This is a hypothetical letter to high school students that I am using for the opening of my book-in-progress, It’s Not About the Grades: Love for Learning Beyond Schooling. I am under no illusion that a high school student, a 14-18 year old, would likely be engaged in actually reading such a lengthy “text” such as this,Continue reading “It’s Not About the Grades: Love for Learning Beyond Schooling”
Category Archives: Dear John
Dear Dr. Jordan B. Peterson
Dear Dr. Jordan B. Peterson, Thank you for being: Courageous, Informed, Logical, Intense, Persistent, and Passionate. I suppose you could say I have deeply immersed myself in a self-made course called, ‘The life and times of Dr. Jordan B.Peterson.’ I have been reading your book, Maps of Meaning (Routledge, 1999), reading about you online, watchingContinue reading “Dear Dr. Jordan B. Peterson”
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Dear Mr. & Mrs. Know-it-all
Dear Mr. & Mrs. Know-it-all, In The American Scholar, his speech to Harvard graduates, Ralph Waldo Emerson proclaimed, “Life is a dictionary!” encouraging Americans, especially the young scholars in front of him, to trust their own experiences: direct, sensory experience in nature, if they truly wanted to live a life of learning. You can readContinue reading “Dear Mr. & Mrs. Know-it-all”
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Dear Efficient Utilitarian Student,
Dear Efficient Utilitarian Student, It’s not your fault that you were raised with the great American values of utility and efficiency. These values are enacted and followed by virtually everyone around you– your parents, your school, your government; they’ve been enacted throughout most of American history, especially in the Industrial Revolution, in the world ofContinue reading “Dear Efficient Utilitarian Student,”
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A Note to the Spiritual Academic
Dear Spiritual Academic, According to the super cute monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, “Insight can’t be found in sutras, commentaries, or Dharma talks. Liberation and awakened understanding can’t be found by devoting ourselves to the study of Buddhist scriptures. This is like hoping to find fresh water in dry bones. Returning to the present moment, usingContinue reading “A Note to the Spiritual Academic”
