“My Friend is a Superhero”
Taking my hat off to teachers
I can be a bit cynical and critical of schools and the education system. But I had an experience yesterday that has completely changed my attitude towards teachers.
It was a privilege to be asked by Epsom Girls Grammar School to work with Year 12 students putting themselves forward for leadership positions next year. I did a 20 minute TED-style talk entitled “Dynamic Leadership”, followed by two workshops on mastering the five tasks of leaders…
Philip’s music video
Philip at TEDxAuckland 2012
On having not a lot to do
Lately I’ve been neither busy nor particularly productive, but I’ve not been at all comfortable with it. I’ve felt bored, restless, even uninspired and, as a result, have even put off doing things because I couldn’t be bothered.
Best blog?
Vote for my blog (philippatston.com) in the ESET Netguide Web Awards 2013
Voting ends 4 December 2013
What’s wrong with education?
Quite simply, it’s not ok to be wrong in education.
In life, being wrong, or making mistakes, means learning.
In education — at secondary and tertiary level, at least — being wrong most often means failing.
Silly, really.
Feel like things are becoming less and less orderly? Here’s the science behind it.
Sean Carroll, a theoretical physicist at Caltech, explains the inherent increase in entropy of the universe. In other words, the universe has and will continue to become more and more disordered over time (in fact, he points out, increasing entropy is how scientists explain the flow of time from past to present).
When you apply this inevitable increase in entropy/disorder to our social, economic, political and environmental conditions, one thing becomes clear.
Diversity — are you trying to get it right?
If you are, you’re very likely to get it wrong.
Organisations that build cultures that require people to do the right thing in regards to culture, gender, sexuality, function (disability) etc, create behaviours governed by fear. People will avoid engagement in order to stay safe, because they’ll be scared of getting it wrong.
Nobody wants to be shamed, blamed, attacked, punished or made fun of.
Peter Joseph’s new series shows how activism misses the bigger picture
The Zeitgeist Movement’s founder Peter Joseph’s latest offering is an excellent six-part webisode, “Culture in Decline.”
Using content and ideas from his earlier Zeitgeist movie series, he has created a powerful, more easily digestible and sometimes very funny expose of the damage that capitalism and the monetary system is doing to the environment, society and humanity itself. Continue Reading →
Roast Busters — the blame-shame machine alive and well
The “Roast Busters” - a group of young Auckland men publicly recruiting others to join them in group sex sessions with girls – some of them underage.
How outraged the nation has been, apart from female friends who have spoken out in support of them, saying they are just good boys being teenagers.
It’s easy for middle NZ to scream foul at the behaviour of these young men, blaming and shaming them. Not as easy, though, to realise these boys are a product of their environment.
On needing to run a marathon to feel fully human
Last night, 3 News anchor Mike McRoberts quoted Peter Loft, the head of the Achilles Foundation, which has been sending disabled athletes to the New York marathon for 20 years:
“They come here with disabilities — and they leave feeling like full human beings.”
Some may find this statement inspirational. I found it objectionable at the very least. Judging by the 25 or so comments on my Facebook post, I was not alone.
