Introducing Strange Powers of the Mind

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With so many things in bloom here in rural upstate New York, I figured it’s time for some new Ideas with Math Mojo.

One of them is the addition of a new segment, called, “Strange Powers of the Mind.” Look for a lot more weird stuff like this at Math Mojo. Sign up for the Math Mojo Monthly (”Comes out Quarterly, Mostly!”) Newsletter to keep up with the additions.

The whole “Math Ed” thing is getting pretty stale to me. You keep on hearing the same old issues: No Child Left Behind, standards, curriculum, tests, grades, schools; it’s all getting a bit boring. The bean-counters run everything, and I’m tired of doing battle with them. They are not worthy opponents.

I’ve got to admit, Good old Professor Homunculus couldn’t give a rusty goddamn about anybody’s grades. I just wish the whole school issue would go away. It makes drones out of even very good people. I love math. I love playing with my mind, and I love sharing that with people. That’s what this site needs to focus on.

Curriculi! Curricula!

It depresses the hell out of me to read or hear about homeschoolers looking for curriculums. I kind of figured that anyone who homeschooled did it because they had something to teach and some way to teach it that was better than the crap they teach in school. So why do homeschoolers yearn from some packaged program to teach their kids math? Read books! Buy them books! Take them to the library! They’ll learn to read, and they’ll learn math.

I’m heartened by the “afterschooling” movement, though. It seems like those parents get it that school might be a “minimum basis” to be built upon at home. Leave the curriculum in school, and do weird stuff after school. The world is full of weird stuff. Most of the curriculum-based stuff is for low-paid drones anyway.

Show me a kid who excels in school, and I’ll show you a kid who learned a lot of stuff at home or elsewhere outside the school.

I do find some hope with the “unschooling” crowd. Lots of “testicular fortitude” there. Google it.

“Yes! We have no Arcana”

One of the greatest reasons that I dislike schools is because not only do thet tend to dumb-down even the average student, but they also proscribe so many “rules” that are useless and counter-productive. They try to protect children from bad influences, like real literature or science. (”We’ll not be having any of that “Catcher in the Rye” stuff here, thank you! And you can keep your evolution heresy, too! We like our education unsullied by thought, thank you very much!”)

I’ve been working on a book, called “Joe Archimedes - Hard-Boiled Substitute Teacher” for years, one vignette at a time. It’s about the life of an itinerant substitute teacher who truly loves to help people develop their minds. (Imagine that!)

Joe is constantly faced with an uphill battle against absurd bureaucratic hurdles. But none of them can compare with something I read about today.

There was a story from Florida (apparently “The Doofus State” - no offense intended to the exceptions) about a substitute teacher who was fired for, get this - wizardry. Christ, it’s hard to make this stuff up!

Some knuckleheads at Rushe Middle School in Pasco County fired a substitute teacher because he did a magic trick in class, and then they tried to weasel their way out of it by trumping up some other stuff. Please read that article if you live anywhere near a public school, and find out what can actually happen when administrators run one.

Don’t forget to read the comments. At the time of this posting, there are 303 comments, and ALL of them are negative comments against public schools. Don’t feel safe if you don’t live in Florida, either. Any state who’s name has a vowel in it is in danger.

So, what to do?

Well, you may have noticed that this blog and it’s companion website at MathMojo.com is less than professional-looking. That’s because it’s a one-man operation. I make the stuff up, write it, format it, make the videos, format the booklets, self-publish, do most of the back-end programming, and much more.

It’s fun, but it’s not polished, and it’s making no money. Why is that? Because education of our young people is a dead-end market. People will spend money on some bullshit (”oooh, he said a bad word!”) toy, but no-one is really going to invest in their children’s education.

The more that I’m involved in education, the more I notice that not enough people care enough about their kids to spend time at sites like this one (obviously you are an exception, because, well, you’re here aren’t you?)

But I’ve got to attract a larger readership. I don’t think people inherently mean to neglect their children’s education; they just don’t know any better. It’s time to reach out to them. So I’ll be putting up more weird stuff. Stuff that people like. Funny, entertaining, and somewhat meaningful. But it’s not going to be slick. And it’s not going to be pandering to the whitebread crowd.

I hope you can take that, because your children can. This site is not going to be the super-huge flat-screen HTDV “entertainment-center,” - it’s going to be more like the carton it came in - you know, the one that your children actually want to play in, instead of watching “Captain Jackass” sponsored by The Cosmo-Demonic Frooty-Sugarbomb Company, or whatever.

If I don’t worry about making it slick, I’ll put up more content. Stuff you can use, and stuff that will amuse you. This way, I’ll get to play with my ADD instead of trying to control it. The new material is going to be called “Strange Powers.” Yowza!

To that end, I’ll be featuring more things that actually engage your mind. (Imagine that!) And I may actually occasionally try to sell you something. BEWARE!

Just to be clear - “Strange Powers” do not refer to “paranormal” or “psychic” baloney. They refer to uncommon, yet valuable abilities you can develop yourself, like mental-math, speed-reading, developing a high-powered memory, playing the flute with your nose - stuff like that. You’re dealing with a magician here. Magicians are the best skeptics there are. We know what’s bullshit, and we use it for purely entertainment and enlightenment purposes, not to coerce anyone into believing in mysticism. If you want superstition, you have to go elsewhere.

I think you’re going to like what the site will become. I’m interested in your input, too. There are going to be some calls for reader-input in the near future.

Let me know what you think! Leave a comment.