Fahrenheit 451 Is Coming True!

I am outraged and appalled at this developing news. In a recent conversation with co-workers (two teachers moonlighting as waitresses because teachers are undervalued), I have discovered some disturbing changes to the federal and state curriculum for middle school and high school students. 

If you remember correctly, Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian novel by Ray Bradbury that takes place in a society where, over the decades, books were ruthlessly abridged to accommodate a shorter attention span and watered down to avoid disturbing the status quo. Eventually firemen start burning books to appease the public. Thankfully books are not being burned in your local high school (yet!). However, new changes to the curriculum call for only one fiction novel to be read during the school year and the rest to be replaced with "information texts" such as non-fiction articles, letters, speeches, and if you are lucky and your teacher fights for it, maybe one short story! Their reasoning? To improve reading comprehension based more on "real life" examples. They said that since attention span is shorter in students they need to constrict the breadth of study to help them develop better comprehension....#$$#&%&^%@*. I don't even know what that word would be except frustration in symbols. 

One of the teachers, who teaches junior English, is only able to teach To Kill A Mockingbird this year for the American Literature course. Is it just me or what about The Scarlet Letter, As I Lay Dying, Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Great Gatsby, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn??!?!? You know- Hemingway, Hawthorne, Zora Neale Hurston, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and a little person named Mark Twain? 

Now, I'm not saying that studying letters from Abigail Adams to her husband and the Gettysburg address is somehow wrong. They are a beautiful part of our literary history, but it is much harder to connect to a character in two pages versus two hundred. And when a student cannot connect with a character or relate to the material, it will go in one ear and out the next day. For me, that is the beautiful part of literature- connecting to a world and a person far away and yet feeling that my situation and feelings are understood, Being transported to another world and time, and somehow realizing the universality of emotions. Of course we will have our favorites and even some we dislike. I mean, Siddhartha, my freshmen year? Thumbs down. And Stranger by Camus? Bleh. For my senior year, 1984 gave me nightmares. But, I learned valuable things about literature and myself through those experiences. There is something inherently character building in the exploration of literature. We discover ourselves, what we believe and what we like as we place our minds in a thousand different contexts. 

So what do we do? Speak out. Talk to your school board. Promote reading in your community. Volunteer at the schools. Let the world know that we will not allow this to happen. Even if I really wanted to burn Lord of the Flies after reading it sophomore year.

Wednesday is for Love

Wednesday is for Love.

And so is Monday morning.

And August. Yes, the whole month.

And the dead of winter when your fingers are half frozen.

And finals week, tax day, and black Friday- are all for Love.

Here's to not needing just one day a year to celebrate how much we love, but taking advantage of 365 days of precious moments. Wound up in and wrapped around, love is the fabric of our tapestries. 

All the Pennies by Mindy Gledhill

Guess What I Learned Today?

I have a confession.

My name is Kristi and I have philogia.

No, that is not some strange disease or skin rash. It is the Greek word for the love of learning and I have a bad case of it. Philology today means the study of literary texts and linguistics, but in old Greek it meant the love of learning and literature. See- we are learning something all ready.

I'm a learning addict. I crave learning something all the time. Like all last week studying the lesson for Sunday school (mind you- I'm not the teacher) on the contrast between Cain and Enoch, their obedience, willingness, and purpose of heart. Then tie in the father of King Lamoni in Alma 22 and I was in heaven. And reading fours books at the same time, depending on where I am in the house, in my car, etc. And I just learned the other day about the "pink lakes" of the world that are caused by the presence of algae that produces carotenoids.

You all probably knew that about me already, but when I finally just accept it then it's not so overwhelming when I keep finding things I want to go back to school for, or get training in. I've got a list a mile long of everything I want to study, practice, assimilate, etc. I want to go to cosmetology school, finish my teaching degree, and learn eight more languages just to mention a few. But just reading or learning isn't enough- I have to apply it.

Going to BYU for my freshmen year, a book called "Learning in the Light of Faith" was required reading and it has shaped my perspective on learning and scholarship through the lens of faith and discipleship. It taught me that my love of learning was a divine trait, one I inherited from a Heavenly Father who loves knowledge infinitely. The Lord sees no conflict between faith and learning in a broad curriculum:

". . . that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand;

Of things both in heaven and in earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms. . . .

And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning even by study and also by faith.(D&C 88:78-79, 118.)

Just last night at work, one of my coworkers (aware of my religious beliefs) asked me if I had seen the Ham/Nye debate which launched a discussion on faith and science. We talked about learning through one method doesn't make it better than the other and how not being open-minded enough to accept truth from another perspective leaves us ignorant. I shared my experience as a scientist and how the more I learn about science, the deeper my faith in God becomes.

One of my favorite talks is by Elder Neal A. Maxwell called "The Disciple-Scholar" in which he points out the gradations of truth:

 "There is no democracy among truths. They are not of equal significance. These gradations might be represented geometrically by a wide circle. The outer edges of the circle would include truths which are accurate descriptions of reality. These facts, such as airline schedules and exchange rates, have only a momentary utility and relevancy, a short shelf life. They are useful, and they cannot be ignored, but they are simply not on the same footing as other kinds of truth... The next concentric circle inward would include more important truths. These are proximate and important truths, however, not ultimate truths. Some of these, for instance, are verifiable by the very serviceable scientific method. These truths can be very useful and valuable. For instance, in the realm of astrophysics they tell us much about the what and how of the universe, but they cannot (and do not even presume to) tell us why it exists. In this same middle circle, the suburbs, so to speak, there is a churning and revising among some of these truths. Life in the suburbs may mean one can be "ever learning" but still "never able to come to a knowledge of the truth" (2 Tim. 3:7). Even so, these truths are important and valued. In the very center of the circle of truth lie the "deep things of God" (1 Cor. 2:10, 14). These come to us only by revelation from God, and they clearly have a greater significance than other truths and fleeting facts. These truths concern things as they really were, really are, and really will be (D&C 93:24). There is constancy, not churning, among these strategic truths. These truths, for instance, are revealed from God and tell us why the universe exists. They are also very personal and crucial, such as is contained in Enoch's exclamation (see Moses 7:30). They represent the highest order of truth. These truths are likewise verifiable. Jesus describes how: "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself" (John 7:17; see also Alma 32:26-43). Thus we constantly need to distinguish between the truths which are useful and those which are crucial, and between truths which are important and those which are eternal. "

This post has turned into more than I thought when I started, but it's that just the beauty of the evolution of thought and learning? I meant to just gush about my adoration of learning, but I guess the heart of that thought was the true joy I get from learning any and all truths- scientific and eternal, literary and linguistic, social and spiritual.