Dis-establishing society.

WHY WE MUST DISESTABLISH SCHOOL by Ivan Illich

"Many students, especially those who are poor, intuitively know what the schools do for them. They school them to confuse process and substance. Once these become blurred, a new logic is assumed: the more treatment there is, the better are the results; or, escalation leads to success. The pupil is thereby "schooled" to confuse teaching with learning, grade advancement with education, a diploma with competence, and fluency with the ability to say something new. His imagination is "schooled" to accept service in place of value. Medical treatment is mistaken for health care, social work for the improvement of community life, police protection for safety, military poise for national security, the rat race for productive work. Health, learning, dignity, independence, and creative endeavor are defined as little more than the performance of the institutions which claim to serve these ends, and their improvement is made to depend on allocating more resources to the management of hospitals, schools, and other agencies in question."

We could go one step further and say that War is mistaken for a peace making... the ultimate contradiction. Who would have thought that we could be dumbed down so much by society that we could believe that lie!!!

Link to full text of Deschooling society by Ivan Illich http://reactor-core.org/deschooling.html

Sick Stephanie

Today I am having a lazy - catch up on all my computer work - day.

For the past 3 days I have had a nasty gastro virus that has been going around. Nausea and vomiting, rank up next to child birth on my list of "most painful things in life". I absolutely hate being nauseas.

So after 3 days of rolling around in bed feeling very sorry for myself (because the rest of my house hold are not good at the pity thing) I am having a quite day... while David busily races around and does all the cleaning, shopping, cooking, child care... and repairs some plasterwork that we knocked down during our renovations!!

I must admit i feel a bit guilty. I have missed 2 days of work and have not offered to lift a hand to help around the house.

But i am enjoying today. Feeling a lot better (still cant look at a piece of bread) and happy to be left alone to catch up with all my emails.

I will make up for it tomorrow. Back into the swing of parenting and home duties.

On the way to self sustainability

This week i attended a course on grafting fruit trees. I was skeptial about going as i had looked into grafting before and found it difficult to understand. But my girlfriend was going so i tagged along. It was great!! Grafting is actually very simple and these folk explained it very clearly.

I feel like i have taken a giant leap forward in my endeavour to be more self sufficient.

I have placed a link on permaculture and the peak oil crisis for those that are interested in reading more - I have to dash as the natives (2 teen boys) are growing restless (always seems to happen when i sit down at the computer!

Transition

I have been feeling really unsettled this week. I spoke to a friend who mentioned that she was also feeling the same, and have just logged into one of my yahoo groups to find a string of posts on this discussion. My friend thinks that it must be the phase of the moon and also possibly the cold winter days, causing us all to be more inward looking and unsettled.

For me this has been going on for more than just the current moon cycle. I just feel bored and lost. I feel like i need a new project, but then i realise that this wont really solve my problems.

Im not sure if it is just the waiting... waiting to go off to Asia... waiting for David to find a new job... waiting to see if our car is going to up and die (its on its last legs and each week we hope it will chug along for a little longer).... waiting to find out if the corporate take-over goes ahead at my work and the Adelaide office (where i work!) is closed down.... and waiting to see what each week brings for me as a parent, what new frustrations and challenges the boys will throw at me.

Writing all this here has made be realise what a stressful spot we are in at the moment. My usual response to stress is to up and move. Move away to find a better job... post pone our holiday and buy a new car instead.... sell up our house, buy a bus and travel Australia so we connect as a family again.

While all of that might sound fun, I assume this time is just a transition and all the waiting will come to an end with something new and wonderful - eventually, but for now the uncertainty is driving me mad and I am inclined to take charge of the situation with some radical new venture that will put an end to the discomfort.... dispite the fact that such action has not always been useful to me in the past.....

So for now we wait... and write in this blog

Thailand here we come

We have been busily planning our holiday to Thailand this last couple of weeks. We live on Sept 12. Our itinerary is as follows

Arrive Kuala Lumpur - Zoo & Bird/Deer park etc (2 days)
Train to Butterworth and Ferry to Penang - George town (3 days)
Train to Bangkok - floating markets kings palace etc (2 days)
Chaing Mai - including 2 day trek and elephant experience (5 days total)
Chaing Rai - Akha village Ikoh San Yuek, Hilltribe Developments and Welfare Center in Amphoe Mae Chan and Mai Sai (Myanmar border) (4 days?)
Golden triangle - Chiang Khong cross Laos border to Huay Xai - 2 day slow boat journey to Luang Prabang
Luang Prabang - Pak-Ou Caves and waterfalls, Temples, weavers, revolutionary museum etc
(2 days)
Travel to Vientianne - sightseeing 2 days
Train from Nong Khai to Bangkok - for some shopping before heading home.

We are away for 4 weeks in total. I was hoping to do some Wwoofing but our time is short and David is not keen to work during his holiday - which is completely understandable.

It is quite daunting looking at all the places we are craming into our 4 weeks, but there will be a few quiet days along the way - like the 2 day boat trip in Laos.

Cant wait to start packing!

money troubles

We are in the process of buying a new car at the moment and i am feeling so stressed. Our old car is quickly fading away and we need to act now.... but i am so worried about the finances. I am mindful that we only have a few more years when the kids will be home full time and so we want to get a car we can travel around in - interstate holidays and the like - and know we will make it to our destinations and back without any issues. But then there is the money... Having 2 pre-teen boys keeps the bank balance drained most weeks. Its all about choices i suppose - what we need to give up in order to afford a nice new (used) car.

I probably just need to rethink our spending strategy. We need this new car and I just have to accept that rather than stressing about it. Maybe i can pick up a few more shifts at work??

reflecting

Stephanie: Today i have been considering my life. I would love to be content with just parenting my boys and homeschooling happily in our little community.... But I feel there is so much more to me, to life, to being a responsible participant on this earth. I want to be involved in peaceful solutions for the earth. I want to toss around great ideas and see them fulfilled..... I want to move and renovate and grow gardens and help my neighbours with their pergola and go out for coffee..... and in all the little decisions i faced today I wondered whether it is better to be content and struggling, or to go with the flow but do it tough (if you undertand that ??!!).

Who knows... for now i will just reflect.

Christmas 2005 with my mum, hubby and kids.