July 26, 2008

YOUTH CRIME

Posted in Education, Guyana, Messages, Philosophy tagged , , , , , , , , , , , at 7:21 am by randallbutisingh

Randall Butisingh – Newspaper Interview: Question 10 of 10.

YOUTH CRIME

Randall Butisingh was recently asked a number of questions by a newspaper feature writer. This was the tenth of ten questions with the answer. We will feature these questions and answers in ten Blog entries. This is therefore the last of these ten Blog entries.

Question: Today’s Guyana is seeing many young boys turning to crime. What is your advice to young boys?

Answer: It is interesting that both your first and last question to me deals with youth. In answering your first question on “What advice I had for young people?, I made the following statement:

“So it will hardly be doing any good just talking to the youth of today, as it is so difficult to get them to listen. As elders we also give them mixed messages as we do not practice what we preach. Another reason is, that in the majority of cases, they have been so badly taught from the beginning by parents, and later by a system that paid no regard to the real purpose of education which is, “to fit the child to live and to live with”. ‘To live with’ means: That he will be instructed with the knowledge and skills that will enable him to make a living. ‘To live with’ means: That he must possess the ability to relate socially in a way that will help to bring peace and harmony in his home and community. He must be courteous, kind, willing to listen to others, be a good friend and always willing to help in time of need.”

This statement embodies my answer to this question on crime by youth in Guyana. I no longer live in Guyana but I do read the news reports. I see that many of the young people have resorted to criminal activity, sometimes using guns and other arms to get what they want. Youth crime is worldwide, so Guyana is not unique. I believe that an idle lifestyle is being propagated by television, movies and videos as well as games, whereby youth become immersed in the negative aspects of life. Rather than being producers and creators they are just consumers for the latest shoes, cell phones or gadgets for music or videos. Audio seems to be their focus. Reading is minimal, and knowledge of history and culture ignored. There is little understanding of what real life is all about and we see grown men today “graduates” of the youth culture that is built around an unreal existence of idleness, bravado, crime, incarceration and death.

The youth quickly realize that they cannot get the expensive things they see advertised or worn or used by people with the means to do so. In this materialistic world it is quite easy to become a petty criminal if the opportunity arises. Moving to a life of crime becomes is perceived as an “easy life” without hard work and sacrifice to achieve personal goals. In Guyana, the excuse of many is that there are few jobs that pay well and that therefore youths revert to crime. Few jobs or poverty is nothing new as I grew up relatively poor myself. I believe that this is a “cop out”, and if youths looked toward education and self learning they would see and realize that they could eventually achieve whatever they wanted and become successful members of society.

There is so much to learn, and there is so much to do. Start by farming a little plot, and being more self-sufficient. I started to work at the age of 15. As a youth I farmed and fish and even made my own clothes, and eked out a living when my parents were on hard times. Some may say “Oh! That was then!” I can assure you that reality is still now for many Guyanese in the countryside, who have a respect for farming and self-sufficiency. Guyana has the land and food can be cheap. Get skills and an education and with that anyone can make a living in Guyana or anywhere else in the world.

Turning to crime is negative and only leads to self-destruction, as crime is unsustainable over time. A good education, honesty and integrity are lifelong investment in oneself. You do not have to go to a formal school to learn. Make a commitment to lifelong learning and self improvement and you will be a success.

Note:Answer to question 10 which was partly answered in question 1 by Randall Butisingh was suggested by Cyril Bryan, my technical partner ,and was endorsed in its entirety.

-Randall Butisingh

July 9, 2008

CHILDREN

Posted in Education, Philosophy, Religion, Thoughts tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , at 1:54 am by randallbutisingh

THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

CHILDREN

“A baby is God’s opinion that life should go on.” —  Carl Sandburg

“The object of teaching a child is to enable him to get along without a teacher.” —  Elbert Hubbard

“There are perhaps no days of our childhood we lived so fully as those we spent with a favorite book.” —  Marcel Proust

“If there is anything we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves.” “Children are educated by what the grown-up is and not by his talk.” —  Carl Jung

“How is it that little children are so intelligent and men so stupid? It must be education that does it.” —  Alexandre Dumas

“All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”  —  Pablo Picasso

“Kids are cute, babies are cute, puppies are cute. The little things are cute. See, nature did this on purpose so that we would want to take care of our young. Made them cute. Tricked us. Then gradually they get older and older, until one day your mother sits you down and says, ‘You know, I think you’re ugly enough to get your own apartment.'” —  Cathy Ladman

“Have children while your parents are still young enough to take care of them.”–  Rita Rudner

“Educate your children to self-control, to the habit of holding passion and prejudice and evil tendencies subject to an upright and reasoning will, and you have done much to abolish misery from their future and crimes from society.” —  Benjamin Franklin

May 11, 2008

THOMAS JEFFERSON – Quotations

Posted in History, Philosophy, Politics, Thoughts tagged , , , , , , , , , , at 5:19 am by randallbutisingh

THOMAS JEFFERSON – Quotations

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”

“The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.”

“War is an instrument entirely inefficient toward redressing wrong; and multiplies, instead of indemnifying losses.”

“A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public debt…If the game runs sometime against us at home, we must have patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at stake.”

“The flames kindled on the Fourth of July, 1776, have spread over too much of the globe to be extinguished by the feeble engines of despotism; on the contrary, they will consume these engines and all who work them.”

“I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power.” –

“No man will ever bring out of the Presidency the reputation which carries him into it. To myself, personally, it brings nothing but increasing drudgery and daily loss of friends.”

“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”

— Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826). Third USA President 1801-1809

May 8, 2008

INTERVIEW WITH TWO STUDENT DOCTORS, 2001

Posted in Education, Guyana, Philosophy, Poetry, Religion, Thoughts tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , at 2:41 am by randallbutisingh

THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

INTERVIEW WITH TWO STUDENT DOCTORS, 2001

This is an interview I had with two student doctors in the USA, who interviewed me in 2001 when I was 89 years old. — Randall Butisingh

Question; How have you kept your health over the Years?

Answer: My state of health is not fortuitous. Apart from being born into a strong, healthy family, I had a good start from babyhood. I was breast fed from for many months. My parents had a small dairy, and as a child, I was given milk fresh from the udders of the cows which were grass fed. I liked fruits and in my days as a child, we had them in abundance. I exercised a great deal during my life; I ran, I swam, I boxed, I played cricket, I did acrobatics. I remember as a child, I never liked to be a mere spectator in a sporting event. I always liked to be a participator. Throughout the years, after surviving all the childhood illnesses, except typhoid and whooping cough, which I never contracted, I believe I built up a good immune system.

Mentally, I improved with old age. At eighty-nine, I think clearer, learn faster and remember better. My eyesight has very much improved after cataract operations so I can do much reading and writing. At present, I read Oriental philosophy and Comparative religion. I read and write poetry. I am interested in music also and did some practice on the violin at the age of seventy-five. I started to play the recorder (German flute), only a few months ago and have acquired some degree of proficiency. I can also translate music to accommodate it on the recorder.

Apart from being a teacher, which I am all my life, with a few breaks in between where I garnered good experiences in other occupations, I am a learner . I learned shorthand and typewriting, Hindi and Urdu while at school and the Arabic Script after I was eighty. I believe that when one stops learning, he ceases to live, and it is never too late to learn.

Question: Whom do you admire most in life? How do you feel that influences you in how you live your life?

Answer: The person I admire most in my life is Mahatma Gandhi, the architect of India’s freedom. Although I never saw him, I wept when he died as many did all over the world. I have read his autobiography and several of his biographies. I have also translated a hundred page biography of him from Hindi to English.. His doctrine of love and non-violence and self-denial appealed to me. He taught that I can live comfortably on very little; while others are poor while being rich, because they are never satisfied. I can be rich without having much because I want nothing and can share from the little that I have.

Question: Knowing that you live two months in the U.S.A. and two months in Guyana, what are the differences?

Answer: I enjoy living with relatives in the United States. My physical needs are well taken care of, but I am pampered and dependent. I have, however, made many good friends here, ranging from early twenties to past middle age. I am a good teacher, and there is always something which I can teach someone, . Here I am exposed to the best programmes on television, to music, to art, (I did six paintings of sceneries at a class I attended), to philosophy. I can follow the issues of the day, be an armchair traveller where I can see the countries of the world in the comfort of the living room, can communicate freely by telephone and e-mail. Here I have all the time of the world at my disposal.

In Guyana, however, I enjoy more independence. I do most things for myself, including cooking and washing. I move around more freely with the friends I have there. I am in an organization that propagates Hindi. I teach Hindi, set question papers for the Hindi examinations, edit a Journal, write Welcome and Farewell addresses in Hindi for High Commissioners and Hindi professors, give talks at religious gatherings and correspond with the newspapers.

Students: Thanks!

May 6, 2008

SUFFERING IS THE CRUCIBLE …….

Posted in Education, Philosophy, Religion, Thoughts tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , at 12:21 am by randallbutisingh

THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Suffering is the crucible in which the character is burnished.
Taken from “FLASHES OF LIGHT” by
Randall Butisingh

SUFFERING QUOTATIONS

ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL
A religious man is one who holds God and man in one thought at one time, at all times, who suffers harm done to others, whose greatest passion is compassion, whose greatest strength is love, and defiance of despair.
New York Journal American, April 5, 1963

ALBERT CAMUS
In the depth of winter, I finally learned that that there was within me an invincible summer.

ALDOUS HUXLEY
At least two thirds of our miseries spring from human stupidity, human malice and those great motivators and justifiers of malice and stupidity, idealism, dogmatism and proselytizing zeal on behalf of religious or political idols..

CORITA KENT
Love the moment. Flowers grow out of dark moments. Therefore each moment is vital. It affects the whole. Life is a succession of such moments and to live each is to succeed

April 23, 2008

WRONG SENSE OF VALUES

Posted in Education, Thoughts tagged , , , , , , , , , , at 3:21 pm by randallbutisingh

THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

WRONG SENSE OF VALUES

A letter to the British Guiana press during the days of Colonialism…

In my opinion the problem of unemployment is a problem of the character and of prejudice. Much blame can be laid in this direction on the inadequacy of the Educational System.

No matter how much can be said in favour of an academic training, if too much stress is laid on it, as it is at present, a wrong sense of values will be fostered and habits inimical to the best interests of the individual and society will be cultivated.

The white collar consciousness of most of the products of our schools is deplorable and should be viewed with alarm. It is not one that can realize National Independence and stability. Man’s basic needs are food, clothing and shelter, and any proper system of education will pay regard to these needs of the individual and help to equip him in order to fulfill them.

It is surprising how much land is allowed to remain idle, while youths who have finished school fritter away their time in idleness or roam about to do mischief. If they were taught the use of their hands and the dignity of labour, and were equipped with a resourcefulness of character, the situation would not be as grave as it is today.

We have no Secondary Modern Schools in this country to cater for that dangerous period when our children leave the Primary School, so until we have that necessity, our Primary Education must fit the child to bridge that gap between his leaving school and the time he is either apprenticed or find suitable employment. In this respect, systematic manual training by apt teachers will be of great importance.

Gardening, woodwork, needlecraft, domestic science and the like must predominate in the curriculum. Too much time is wasted in the spelling of unimportant words and in calculating irrelevant sums. Let our education fit the child to live and to live with, and we shall at the same time be tackling the sinister problem of delinquency.

— Randall Butisingh

April 19, 2008

EDUCATION

Posted in Education, Thoughts tagged , , , , , at 12:32 am by randallbutisingh

THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

EDUCATION

“We are faced with the paradoxical fact that education has become one of the chief obstacles to intelligence and freedom of thought.”
—  Bertrand Russell

“We are shut up in schools and college recitation rooms for ten or fifteen years, and come out at last with a bellyful of words and do not know a thing.”
—  Ralph Waldo Emerson

“An education isn’t how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It’s being able to differentiate between what you know and what you don’t.” –
—  Malcolm Forbes

“Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before. He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way.”
—  Kurt Vonnegut

“If I ran a school, I’d give the average grade to the ones who gave me all the right answers, for being good parrots. I’d give the top grades to those who made a lot of mistakes and told me about them, and then told me what they learned from them.”
—  Buckminster Fuller

April 14, 2008

EDUCATION AUTOMATION-

Posted in Education, Philosophy, Science & Technology, Thoughts tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , at 5:22 am by randallbutisingh

EDUCATION AUTOMATION

By: R. Buckminster Fuller 1895-1983 – inventor of the geodesic dome and many futuristic products. The following entry is from his book: “Education Automation – freeing the student to return to his studies”, published in 1962:

I am convinced that humanity is characterized by extraordinary love for its new life and yet has been misinforming its new life to such an extent that the new life is continually at a greater disadvantage than it would be if abandoned in the wilderness by the parents. For an instance of misconception extension there is my own case. I was born in 1895. The airplane was invented when I was nine years old. Up to the time I was nine years old, the idea that man could fly was held to be preposterous, and anybody could tell you so. My own boyhood attempts to make flying machines were considered wasted time. I have lived deeply into the period when flying is no longer impossible, but nonetheless a period in which the supremely ruling social conventions and economic dogma have continued to presuppose a non-flying-man ecology.

My daughter was not born into the kind of a world that I was; so she doesn’t have to struggle to sustain the validity of the particular set of spontaneously-logical conceptions that were pronounced “impossible” in my day, nor need she deal with the seemingly illogical concepts that the older life thought to be “evident”‘ and “obvious” in my day. The new life is continually born into a set of conditions where it is easier for it to acquire more accurate information, generated almost entirely outside of family life and folklore, regarding what is going on in human affairs and in nature in general; and, therefore, the new life has the advantage of much more unshaken intellectual courage with respect to the total experiences than have its as yet living elders who have had to overcome these errors, but who retain deep-rooted delusively-conditioned, subconscious reflexes

I said I started a number of years ago exploring for ways in which the individual could employ his experience analytically to reorganize patterns around him by design of impersonal tools. To be effective, this reorganization must incorporate the latest knowledge gained by man. It also should make it an increasingly facile matter for the new life to apprehend what is going on. It should eliminate the necessity of new life asking questions of people who don’t know the answers, thereby avoiding cluttering up the new minds with bad answers which would soon have to be discarded. I felt that the evolving inventory of information “decontaminated” through competent design might be “piped” right into the environment of the home. Please remember my philosophy is one which had always to be translated into inanimate artifacts. My self-discipline ruled that it would be all right for me to talk after I had translated my philosophy and thoughts into actions and artifacts, but I must never talk about the thoughts until I have developed a physical invention — not a social reform.

That is the philosophy I evolved in 1927 when at thirty-two I began my own thinking. I have been operating since then on the 1927 premises, looking exploratorily for tasks that needed to be done, which would, when done, provide tool complexes that would begin to operate inanimately at higher advantage for the new life. I am the opposite of a reformer; I am what I call a new former. The new form must be spontaneously complimentary to the innate faculties and capabilities of life. I am quite confident that humanity is born with its total intellectual capability already on inventory and that human beings do not add anything to any other human being in the way of faculties and capacities. What usually happens in the educational process is that the faculties are dulled, overloaded, stuffed and paralyzed, so that by the time that most people are mature they have lost use of many of their innate capabilities. My long-time hope is that we may soon begin to realize what we are doing and may alter the “education” process in such a way as only to help the new life to demonstrate some of its very powerful innate capabilities.

— Buckminster Fuller – 1962

Buckminster Fuller - Inventor of the Geodesic Dome


COMMENT by Cyril Bryan:

I have selected the above entry and I do hope that it is informative.

Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983), the creator of the geodesic dome and many unique products, was truly one of the great thinkers and inventors of the 20th century. His life story and books are truly fascinating, and demonstrates how a university dropout can achieve the pinnacle of success in science using the intuitive processes that are innate in everyone, but which can be dulled by the “education factories” teaching yesterday knowledge.

Many of the concepts and words like Synergy, Holistic, “Paradigm shift”, ” “Thinking outside the box” “Comprehensive thinking”, and research methods used today have their geneses in his writings.

His ideas have influenced architecture, mathematics, philosophy, religion, urban development and design, naturalism, physics, numerology, art and literature, industry and technology. I have been influenced by his life story and philosophy and have read most of his books, the most interesting being his two-volume “Synergetics” – Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking.

I would suggest that readers learn more about his life and works by visiting the following website of the Buckminster Fuller Institute:

http://www.bfi.org/

— Cyril Bryan – Guest Contributor

April 4, 2008

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

Posted in Education, Thoughts tagged , , , , , , , at 12:13 am by randallbutisingh

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CHARACTER IS THE CHIEF AIM OF EDUCATION.

Education is of no value without character. What is the use of having ten acres of waste land? If you have a small plot of fertile land, that is more valuable.

Bhagavan Baba.

The chief aim of Education should be the development of Character. But we do not see this today. Look at our own system! What has it produced? What example are our leaders setting for their followers. You can glean that from the charges of corruption which occur regularly by those in whom many place their hope for justice. and protection. America will never move out from the morass it is in unless her leaders are men of character.

Randall Butisingh

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April 2, 2008

VIDYAA = KNOWLEDGE

Posted in Education, Philosophy, Thoughts tagged , , , , , , , at 12:08 am by randallbutisingh

THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
VIDYAA (Hindi for Knowledge, Education, Learning, Skill, Discipline)
(A translation from the Hindi by Randall Butisingh)
.
Vidyaa sam dhan anya dhana… . .There is no wealth like knowledge
Aur nahin sansaar                        in the world
Dene se saba dhan ghate            By giving away wealth, it decreases
Vidyaa barhtee apaar.                but by sharing Knowledge, it increases.

Raajah chor hare nahin               The king or the thief cannot take it away
Gupt hridaya men baas               It is hidden inside the heart
Na talwaar se kaate jaaya          The sword cannot cut it
Na jal agnee se naash.               nor can water and fire destroy it.

Learning is better than silver and gold.

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