Viajar gusta cuando vuelves

Antes de llegar a Asia, ya te están timando.
En Myanmar me timan en los bares, en el taxi, en el mercado, en los restaurantes. En España también me timan, pero el timo está legalizado. Aquí el dinero blanco, simplemente, no existe.
He encontrado un respaldo en la cultura birmana con respecto a la crítica mundialmente conocida al acento español al pronunciar la s como e-s. Nosotros decimos "Espein"...pero los de Myanmar dicen "Sepein", que es peor. Digo que es peor, porque lo de España siempre es mejor, o por lo menos yo estoy completamente convencida y si no, ¿por qué no hacen el gesto de toda la vida de decir que no con el dedo índice de lado a lado, y lo han sustituido por el español de 5 lobitos tiene la loba?
Esto es otro mundo.

Unaccustomed Earth- gracias Robin!

"Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same worn-out soil. My children have had other birthplaces, and, so far as their fortunes may be within my control, shall strike their roots into unaccustomed earth."

Khaosan Road

Hospedada en un hotel de esta calle, por recomendación de uno de mis mejores enemigos, aconsejo a cualquier persona a la que visite Bangkok y le guste viajar que NO se hospede aquí y pase por ella el mínimo tiempo imprescindible.
En aproximadamente unos doscientos metros de calle tailandesa, 2 Mc Donalds y un Burguer king. Unos 4 bares por bloque con un guitarrista occidental cantando canciones depresivas con una guitarra acústica. Ni rastro de hippies ni de paz. En su lugar, alemanes, ingleses, australianos, franceses, españoles sentados en sus mesas con unas cervezas kilométricas sentados en sus terrazas y, para darle un poco de ambientillo, 3 ó 4 puestecitos de venta de fruta y pad tai en los que atienden finalmente...sorpresa-sorpresa...¡tailandeses!

Hola Bangkok- malsalama Middle East

Recién llegada a Bangkok. He ido a pedir el visado a la embajada de Myanmar esta mañana, para lo que he cogido el tren, rodeada de tailandeses y tailandesas, yo era la única extranjera.
Sí...se acabaron los burcas, las túnicas, los perfumes fuertes, el humus, el árabe, los bolsos, relojes y gafas de sol despampanantes, la vida de rica enchufada de colegio del emir, los ojos grandes y las barbas arquitectónicas.
Me he mudado a otro mundo de ojos rasgados y gente pequeñita, de sonrisas humildes de oreja a oreja.
En oriente medio era la hermana mediterránea. Ahora, la marciana española.

¿Por qué los adultos no leen más cuentos y los niños periódicos?

Entiendo las dificultades del formato y tipo de vocabulario... únicamente en lo que al periódico se refiere. Sin embargo, me pregunto si no apostaríamos por un mundo mejor si les informáramos más a menudo a nuestros niños el tipo de mundo en el que viven, mientras hiciéramos a nuestros adultos jugar con la imaginación.
Alguien podría decir "¡Pero si los adultos leen novelas!". No es lo mismo escuchar una buena historia, que escuchar esa buena historia acompañada de un gran dibujo. Y si se piensa que los adultos no necesitan este tipo de animación, que revise los números de visita al Reina Sofía, o al Prado (¿SOMOS LOS ADULTOS LOS ÚNICOS CAPACES DE APRECIAR LA CALIDAD DEL ARTE PICTÓRICO?).
Con una buena historia, por otra parte, me refiero a aquella que te haga entender o aprender algo más de ti mimso y de tu evolución, no 4 tomos de novelas interminables que te hagaN, por el contrario, alejarte de tu agonía y la de todos los demás en tu situación. No digo que esto no sea placentero ni necesario, pero no es incompatible.
¡Vamos a contar a los niños que hay guerras, que la gente se muere de hambre de la mitad para abajo, que los hombres pegan a las mujeres, que estamos acabando con el único mundo que tenemos y que el sistema político no funciona!
¡Vamos a contarle a los mayores que existen las hadas, vamos a aconsejarles que miren debajo de los árboles, porque es donde viven los muebles y que dentro de la lámpara hay un genio que cumplirá 3 deseos!
¡A ver si nos sale un mundo mejor!

Qué gracia me hace el artículo 29 del derecho a la educación

Artículo 29 de los Derechos del Niño: La educación del niño deberá estar encaminada a: desarrollar la personalidad, las aptitudes y la capacidad mental y física del niño hasta el máximo de sus posibilidades; Inculcar al niño el respeto de los derechos humanos y las libertades fundamentales y de los principios consagrados en la Carta de las Naciones Unidas; inculcar al niño el respeto de sus padres, de su propia identidad cultural, de su idioma y sus valores, de los valores nacionales del país en que vive, del país de que sea originario y de las civilizaciones distintas de la suya; preparar al niño para asumir una vida responsable en una sociedad libre, con espíritu de comprensión, paz, tolerancia, igualdad de los sexos y amistad entre todos los pueblos, grupos étnicos, nacionales y religiosos y personas de origen indígena; inculcar al niño el respeto del medio ambiente natural.

...sugerencias...

La educación del niño debería estar encaminada a desarrollar la personalidad del niño, las aptitudes y la capacidad mental y física hasta el máximo de posibilidades. Desafortunadamente, la realidad es que está actualmente encaminada a desarrollar las aptitudes requeridas en el currículom, que requieren poco o ningún desarrollo mental más que la respuesta mecánica y un 10% de actividad física. La personalidad, por cierto, así como su desarrollo, nos importa un carajo.

Inculcar al niño el respeto de los derechos humanos y las libertades fundamentales y de los principios consagrados en la Carta de las Naciones Unidas después de 10 años en el colegio y con un peso de media hora semanal, ¡no vayamos a mejorar el mundo en el que vivimos!... Antes de esa edad, lo sentimos mucho, no podemos inculcar a los niños y niñas los derechos humanos, porque los niños pequeños no piensan. Sólo repiten.

...inculcar al niño el respeto de sus padres...porque a los padres no merece la pena ni educarlos, ni inculcarles el respeto a los hijos...

inculcar el respeto de su propia identidad cultural, de su idioma y sus valores, de los valores nacionales del país en que vive (por ejemplo, una buena manera de hacer esto es prohibiendo el burka si no pertenece a la cultura), del país de que sea originario y de las civilizaciones distintas de la suya;

preparar al niño para asumir una vida responsable (responsable aquí tendrá la connotación de sumiso) en una sociedad libre, con espíritu de comprensión (sin información), paz (la intención/espiritu ¡es lo que cuenta!), tolerancia (..sí, es bueno "tolerar" a los que no son como yo. Debemos ser "tolerantes" y no matarlos a todos), igualdad de los sexos (JA-JA-JA) y amistad entre todos los pueblos, grupos étnicos, nacionales y religiosos y personas de origen indígena;

inculcar al niño el respeto del medio ambiente natural (????).

He debido de perderme un capítulo...
?

Un poquito de inspiración para la comunidad educativa

The ideal university would have no formal credits, required courses or degrees. It would serve as an educational retreat where people could explore various subjects, discover their own true interests and identities, and appreciate the joys of learning and the preciousness of life'Abraham Maslow

' Each person's map of the world is as unique as their thumbprint. There are no two people alike...no two people who understand the same sentence the same way...So in dealing with people try not to fit them to your concept of what they should be' Milton Erickson

'People's beliefs about their abilities have a profound effect on those abilities. Ability is not a fixed property; there is a huge variability in how you perform. People who have a sense of self efficacy bounce back from failures; they approach things in terms of how to handle them rather than worrying about what can go wrong'Albert Bandura

“One test of the correctness of educational procedure is the happiness of the child.” Maria Montessori


He who dares to teach must never cease to learn. -- John Cotton Dana

"They may forget what you said, But they will never forget how you made them feel."

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.--Alvin Toffler

"Whether you think you can or think you can't - you are right." - Henry Ford

"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires." - William Ward

"Teaching kids to count is fine, but teaching them what counts is best." - Bob Talbert

Most teachers have little control over school policy or curriculum or choice of texts or special placement of students, but most have a great deal of autonomy inside the classroom. To a degree shared by only a few other occupations, such as police work, public education rests precariously on the skill and virtue of the people at the bottom of the institutional pyramid. ~Tracy Kidder

A good teacher is a master of simplification and an enemy of simplism. ~Louis A. Berman

One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child. ~Carl Jung

There are three good reasons to be a teacher - June, July, and August. ~Author Unknown

“While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about.”

Education is the transmission of civilization.
Will Durant

“Modern cynics and skeptics see no harm in paying those to whom they entrust the minds of their children a smaller wage than is paid to those to whom they entrust the care of their plumbing.”
John F. Kennedy

"An educational system isn't worth a great deal if it teaches young people how to make a living but doesn't teach them how to make a life."
-- Source Unknown

"It is important that students bring a certain ragamuffin, barefoot, irreverence to their studies; they are not here to worship what is known, but to question it."
-- J. Bronowski, The Ascent of Man

"I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think."
-- Socrates

"I am beginning to suspect all elaborate and special systems of education. They seem to me to be built up on the supposition that every child is a kind of idiot who must be taught to think."
-- Anne Sullivan

Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army.
Edward Everett

Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.
Robert Frost

The illiterate of the future will not be the person who cannot read. It will be the person who does not know how to learn.
Alvin Toffler


The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.
Sydney J. Harris

Why should society feel responsible only for the education of children, and not for the education of all adults of every age?
Erich Fromm

Education is...One of the few things a person is willing to pay for and not get.
William Lowe Bryan (1860–1955) 10th president of Indiana University (1902 to 1937).


It is little short of a miracle that modern methods of instruction have not already completely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry…. I believe that one could even deprive a healthy beast of prey of its voraciousness if one could force it with a whip to eat continuously whether it were hungry or not…
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) U.S. physicist

I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education.
Wilson Mizner (1876-1933) American dramatist.

Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.
Oscar Wilde (1856-1900) Irish poet and dramatist. The Critic as Artist.

Education is too important to be left solely to educators.
Francis Keppel (1916–1990) American educator, U.S. Commissioner of Education (1962–1965).

Educators and architects preserve children's freedom.
Amelia Gambetti. (Villetta School- Reggio Emilia, Italy)

'We need a metamorphosis of education - from the cocoon a butterfly should emerge. Improvement does not give us a butterfly only a faster caterpillar.'

'Ten geographers who think the world is flat will tend to reinforce each others errors….Only a sailor can set them straight'. John Ralston Saul, 'Voltaire's Bastards'.

'Those who do nothing are never wrong.' Theodore de Bouville

Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity. ~Aristotle

Too often we give children answers to remember rather than problems to solve. ~Roger Lewin

If the Romans had been obliged to learn Latin, they would never have found time to conquer the world. ~Heinrich Heine

“It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.”

Albert Einstein

“I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.”

Albert Einstein

“If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children.”

Mahatma Gandhi

“Instead of a national curriculum for education, what is really needed is an individual curriculum for every child.”

Charles Handy

“Education is not a product: mark, diploma, job, money in that order; it is a process, a never ending one”

Bel Kaufman

Genuinely excellent education is not restricted to bringing individuals up to a preconceived standard of performance, to "norms"; rather it seeks to encourage each individual to develop standards for himself, to give him a clear perception of all that he might become as well as the opportunity to realize his personal vision. – Talent Development: An Investment in the Nation's Future

When everyone thinks alike, no one thinks very much. – Walter Lippmann

The biggest mistake of past centuries in teaching has been to treat all students as if they were variants of the same individual and thus to feel justified in teaching them all the same subjects the same way. – Howard Gardner

Every child deserves an equal opportunity to struggle. – Mary Slade

The books that help you the most are those which make you think the most. – Theodore Parker. The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them. – Mark Twain



Of all the civil rights for which the world has struggled and fought for 5,000 years, the right to learn is undoubtedly the most fundamental... The freedom to learn... has been bought by bitter sacrifice. And whatever we may think of the curtailment of other civil rights, we should fight to the last ditch to keep open the right to learn, the right to have examined in our schools not only what we believe, but what we do not believe; not only what our leaders say, but what the leaders of other groups and nations, and the leaders of other centuries have said. We must insist upon this to give our children the fairness of a start which will equip them with such an array of facts and such an attitude toward truth that they can have a real chance to judge what the world is and what its greater minds have thought it might be. – W.E.B. DuBois

There is nothing unequal as the equal treatment of unequals. – Aristotle

Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation. – John F. Kennedy