MONDAY, FEB 20, 2023: NOTE TO FILE
Gaia Education Course Comments
My comments on course in ecological design apart from the course content
Tests are to help students assess their progress in the study of _____________, an essential function. Or that's what I used to think.
There were no tests, quizzes, or assignments other than to post to the forum at least once per module (five modules). The final report can be in any format, including in the form of a 15 minute MP3 file that one student submitted. Reflections are personal and so uncorrectable. I think of Alice and the race where everyone runs in a circle and all win, and all must have prizes.
It might be possible to pay for the course, never post to the forum, submit no final report in any form, and fail the class. I was not able to assess my progress in the study of the Gaia Education vision of ecological design. I could read and view videos included, and follow links (I did). Apart from links and videos, no claims were cited, so I could only 'do my own research' as Q-Anons encourage.
I could have opened each lesson, scrolled to the end, and clicked 'completed'. I could have posted to the forum and have done the final report exactly as I did without considering any claims, reading or watching anything. I did read and watch, but there was no hint that critical concerns would be appropriate. Questioning the principles of Permaculture (and Gaia Education materials) would be apostasy such as the Church in the Middle Ages would view the questioning of their verities. Belief-based claims were made. Help believing them would be forthcoming, but the outcome would be predetermined. To not believe in claims and focus on citing evidence and endeavoring to interpret it was not part of the Wittgensteinian language game being played.
I wondered if a high school administrator, asked by a teacher to approve this course as an AP class, would allow it. I decided I would not, that the course and material constituted academic fraud. If as a student I learned something apart from the consensus narrative of the Gaia Education educators who developed the content, belief-based assertions all, with assistance of two 'facilitators' having a background in permaculture, then such learning was an aside. Completing the course was trivial, not even busywork, but literally no effort was called for or expected.
The 'academic fraud' thought may seem extreme. At the end of the fifth module, before starting the final report with two weeks to submit it, I received an email, the first, informing me that if I completed the social, ecological (the one I'm taking), worldview, and economic 'dimensions' and completed the Design Studio project, that my work would, if I had a BS/BA degree, qualify me for a Masters degree, or if I already had a Masters, taking the other four dimensions and typing a dissertation would qualify my for a PhD (in sustainability) from Ubiquity University.
More money, write a pretend dissertation. Get degree. Contribute to the failure of (get paid to enable the dissolution of) modern techno-industrial society and continued degradation of a planetary life-support system (sustainably of course), for as long as possible until we can't.
Sorry, but this is fraud. Ask posterity. It is looking more and more like the movie Idiocracy was a documentary. This is one face of modern education. I noted, as a student in the late 1970s, that higher education was in decline. In the 1990s I happened to be on the campus of a liberal arts college (UCSD which likely had STEM offerings, but no evidence I saw) and I spent an hour or two wandering about reading the content of message boards that included course offerings. 'O Brave new world that has such people in it.' That the education system should be dissolved is to consider, i.e. bring about the dissolution of the universities as soon as possible:
On March 6, 2023 I received an email notifying me the course was over with a link to my 'Letter of Acknowledgement'. The link to my letter was broken. Par for the course. My Final Report received no grade. In Wonderland, the race in a circle means all win and all must have prizes, so grades are like so old school. Of note, there was zero comments from students or the two facilitators, not corrections, no feedback, no evidence anyone even glanced over the pretty graphics. If I finish the four other courses and write a pretend dissertation, I would get a MA degree. My guess is that Forest Gump could easily earn a PhD (after his MA). I suppose I could test my guess instead of leaving my heirs a few thousand more in pretend money, but I have little time and perhaps better things to do.
The Gaia Education Design for Sustainability or GEDS Overview
The Gaia Education Ecological Design Modules
My Final Report [the H.L. Mencken quote at the start sums up my view of my design and all the other designs (that might work but being matter/energy blind could not be scaled up) touted in the course modules/lessons].
My look at schools of sustainability in 2016
James Lovelock offered a different Gaia Education:
'We are not yet sufficiently intelligent to control or regulate ourselves or the Earth.' —James Lovelock.
'Those who fail to see that population growth and climate change are two sides of the same coin are either ignorant or hiding from the truth. These two huge environmental problems are inseparable and to discuss one while ignoring the other is irrational.' —James Lovelock.
‘It’s time for the dissolution of the universities, they are very like the Church was way back in the Middle Ages. They’ve got too comfortable and cosy, and they’re not really doing their job.... The only real purpose of [groups] is to select the date for their next meeting.... Too many Greens are not just ignorant of science; they hate science.... In 50 years’ time, which is far beyond anything I would care to predict, if there are people sitting around like we’re sitting now, I think they’ll have gone a few stages further in … accepting that the planet’s alive [thinking in systems], and using that in their ordinary conversation. But I don’t think it’ll be very big scientifically. Think of Darwin and natural selection. Fifty years after he introduced it, it was hardly mentioned at all.’ —James Lovelock
The email:
Are you planning to get a Masters or PhD? Now you can! Gaia Education and Ubiquity University Partnership
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Wed, Feb 15, 8:20 PM (4 days ago)
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Summerhall, 1 Summerhall, Edinburgh, EH9 1PL Scotland
Company Limited by Guarantee Registered in Scotland No 353967
Scottish Charity No SC040839
And there was a follow up which I didn't open, but to copy and paste, I suppose I could:
Finished GEDS Eric? Want to do a masters?
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Sat, Feb 18, 5:06 AM (1 day ago)
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