01.2011 04:45 PM
Subject: Re: America produces, in its schools, idiots instead of intelligent children - Dr. Wu Tao-Wei

Hello Peter,

In Item 11. Dr Wu argues that the 'West' no longer has initiation practices, thus 'began in the West the first stages of demeaning youths and retarding the growth of adults'.

I concur with most of his arguments, but the 'West' is not the same as the USA. Educational and cultural practices in Canada are already entirely different from those of its southern neighbour.

Looking at Europe, in some parts of the continent initiation of the young generation is still practiced. For instance, in Christian reformed Norway all young people, once they reach 15 years of age, attend to their 'Konfirmation'. 'Konfirmation' declares them adult not only in the spiritual sense but also in the sense of no longer having to obey (heed) their parents and in principle to be ready to fend for themselves economically. Non-religious Norwegians also follow the practice. In fact the majority of Norwegian is not practicing religion. Yet, 'Konfirmation' is the outstanding landmark in a Norwegian child's road to adulthood, marked by dressing codes, grand family attention and generous gifts in money as well. In the old days in rural Norway this could mean  leaving the house and seeking work as farmhand ('dreng') on the big farms ('storgard'). I assume that similar customs prevail in the rest of Scandinavia and the Baltics. I have not investigated the matter, but assume that comparable practices also occur in Catholic Central and Mediterranean Europe.

There are other ways to initiate children: in the Netherlands all children (no exception) remember their first swaggering efforts to learn cycling with all the bumps and bruises. Next, (albeit with more exceptions) they are taught to go on the skates on the big frozen canals and lakes. All over Europe, reaching 18 is a landmark, both in the legal and individual perception. I understand that Dr Wu finds this retarded, but a landmark it is. In my own case, my father marked my reaching the age of 18 with the gift of a watch, at a time when cell phones and gadgets were yet unknown. As for my two children, we taught them to ride the bike, skate the ice, cook their food and drive the car. It paid of, because last Christmas when airports were clogged and service broke down, we drove the entire stretch of 2000 km from the Netherlands to Norway in good team spirit right through the darkness and snow in 26 hours. And back the same.

Comment (Peter M.):

On their 18th birthday, many kids in Australia like to hold a drunken party from which they try to exclude adults as much as possible.

(6) Chinese pupils top global education league table; US students lag

From: IHR News <news@ihr.org> Date: 13.12.2010 04:00 PM

BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/news/2010/12/101208_china_education_wt_sl.shtml

8 December, 2010 - 17:24 GMT

Chinese pupils top global education league table

A survey of half a million 15-year-old school pupils around the world shows that those in the Chinese city of Shanghai lead the world in reading, science and maths.

The survey was carried out by the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa), which is part of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). ==

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2010/1207/US-students-halt-academic-free-fall-but-still-lag-in-global-testing

US students halt academic 'free-fall,' but still lag in global testing

Korean and Finnish students scored highest in the latest round of PISA tests aimed at assessing reading, math, and science literacy.

The 2009 OECD education report, the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) study, is unveiled at a news conference in Tuesday in Vienna.

By Amanda Paulson, Staff Writer / December 7, 2010

American students made modest gains in science and math, but still lag significantly behind their counterparts around the world.

The latest results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) released Tuesday by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) show Asian students – particularly those from China, who participated in the exam for the first time in 2009 – at the top of the pack, with the United States generally in the middle or, in math, toward the bottom.

“We are in the middle of the pack; that’s not where we want to be,” said Stuart Kerachsky, deputy commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, in a call with reporters. “That’s not the goal, but all I see in these numbers is things maybe inching in the right direction.”

The test is given to 15-year-old students in dozens of countries around the world every three years, and aims to assess their reading, math, and science literacy as they prepare to enter college or the workforce. It has long been used in the US to raise alarm bells about American students falling behind in a global world.

And indeed, the most striking result from the 2009 PISA may be the top performance of Chinese students, who participated in the exam for the first time with a pilot program that tested students in several cities.

Mr. Kerachsky and others cautioned not to read too much into the comparisons, since they are from cities – those which draw many of China’s top students – and are hardly representative of all of China. But the results from Shanghai, in particular, which came out No. 1 in all three subject areas, were remarkably high.

In math, for instance, Shanghai students scored an average of 600 (on a scale with a 500-point average). Students in Korea, the top OECD country, scored a 546, and in the United States, they scored 487.

That score puts them in 25th place among the 34 OECD countries, though the score is statistically lower than just 17 of those countries, and indistinguishable from 11 others.

American students scored below the OECD average of 496. The countries outperforming the US include Finland – perennially a top-shower on PISA, along with Korea – Belgium, Estonia, Iceland, France, and the Slovak Republic, among others. US students scored higher than those in just five OECD countries: Greece, Israel, Turkey, Chile, and Mexico. ... ==

Math + test = trouble for US economy

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1207/p01s04-ussc.html

Math + test = trouble for US economy

First-of-its kind study shows US lags many other nations in real-life math skills.

By Gail Russell Chaddock, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor / December 7, 2004

WASHINGTON

For a nation committed to preparing students for 21st century jobs, the results of the first-of-its-kind study of how well teenagers can apply math skills to real-life problems is sobering.

American 15-year-olds rank well below those in most other industrialized countries in mathematics literacy and problem solving, according to a survey released Monday.

Although the notion that America faces a math gap is not new, Monday's results show with new clarity that the problem extends beyond the classrooms into the kind of life-skills that employers care about. And to the surprise of some experts, the US shortcoming exists even when only top students in each nation are considered.

"It's very disturbing for business if the capacity to take what you know ... and apply it to something novel is difficult for US teenagers," says Susan Traiman, director of education and workforce policy at the Business Roundtable. ...

"These tests are enormously instructive to the US, especially when we look at the instructional programs in other countries to see what works," says Michael Casserly, executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools.

A key to the success of students in other nations is a very focused curriculum, maintained over time, he adds. "We can't do it nationally," because the US is a vast, diverse country with little appetite for a national curriculum. "But we can do it in cities, and we are."

The international survey was done by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2003, testing 15-year-olds.

But PISA, unlike previous international assessments, is measuring not just whether students have learned a set math curriculum, but whether they can apply math concepts outside the classroom. In the US, 262 schools and 5,456 students participated in the two-hour, paper and pencil assessment. Most answers were constructed responses, not just the multiple choice format.

In one question, students are asked to calculate the number of dots on the bottom face of six dice, given the rule that the total number of dots on two opposite faces is always seven. Only 63 percent of US students got it right, compared with 68 percent of their peers in OECD countries. (This question was ranked Level 2, out of three proficiency levels.) Other problems involved constructing simple decision tree diagrams for a lending library, figuring out which gate is stuck closed in an irrigation system, and generating graphics on computers. ...

(7) Australian students fall behind rest of the world

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/australian-students-fall-behind-rest-of-the-world/story-fn59nlz9-1225967240227

Justine Ferrari, Education writer    The Australian    December 08, 2010 12:00AM  

AUSTRALIAN teenagers are falling behind the rest of the world in school because of a drop in academic performance by the nation's top students. ...

For the first time, PISA results were reported against the type of school students attended, showing that students in independent schools scored significantly higher than Catholic students, who in turn outperformed government school students. ...

(8) Boston school system is churning out illiterate students - teacher

http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2010/11/08/failure_to_educate/

Failure to educate

The Boston school system is churning out illiterate students whose only skills are to pass predictable standard tests

By Junia Yearwood

November 8, 2010

I DID not attend a graduation ceremony in 25 years as a Boston public high school teacher. This was my silent protest against a skillfully choreographed mockery of an authentic education — a charade by adults who, knowingly or unwittingly, played games with other people's children.

I knew that most of my students who walked across the stage, amidst the cheers, whistles, camera flashes, and shout-outs from parents, family, and friends, were not functionally literate. They were unable to perform the minimum skills necessary to negotiate society: reading the local newspapers, filling out a job application, or following basic written instructions; even fewer had achieved empowering literacy enabling them to closely read, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate text.

However, they were all college bound — the ultimate goal of our school's vision statement — clutching knapsacks stuffed with our symbols of academic success: multiple college acceptances, a high school diploma; an official transcript indicating they had passed the MCAS test and had met all graduation requirements; several glowing letters of recommendation from teachers and guidance counselors; and one compelling personal statement, their college essay.

They walked across the stage into a world that was unaware of the truth that scorched my soul — the truth that became clear the first day I entered West Roxbury High School in 1979 (my first assignment as a provisional 12th grade English teacher): the young men and women I was responsible for coaching the last leg of their academic journey could not write a complete sentence, a cohesive paragraph, or a well-developed essay on a given topic. I remember my pain and anger at this revelation and my struggle to reconcile the reality before me with my own high school experience, which had enabled me to negotiate the world of words — oral and written — independently, with relative ease and confidence.

For the ensuing 30-plus years, I witnessed how the system churned out academically unprepared students who lacked the skills needed to negotiate the rigors of serious scholarship, or those skills necessary to move in and up the corporate world.

We instituted tests and assessments, such as the MCAS, that required little exercise in critical thinking, for which most of the students were carefully coached to "pass.'' Teachers, instructors, and administrators made the test the curriculum, taught to the test, drilled for the test, coached for the test, taught strategies to take the test, and gave generous rewards (pizza parties) for passing the test. Students practiced, studied for, and passed the test — but remained illiterate.

I also bear witness to my students' ability to acquire a passing grade for mediocre work. A's and B's were given simply for passing in assignments (quality not a factor), for behaving well in class, for regular attendance, for completing homework assignments that were given a check mark but never read.

In addition, I have been a victim of the subtle and overt pressure exerted by students, parents, administrators, guidance counselors, coaches, and colleagues to give undeserving students passing grades, especially at graduation time, when the "walk across the stage'' frenzy is at its peak.

When all else failed, there were strategies for churning out seemingly academically prepared students. These were the ways around the official requirements: loopholes such as MCAS waivers; returning or deftly transferring students to Special Needs Programs — a practice usually initiated by concerned parents who wanted to avoid meeting the regular education requirements or to gain access to "testing accommodations''; and, Credit Recovery, the computer program that enabled the stragglers, those who were left behind, to catch up to the frontrunners in the Race to the Stage. Students were allowed to take Credit Recovery as a substitute for the course they failed, and by passing with a C, recover their credits.

Nevertheless, this past June, in the final year of my teaching career, I chose to attend my first graduation at the urgings of my students — the ones whose desire to learn, to become better readers and writers, and whose unrelenting hard work earned them a spot on the graduation list — and the admonition of a close friend who warned that my refusal to attend was an act of selfishness, of not thinking about my students who deserved the honor and respect signified by my presence.

At the ceremony I chose to be happy, in spite of the gnawing realization that nothing had changed in 32 years. We had continued playing games with other people's children.

Junia Yearwood, a guest columnist, is a retired Boston Public Schools teacher who taught at English High for 25 years.

(9) Pupil threatens teacher: "I'm gonna break your jaw". Anarchy in Britain's classrooms

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1327876/13-year-old-pupil-swung-fist-yelled-Im-gonna-break-jaw-says-teacher.html

My 13-year-old pupil swung his fist at me and yelled 'I'm gonna break your jaw': One teacher exposes the wilful anarchy in Britain's Wild West classrooms

By CHARLIE CARROLL
Last updated at 2:08 AM on 9th November 2010

To my everlasting shame, I left a teaching job because I was scared of a child. Although he was only 13, Ralph was a well-built boy who was known for taking an irrational dislike to new teachers. Unfortunately, he displayed a greater antagonism towards me than to any of the other five supply teachers at his West Yorkshire school.

Retreating to the back of the class during lessons, he'd proclaim my failings to the other pupils — 'Mr Carroll stinks of s***'; 'Sir's a virgin'; 'Don't listen to him. He's only a supply teacher — he don't know nothing.'

If I told him to be quiet, he spoke louder; if I ignored him, he laughed. I wished I could send him out, but the head had made it clear that once the pupils were in a classroom, we had to do our best to keep them there.

{caption} Disruptive and abusive pupils were also caught on a hidden camera for a Channel Four documentary {end}

So I was left with no choice but to endure Ralph's taunts as I struggled to stop the other pupils chatting and play-fighting. Until, one day, he walked out of the class during a lesson, closely followed by one of his mates.

I found them both sitting in the corridor outside. As I approached, Ralph jumped to his feet. A vein throbbed in his temple.

'I'm gonna break your f***ing jaw, you posh c***!' he shouted, drawing his arm back to swing at me with a clenched fist.

I reacted on pure instinct, immediately raising my arms up to chest height with my palms facing outward. Submissive. Accommodating.

'All right, all right, I'm going,' I said, backing into the classroom, hands still in the same position.

As I sat down on the edge of a table, I realised I was shaking. Outside, I could hear Ralph still ranting about smashing my face.

Not many things intimidate me. I've been a teacher for four years — and I've been threatened and sworn at more times than I can count.

But at that moment, for the first time, I believed a pupil could, and would, carry out his threat .?.?.

Just a few months earlier, I'd been living in Somerset, forging a successful career as an English teacher in a good state secondary school. I was 27, and I'd already started my slow climb up the hierarchy.

Apart from a constant deluge of paperwork and implausible government targets, I enjoyed my work — yet I was uncomfortably aware that some teachers were less fortunate.

One former colleague had been 'held hostage' in front of his class by two boys from Year 11 — what used to be the fifth form — brandishing a very real-looking fake gun. Another had a door slammed shut in her face so violently that the glass window shattered over her.

And I'd been shocked to discover that almost half of all England's newly qualified teachers are now leaving the profession within five years.

What was it really like to teach in a school at the bottom of the league tables, I wondered? Before settling down in a decent job, I decided to find out for myself.

I set myself the limit of a year: in that time, I'd travel to areas all over England to find work as a supply teacher. A week after making this decision, I handed in a letter of resignation to my headteacher.

My first job was at a technology college which had only just avoided closure after a series of visits from Ofsted education inspectors.

Before entering my new classroom, I peeked through a small window in the door. Students were sprawled across the tables, leaning from the open windows and throwing missiles at each other. I took a deep breath and walked in.

'Morning, Year 10,' I hollered over the din. 'Time to sit down, please.'

Chairs were flung about, snatches of insults occasionally broke free of the hubbub, and no one appeared to have heard me. By the time I managed to get them all seated, seven minutes of the lesson had been wasted.

As the author write, the only weapons teachers have are words. 'The kids were aware that if we so much as laid a hand on them, we could be reported for assault'

'All right,' I said. 'My name is Mr Carroll. Today, we're going to be working on .?.?.'

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a heavily made-up girl lean over and snatch something from an adjoining desk. Her neighbour immediately exploded. 'For f***'s sake, Michaela!' she yelled. 'Give it back, you bitch!'

More yelling, more chairs overturned as they fought over the stolen object. I tried to make the girls return to their seats, but they knew as well as I did that I couldn't force them to obey me.

'Look,' I said. 'We need to .?.?.'

'No one's listening to you,' one lad told me politely.

So I decided to assign them a task: Write a letter to your headteacher, persuading him to get rid of school uniform.

The best approach, I thought, would be to urge the pupils on individually. I started with the front row.

'Right, girls,' I said. 'What I need you to do is .?.?.'

'I'm doing it!' erupted one of them, Tracey. 'God! Just f*** off, will you?'

'I can't have you talking to me like that,' I said calmly. 'Please go and stand outside, and I'll be out in a minute to discuss this with you.'

She clapped her hands, hoorayed, rushed out of the door — and vanished.

Soon after that, a fight erupted between two 16-year-olds outside the room, and the entire class rushed out to chant encouragement. Another five minutes were wasted.

Once they were all back inside, a dark-haired lad suddenly leapt across his table and began stabbing another boy in the back of the hand with a straightened paperclip, drawing blood.

Five minutes before the end of the lesson, the class unanimously decided to pack up and walk out, despite my protestations. Total teaching: zero.

At lunchtime, the other teachers and I twice had to surround groups of fighting children in the playground to stop an explosion of violence.

Our only weapons were words. The kids were aware that if we so much as laid a hand on them, we could be reported for assault.

I then moved to a secondary school in Birmingham where I witnessed a pupil throwing a water bomb that exploded on a table. He scarpered, but I managed to catch his companion in crime — a thickly built 16-year-old called Ben.

When I confronted him, he thrust his face inches from mine. 'Who the f*** are you talking to?' he spat out.

We held each other's stares. A crowd grew around us, avid to see the stand-off between the new teacher and the school bully.

After a few tense moments, Ben gave a mocking chuckle and walked off. As I removed my jacket, I noticed two large sweat stains on my shirt.

The lessons at this school weren't lessons at all: instead, I spent most of the time removing tables and chairs from the hands of teenagers and placing them back on the floor. Usually, I 'taught' from the door rather than the whiteboard — if I didn't bar the way, the kids simply got up and left.

Assaults were common. One boy strode out of the classroom only to return a minute later with a long plank of wood with which he intended to 'batter' a girl. Fortunately, he was physically restrained by another pupil.

There were many evenings when I felt shell-shocked, not so much at the quantity of bad behaviour, which has probably always existed in the worst-performing schools.

No, what struck me forcibly as I travelled from one chaotic school to another is that it's the nature of the bad behaviour which is driving teachers away.

They're up against behaviour that's become personal, aggressive and vicious, dealing with outbursts that can't be glossed over or laughed about later in the staff-room. Yet, at the same time, fewer pupils than ever are being excluded from school. Why? Because the Labour government brought in tough financial penalties for schools that use this much-needed last resort.

Chucking money at failing schools, I soon realised, made very little difference.

One school near Chesterfield in Derbyshire, for example, was brand new, with state-of-the-art equipment and resources — yet a large percentage of its students were persistently vile to the staff and cruel to each other.

There was one boy who spent an entire computer studies lesson doing a porn search on a school computer until he found one picture that had escaped the school's filter: a close-up of a large pair of breasts.

Hitting the full-screen key, he shouted over to a quiet girl, 'Hey! Bet you wish you had these, ya flat bitch!'

I lost count of the number of times a teenager shouted — no, screamed — in my face.

For me, though, the lowest point of the year was my confrontation with Ralph, the 13-year-old bully who threatened to break my jaw.

I'd had no choice but to back away when he faced me down, but the head's response was to set up a meeting with Ralph and me. When the boy was asked why he'd threatened me, he said: 'Because he's a f***ing div. I hate him.'

He reluctantly promised he'd never threaten an adult again, but he refused to apologise. There was no punishment. As he walked out the door, he called over his shoulder: 'Posh c***.'

Later that day, I resigned, telling the head that I couldn't work in an environment where this kind of thing was allowed to happen. The head told me he understood, and offered to write me a reference.

I felt a failure. Not only had I let a child run me out of his school, but the biggest disservice I'd done, I realised, was to Ralph himself. When I failed to show up the next morning, he'd understand why — and know that violent threats get results.

In the end, I decided I should at least complete my year of supply teaching. And there were times when I was very glad I did.

At yet another school in Birmingham, I was bewildered when a group of Year 7s entered and then stood silently behind their chairs. It took me a few minutes to work out that they were politely waiting for permission to sit down.


During the lesson, they worked like Trojans. One boy even asked me if he could take his blazer off.

This exemplary behaviour was the direct result of the hard work of teachers who were plainly valued and supported by an ever-present headteacher.

I saw the head all the time: he patrolled the corridors when pupils were moving between lessons; he poked his head into my lessons to check the pupils were behaving; he often chatted to them, always with an air of affability. He was proud of his school, which clearly worked — as so many other schools could also work, given the right ingredients.

In London, I rotated between five schools in Hackney, Haringey and Tower Hamlets — three of the worst education areas in the country. Many of the students were towering, stubbly giants who spoke in street-patois, but it wasn't long before I realised I was enjoying myself.

At one of these institutions, nearly half its students were entitled to free school meals, slightly fewer had English as a second language and nearly 40 per cent had special educational needs. However, the school was a prime example of what can be achieved when a place is managed and run effectively.

Certainly, there was zero-tolerance for bad behaviour. It wasn't unusual for an assistant head to walk through my classroom, using a metal detector to check for knives and so on, while I tried to continue teaching.

In one of the classes I taught regularly, there were two instances of bad behaviour. One of the culprits came up to me at the end of the lesson and quietly apologised. The other was immediately excluded for a day for swearing at a teacher.

Eventually, it dawned on me that the pupils were grateful for my presence. They knew full well that having a specialist English master as their substitute teacher was a privilege that was easily lost.

On my last day, a boy called Tyrone brought me a bottle of Lambrini pear cider, which he'd concealed in four plastic carrier bags.

'Just wanted to say thanks, sir,' he mumbled, pushing the package into my hands. I felt like crying.

So what did I learn in my year as a supply teacher? Above all, I think, that tough schools really can be turned around, if they stamp on appalling behaviour and support their teachers.

More pupils, however, need to be excluded to give others a chance to learn. And teachers must have more protection against litigation and more power to stop fights.

Of all the teachers whose lessons I covered, perhaps a fifth were absent due to a stress-related illness. The tragedy is that too many will simply leave the profession. And their colleagues on the front line will find themselves less and less able to teach anything at all.

Adapted from On The Edge by Charlie Carroll, (Monday Books, £8.99). © Charlie Carroll 2010. To order a copy (p&p free), call 01455 221752 or visit www.mondaybooks.com. Charlie Carroll is the author's pseudonym.

(10) Politically correct educators lament a return to rote learning

http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/independent-schools-lament-a-return-to-rote-learning-20101020-16ud5.html

Independent schools lament a return to rote learning

Date: October 21 2010
Anna Patty

Independent schools in NSW and the ACT have joined the chorus of criticism against the new national curriculum, labelling it a ''20th-century'' document.

The headmaster of St Andrew's Cathedral School, Dr John Collier, has written to the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority on behalf of more than 100 private schools.

The letter, coming from the Association of Heads of Independent Schools, says schools support the idea of a national curriculum but have 10 major concerns about its structure, among them that the curriculum has been rushed and lacks an over-arching framework.

''Current national curriculum plans denote a 20th-, not a 21st-century curriculum,'' the letter says.

''The documents are essentially lists of content, rather than a focus on thinking skills …''

The association says courses in maths, English, science and history have been developed in isolation and ''favour breadth, rather than depth''.

''They require rehearsal of lower- rather than higher-order skills.''

Science is the only exception and is described as ''so difficult as to potentially deny access to a proportion of students''.

''The curriculum provides too little scope for the diversity of students, including those with special needs, those with disabilities, English-as-a-second-language students, and gifted and talented students,'' it says.

''The English curriculum diminishes the status of the teaching of literature while the withdrawal of extension 1 courses denies specialist extension opportunities to able students who do not wish to commit themselves in year 11 to specialise even further in those subjects.''

Dr Collier is a strong advocate for both the Higher School Certificate and the alternative year 12 qualification, the International Baccalaureate.

He said the latter taught students good research skills and encouraged them to develop independent thinking. ''It is good preparation for university,'' he said. ...

(11) Schools infested with drugs: teen survey

From: IHR News <news@ihr.org> Date: 03.09.2010 08:00 AM

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKN1640311120070817

(Reuters) - Millions of U.S. teens attend "drug-infested schools" where students routinely see drugs used, sold or kept on schools grounds, according to a national survey of attitudes on substance abuse released on Thursday.

By JoAnne Allen

WASHINGTON | Fri Aug 17, 2007 1:16am BST

Thirty-one percent of high school students -- more than 4million -- see drug dealing, illegal drug use or students high or drunk at least once a week on their school grounds, said the annual survey by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University.

Nine percent of middle school students, or more than 1 million, at least once a week see classmates engaging in drug-related activity at school, the survey found.

The results also show that since 2002, the proportion of students who attend schools where drugs are used, kept or sold soared 39 percent for high school students and 63 percent for those in middle school.

From 2006 to 2007, the proportion jumped 20 percent for high school students and 35 percent for middle school students, according to the survey.

CASA chairman Joseph Califano, a former U.S. health secretary, warned that too many schools had become open drug bazaars for teens.

The survey shows that "our nation's youth are drenched in a culture where drug and alcohol abuse are commonplace and that drug-infested schools encourage the idea that it's cool to get high and drunk," Califano said in a statement.

"Parents should wake up to this reality ... and do something about it," he said.

Only 11 percent of the parents surveyed see drugs as their teen's greatest concern, but twice as many teens say drugs are their biggest concern.

The survey of 1,063 12- to 17-year-olds and 550 parents was conducted April 2 to May 13. It has a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percent for teens and plus or minus 4 percent for parents.

(12) Migrant pupils top the entry tests for selective schools

From: Denis McC <wizard_of_aus@hotmail.com> Date: 3 July 2010

ANNA PATTY AND ANDREW STEVENSON July 3, 2010

http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/migrant-pupils-top-the-entry-tests-for-selective-schools-20100702-zu56.html

CHILDREN of recent Asian migrants are dramatically outperforming students from English-speaking households to dominate the ranks of the top selective high schools.

A Herald analysis shows 42 per cent of children from non-English speaking backgrounds who sat the annual selective high school entrance test last year won a place in the elite system.

Fewer than 23 per cent of students whose families speak English at home were successful.

Letters and emails were sent this week to inform 4133 year 6 students that they had won a place for next year at a selective high school.

The percentage of students from migrant families entering the selective system has risen dramatically from 29 per cent in 1995 to as high as 62 per cent in 2008. The component is sharply skewed towards children from Asian-origin families.

Students whose families speak other languages comprise a little more than one-quarter of the total public school population.

Many of the successful students are graduates of the burgeoning network of private coaching colleges which gauge their success by their ability to secure places in the selective system and who tailor courses towards the "opportunity class" and selective exams. Coaching colleges are dominated by children of recent migrants.

"Anglo families have a different sense of what a child's life should look like and they are really concerned about narrowing a child's life down to passing the selective school entrance test," says Craig Campbell, a Sydney University academic and co-author of School Choice, a book on how parents negotiate the school market. "But they're having to change because of the competition."

High school principals, worried about losing students and prestige, are said to be pushing hard to establish selective streams in their schools, according to Associate Professor Campbell.

At James Ruse Agricultural High, the state's top selective school, an overwhelming majority of students are from families that have migrated from Asian countries.

The selective system was expanded this year with 600 more places created through the establishment of 14 partially selective high schools, where a high-achieving stream has been added to a comprehensive high school.

The students from migrant families also win up to half the opportunity class placements available for years 5 and 6 at specialised public schools. These classes are designed to provide "intellectual stimulation and an educationally enriched environment for academically gifted and talented children", says the Department of Education.

Anecdotal evidence suggests some parents avoid selective high schools because of the extent of Asian domination. The former head of the NSW selective schools unit, Bob Wingrave, recalls his surprise to hear a colleague had decided against sending his child to James Ruse "because there were too many Asians there".

"All kids who go to a selective high school will benefit from going," Mr Wingrave said. Coaching might gain students a few marks at the most.

Children from a non-English-speaking background answered more questions in the selective schools entry test than other students, he said.

"The Anglo kids won't answer it if looks too hard and they are less likely to finish than the non-English-speaking background kids," Mr Wingrave said.

(13) British teachers boycotts standards tests

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/may/09/sats-boycott-affects-thousands

Sats to be replaced by outings, stories and picnic as thousands join boycott

Teaching unions predict more than half of England's 17,000 primaries will refuse to test 10 and 11-year-olds this week

Jessica Shepherd, education correspondent

guardian.co.uk, Sunday 9 May 2010 18.02 BST

Thousands of primary schools will boycott national tests for 10 and 11-year-olds tomorrow, treating their pupils to class trips and lessons in creative writing instead.

Teaching unions have predicted that half of England's 17,000 primaries will lock up their test papers in protest, affecting tens of thousands of pupils.

Some 600,000 pupils are due to sit the tests, known as Sats, in maths and English every day this week. Unions argue that the tests disrupt children's learning and are "misused" to compile league tables, which they say humiliate and demean children and their schools.

Teachers said that in some parts of England, such as Calderdale, Hartlepool, Barnsley and the London boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Kensington and Chelsea, more than half of all primaries have refused to administer the tests.

A survey conducted by the Press Association shows that in 37 local authorities alone, an estimated 1,010 schools have already said they will be boycotting the tests. More are understood to be still considering what action to take. ...

(14) Parents "should be banned from smacking kids"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/10095965.stm

Ban on smacking 'would improve parenting skills'

Page last updated at 11:46 GMT, Tuesday, 4 May 2010 12:46 UK

Schools are banned from smacking - but parents are allowed

Parents should be banned from smacking their children, the deputy head of the Council of Europe has said.

Maud de Boer-Buquicchio said a ban on physical chastisement would improve parenting skills.

Parents at present can smack their children for the purposes of "reasonable" punishment.

Attempts by some MPs and charities to introduce an all-out ban on smacking have so far failed. Smacking is not permitted in schools in the UK.

Ms de Boer-Buquicchio, in a letter to the Daily Telegraph, has now joined the debate to express her view that it is not wrong for the state to interfere over this aspect of family life.

'Psychological integrity'

Speaking in her capacity as deputy secretary general of the Council of Europe -which was founded in 1949 to promote greater unity across the continent - she said smacking stopped the country evolving into a more respectful society.

She said a ban on smacking was crucial when "protecting the physical and psychological integrity of women and children at home".

"A legal ban is not a crusade against parents: it is the definite push that society needs to start resorting to non-violent and more efficient forms of discipline," she wrote.

"A legal ban neither erodes parental authority nor questions the need for discipline. It just challenges the use of violence.

"I firmly believe that the existence of a legal defence for parents who 'reasonably chastise' their children effectively halts the evolution towards a society more respectful of children's rights and parents' potential to improve their parental skills."

In March, Schools Secretary Ed Balls stated his decision to close a legal loophole whereby adults working in part-time education settings in England, including religious lessons taught in madrassas, could smack children.

But his intention has been put on hold, because of the election.

Smacking was already banned in state and private schools and nurseries, but this had not covered educational settings where lessons were taught for fewer than 12.5 hours per week.

(15) Interview with Israel Shamir on sex & discipline in high schools of the Soviet Union - Peter Myers, January 17, 2011

Traditional Christianity has tried to stop teenagers from engaging in sex; "no sex outside marriage" was its mantra.

But the erosion of traditional beliefs has made this position difficult to hold. Sex has become an act of rebellion against authority.

Our teenagers have adopted the easy-sex habits of the Trobriand Islanders studied by Malinowski. I myself spent some time in a similar culture, amongst the Aroma tribe of Papua New Guinea, in 1972-3. They were three days east of Port Moresby by ocean-going canoe (double-hulled, made from two huge hollowed-out tree trunks, powered by outboard motor).

Shamir had written that Soviet teenagers also engaged in sex. The question I put to him was whether this led to rebellion in the classroom. The following interchange starts with his article "Winnie the Pooh", then proceeds to an email exchange.

The problem may not be early sex per se, but the anarchism that's associated with it in the West.

We should learn from the SU case, because in both the early SU and the current West, the same Trotskyist destructive forces are/were at work. ==

Winnie the Pooh on Immigration and Race

By Israel Shamir

http://www.israelshamir.net/English/immigration.htm

A couple of Ukrainians are examining some graffiti: Kick a kike and save Russia! One Ukrainian says to the other 'Great idea! But who wants to save Russia?' ...

In the Soviet Russia of my youth, a young man courting a girl from a different neighbourhood had a better than even chance of being beaten up by the local boys. There was no ethnic, racial, religious or even social difference between the two neighbourhoods; the boys from block A did not think they are inherently better than boys from block B; they were simply defending their access to 'their own' girls. This protectionism was not extreme: a serious relationship or marriage across an arbitrary territorial border was possible, but the light flirt and easy sex (and sex was quite easy under the socialist regime) was limited to one's own neighbourhood. Foreigners, that is boys of different ethnicity and origin, were no exception to the locals-only rule. A long-term settler of any stripe would be eventually accepted as a homeboy, but short-term visitors were always 'foes' and were treated accordingly. It is reasonable that today's youngsters act protectively towards 'their own' females, or 'their own' jobs. They also have to make a living, and the idealistic groups who hand control over to transients die out quickly. ... ==

From: info info <info@israelshamir.net> Date: 26.11.2010 06:35 PM
Subject: Re: SU: were parents allowed to smack children?

> You were telling me that school-children in the SU were well-behaved.

> Were parents allowed to smack children?
> Was there any law against it as there is here?

Peter, boys were thrashed by their father's belt! Smacking was for girls!

From: Israel Adam Shamir <info@israelshamir.net> Date: 27.11.2010 12:27 PM
Subject: Re: SU: were parents allowed to smack children?

> How was discipline maintained in schools?

> Was a cane used at times, or a strap? If not, then how?

> Of course, in the West since the 60s/70s
> movement, discipline has been more difficult
> because of the "youth rebellion".

> I hear that this didn't happen in the East bloc
> - except in dissident circles.

Well, in the USSR in schools there was no physical punishment, no cane, no strap not anything. This was a prerogative of parents. I encountered caning when my sons studied in English (actually Scottish) school in Jaffa.

We were quite obedient kids, studied well, and behaved not too bad - we could be kicked out of the school with great ease, and then a boy would have to go to work and study in the evening school. In those days unemployment was punished by forced labour :-) ==

Peter Myers to Israel Shamir
Israel,

> we could be kicked out of the school
> with great ease, and then a boy would
> have to go to work and study in the
> evening school.

At what ages might they go to work? As young as 14? 12? What sort of work, and under what supervision?

It sounds much better than what we have here. After a year of work, a boy might be ready to return to school. Was that possible?

In the liberalized West, kids are encouraged to rebel. Hollywood abets it. Sex is one of the means of rebelling (drugs too). So having sex becomes an act of rebellion.

Surely this creates havoc in classrooms. Even by age 18, many kids have learned nothing. This is a stupid system, bad for kids & their teachers too; but any change - such as making those kids go to work - would be resisted by the Trotskyist/Anarchist teachers' unions (& the Trotskyist Resistance Youth groups).

> In those days unemployment was punished by forced labour :-)

Sent to remote areas? Do you mean the gulag? Or was there another kind? Surely the gulag was for prisoners only? ==

From: Israel Adam Shamir <info@israelshamir.net> Date: 27.11.2010 08:08 PM
Subject: Re: SU: were parents allowed to smack children?

There was a big system of employment for youth; after 14, a child could be an apprentice and learn a profession. Parallel to proper schools there was a system of schools for working youth. Work was not considered a failure - actually in days of my youth many blue collar jobs were considered romantic and appealing; electrics who worked on high installations were as romantic as mountaineers.

A child was supposed to study and/or work. Otherwise he and his parents would get into trouble. For failing to work and study, a young man after 15 could be placed into care; told to get employment. Sometimes he or she could be sent to 101 km - i.e. to a village or town distanced by at least 100 km from the provincial capital (or from Moscow). This was usually done in case of bad behaviour. No, they would not be imprisoned, but watched by police and told to go and work and study.

Sex was not a means for rebellion: it was quite easily available after age of 14. After all, sex is natural. There waas no sex for money, however, or for favours as the society was very egalitarian.

Peter Myers to Israel Shamir <info@israelshamir.net>
Israel,

Did couples in the USSR cohabit (unmarried) - as they do in the West these days?

I think I asked you if there was much homosexuality, and that you said no. But can I ask you again?

Was there a homosexual subculture? ==

From: Israel Shamir <adam@israelshamir.net> Date: 01.12.2010 07:50 PM
Subject: Re: SU: were parents allowed to smack children?

Peter, cohabitation was not too popular, because it was impossible (almost) even to stay in an hotel unless married. Married folk got apartments, too! And for free.

As for homosexuals, they were associated in our mind with criminal underworld subculture, something that is done in jails. Much later, in 80s, things began to change, and there was Sergey Parajanov etc.

From: Israel Shamir <adam@israelshamir.net> Date: 11.12.2010 01:09 AM
Subject: Re: SU: were parents allowed to smack children?

Peter,
so sorry about answering it just now - was too busy. Yes, there were many  single mothers, esp in my generation - fathers were killed in the war, or  run away, or whatever. My mother was "single mother" since I was 3 till I  was 8 - my father was in a labour camp. Single mothers' lot was better in  the USSR than anywhere: kindergartens where children were fed and provided  from 7 am to 7 pm. They still exist in Russia and are almost free. Housing  was free, too - but a single mother would have a better chance to get a room  in a shared apt.

From: Israel Shamir <adam@israelshamir.net> To: peter.myers@mailstar.net, IRINA MALENKO <malenko@btinternet.com> Date: 12.12.2010 10:24 PM
Subject: Re: SU: were parents allowed to smack children?

> Thanks. Little details like that fill in one's picture.
>
> Can I suggest that you write an essay about life in the SU?

My memory is too vague. But I'll introduce you to Ira Malenko, who wrote a
lot about Soviet life - mainly in Russian, but in English too! Irina, will
you send Peter some of your pretty descriptions of Soviet life?

{I did not hear from her}

(16) Universities destroy knowledge

From: Paul de Burgh-Day <pdeburgh@harboursat.com.au> Date: 30.07.2010 02:38 AM

http://www.breakfornews.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4892

Just look at us. Everything is backwards; everything is upside down.
Doctors destroy health.
Lawyers destroy justice.
Universities destroy knowledge.
Governments destroy freedom.
The major media destroy information.
And religions destroy spirituality."

- Michael Ellner & Tom Di Fernando

Dr. Michael Ellner is a therapeutic hypnosis specialist.

(17) Psychic Healing: a mental attitude of health, strength and fearlessness is the key to physical health

From: David West <dgwest7@gmail.com> Date: 16.01.2011 04:12 AM

On the natural healing front, I would like to introduce your readers to Yogi Ramacharaka. who wrote his books about 100 years ago.

Psychic Healing is particularly interesting, and can be read along with other Ramacharaka books at the link provided.

http://dgwa1.fortunecity.com/spirit/PsychicHealing/psychic-healing.htm

== http://dgwa1.fortunecity.com/spirit/PsychicHealing/psychic-healing---chapter-15.htm

THE SCIENCE OF PSYCHIC HEALING

BY YOGI RAMACHARAKA  

CHAPTER XV  SELF-SUGGESTION

"As a man thinketh in his heart so is he," is an old saying the truth of which becomes more and more apparent to us each year. In the chapter in which we showed the effect of the mind on the body you will notice that the majority of the physical troubles brought about by thought-influence were brought about by the thought of the person themselves by self-suggestion, so to speak. A man's physical health is largely a matter of his self-suggestion. If he maintains a mental attitude of health, strength and fearlessness, he manifests accordingly. And if he goes about with a mind filled with ideas and thoughts of a depressing nature his body will likewise respond.

Fear is the great cause of disease. Fear acts as a poison upon the physical system, and its effects are manifest in many directions. Remove fear and you have removed the cause of the trouble, and the symptoms will gradually disappear.

But all this we have stated elsewhere and this book must be a book of practice, rather than of theory* The question is how may one treat himself, or herself, by self-suggestion.

The answer is quite simple it is that the person may give himself just the suggestions that he would give a patient, following the advice and instructions given in the last chapter. The "I" part of you may give suggestions to that part of the mind that runs the physical organism and manages the body from cell to organ. These suggestions will be taken and acted upon if given with sufficient earnestness. Just as people may make themselves sick by improper self-suggestions, so may they restore themselves to health by the proper suggestions given in the same manner.

There is no mystery about this it is in accordance with a well established psychological law.

The best way for you to start in a course of self-suggestion for yourself, presuming that you need the same, is to read carefully our book "Hatha Yoga" which contains practical instruction and information about "Right Living." Then after having acquired the plan of right living start in to practice right thinking. Right thinking consists in maintaining the proper mental attitude of cheerfulness and fearlessness. These two things are a battery of force.

If you have imperfect health rest assured that it is caused by the violation of some natural law. You may discover what this violated natural law is by reference to "Hatha Yoga," and then it becomes your duty to correct the habit and restore natural functioning by self-suggestions ox right thinking.

In nine cases out of ten you will find that the root of the trouble lies in improper nutrition and imperfect elimination. You don't believe this, you say! Well, then, let us tell you your symptoms and see if they do not come out about right to fit your case

First, you have a poor appetite and imperfect digestion dyspepsia or indigestion. Then you are constipated, and if a woman yon have scanty and irregular menstruation. Then your hands and feet are cold, denoting imperfect circulation. Then your eyesight and hearing is affected you have ringing in the ears and cloudy vision. Your taste is affected your smell is also poor and you are liable to have symptoms of catarrh. But your sense of feeling is not poor - it is abnormally sensitive, and you are called "nervous." You do not get a good night's sleep and you feel used up all the time. Your skin is colorless and your cheeks pale. Your lips and finger nails lack the rosy color of health. And so on.

Now does this not fit your case? Isn't it queer how we have diagnosed your complaint without having ever seen you, or known of you? But this is no miracle, we assure you we have merely recited the symptoms arising from what may be called a typical case of malnutrition and imperfect elimination. And the cause of these symptoms lies in the two things named. Then the removal of the cause lies in a correction of bad habits of living and bad habits of thinking. And "Hatha Yoga" will give you the habits of right living, and self-suggestion will aid you in right thinking and the speedy removal of the trouble.

Treat yourself According to the lines of the General Treatment given under the head of Suggestive Treatments in the last chapter. Make the treatments vigorous just as earnest as if you were treating somebody else instead of yourself. And you will get wonderful results.

See yourself in your "mind's eye" as you wish, yourself to be. Then start in to think of yourself as being that, and then live as the healthy man or woman should do. Then talk up to yourself and tell your instinctive mind what you expect it to do for you and insist upon it taking hold of the physical body and building up new cells and tissue and discarding the old worn out and diseased material. And it will obey you like a well trained assistant or helper and you will begin to manifest health and strength.

There is no special mystery about this self-suggestion. It is merely your "I" telling your instinctive mind to get to work and attend to its affairs properly. And by right living you give the instinctive mind the material with which to work and the conditions conducive to success.

We could fill page after page of this book with "Suggestions" and "Affirmations" for you to use in different complaints. But this is useless. You can make up your own suggestions and affirmations, which will answer just as well as would ours. Just speak up to the instinctive mind just as if it were another person who had charge of your body and tell it what you expect it to do. Do not hesitate about being in earnest about it put some life into your commands. Talk to it in earnest. Say to it "Here, you instinctive mind, I want you to get down to work and manage things better for me. I am tired of this old trouble and I intend to get rid of it. I am eating nourishing food, and my stomach is strong enough to digest it properly, and I insist upon your attending to it right away, now. I am drinking sufficient water to carry off the waste matter from the system and I insist seeing that my bowels move regularly every day. I insist upon your seeing that my circulation is equalized and made normal. I am breathing properly and burning up the waste matter and properly oxygenizing the blood and you must do the rest Get to work get to work. Add to this any instructions that you think well and then see how the instinctive mind will "get down to business." See what we have said on this subject in the chapter on "Thought-Force Healing." Then maintain the proper mental attitude, bracing yourself with strong affirmations until you get things going right. Say to yourself "I am getting strong and well I am manifesting health," etc., etc. Now we have told you how to do it then GET TO WORK AND DO IT!