Smart Phones, Smart Choices, Re-Assessing Success

You do want to succeed, right? The next question is How?

Well, the secret is out: the password you need is S.T.E.M. Without it, you’ll try, try, and try even harder, but every time you get ahead, the goal posts will move twice as far -- away. (It happens all the time; the 2016 elections make that clear.) But when you know the right password, you’ll be on the road to achieving your dreams.

At least that’s how many people-in-the-know now see things.

President Obama publicly opened the discussion when he called for a full and steady focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (S.T.E.M.) These are key to our future; this is the direction we need to take. It was almost as if he was saying, “Curriculum planners, administrators, teachers, students at all levels -- everybody – let’s take this seriously!”

“[Science] is more than a school subject, or the periodic table, or the properties of waves. It is an approach to the world, a critical way to understand and explore and engage with the world, and then have the capacity to change that world..."

— President Barack Obama, March 23, 2015

With what result? Available evidence points to a shift in educational priorities. More and more schools are setting up S.T.E.M. Labs or increasing their course offerings in these areas. Count on the trend to continue. Just as important: this is happening worldwide, winning support on every continent.

Does resetting our direction like this make sense? Look at it this way: all of us who use a phone or log on to a computer for work or fun or check a weather forecast or use a credit card or drive a car or calculate whether we’ve got enough money to do XYZ or expect a bridge to stay in place at least until we’ve crossed it or apply for insurance or see a doctor about some symptom -- that is, every one of us -- rely on scientists and techies and engineers and math experts every second of every day. The future of that dependence grows ever more mind-boggling.

So schools support the common good as well as help individual students achieve personal success whenever they focus on S.T.E.M. subjects.

 IS S.T.E.M.THE FINAL WORD?

But life, some say, is more than what makes it work. Some colleges and universities, for example, are turning S.T.E.M. into S.T.E.A.M – the extra letter representing Arts, whether “fine arts” (music, dramatic arts, visual arts like painting, sculpture and photography) or “Liberal Arts,” encompassing language and literature, geography and history, philosophy, logic and ethics.

Many institutions – Catholic schools certainly plus other nonpublic schools as well as the educational arm of faith communities – further enlarge the program as they fold “R” into the mix. You guessed it: the added category is Religion. At least an understanding of religion if not a full faith commitment, they maintain, is essential to a well-rounded life. So the password becomes a S.T.R.E.A.M.

Can you bear with me a moment longer? Let’s import another “S” enlarging the term to get S.T.R.E.AM.S. If one S stands for Science, let it be balanced by Service. Though off the radar to many, service may, in fact, be the most visibly growing dimension of what we broadly call education today. It may even prompt us to rethink what we mean by that other S-word: success.  Let’s take a closer look.

 SERVICE – A CASE IN POINT

The idea of serving others has not been a top priority as people prepare for their careers. It may seem to fit the “helping professions” such as social work, the clergy and child or elder care, but more marginal to the resume of persons seeking work as business managers, investment advisors, cashiers, cartoonists, athletes, pharmacists, singers or bus drivers.  

That’s why those who break that mold are worth our attention.

Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio illustrates the point. Its Center for Community Engagement received the Carnegie Community Service Classification in 2015. It has been honored by the White House every year since 2006 with the President's Higher Education Community Service Award “with distinction.”

Key elements in such success may be identified:

• Service is moving from the margins to a central place
• The school officially recognizes significant service, even granting a separate diploma at graduation
• The program achieves high levels of voluntary student participation
• It has solid staff and faculty support  
• The quality and range of service provided to the community and the world meets exacting standards.

Otterbein, founded in 1847, firmly rooted in a faith vision and now related to the United Methodist Church, may be seen as drawing from the strong link between living-by-faith and living-by-service. But it could have followed a different trajectory: in a time of tight budgets and tough competition for grants, enrollment and prestige, it might have opted for quick fixes. Since service to needy persons never endows new buildings, wouldn’t it be tempting to concentrate on pay-off potential, always asking, “What’s in it for us?” To the credit of its decision makers and all its participating students, it chose the high road.

For more on Otterbein’s story, go to

http://www.otterbein.edu/public/Academics/FiveCardinalExperiences/Cards.aspx

and http://www.otterbein.edu/public/About/Community/steam-innovation-center.aspx

Otterbein’s story, while special, is not unique. The trend is strong. Thus in Ontario, Canada’s largest province, every high school student must complete 40 hours of supervised community service in order to graduate. No service, no diploma; it’s as simple as that.

In a more global context, the Nobel Prizes represent outstanding achievement in Physics, Chemistry and Physiology/Medicine. Since 1972 another award, the Templeton Prize, has hailed contributions of outstanding value in the field of religion and service to humanity. The parallel is worth noting: not just the “hard sciences” – S.T.E.M. concerns — but the lofty values of service to the Power-beyond-us and to the people-around-us, count. It’s a “both-and” approach.

HOW DOES THIS CONNECT WITH MAPS?

A quick response might be: while good, this has nothing to do with maps. In my opinion, that would be a superficial answer. My take, spelled out in How Maps Change Things as well as in other publications, interviews and lectures, is that maps both reveal and shape our worldview. That worldview may be self-centered or service-oriented. Our lives may be imprisoned, limited by the lines on a map or by the less visible, very real boundaries separating “us” – always “the good guys” -- from “them” -- the people to avoid, reject, use, despise, keep out, kill or otherwise disrespect. That’s why, to pick the clearest example, the Mercator and similar maps contribute to the human problem of our time while size-accurate maps such as the Peters and the Hobo-Dyer are making a difference for good, not just among professional cartographers but in schools and across the general public. The close connection between maps, science, religious faith and humanitarian service is well established.

From S.T.E.M.

to S.T.E.A.M.

to S.T.R.E.A.M.

to S.T.R.E.A.M.S.

represents both the foundations and the development of insight, hope and meaningful collaboration. It won’t solve all our problems, but it’s a giant step in the right direction. I, for one, am ready to shout Hurray! Will you join me? 

Maps in Action -- New Perspectives in Three Stories

One: A Story by Nate Bander, School Administrator

At Mounds Park Academy, students learn how maps tell a story. 

Take, for example, a map that plots the mean center of the population of the United States from the first census in 1790 to the 1940 census at the dawn of the Second World War. 

In 1790, the mean center of population rested comfortably in Kent County, 23 miles east of Baltimore Maryland.  Makes sense, right?  Most of the population recorded in the census resided on the eastern seaboard.

Fast forward 150 years.  The mean center of population has pushed 603 miles to the southwest, landing precariously in Carlisle, Indiana, waiting to leap across the border into Illinois on its southwesterly march. 

In 2015, the mean center of population reached the Missouri Ozarks, sliding another 288 miles to the southwest.

This map tells us something.  It’s the story of the United States.  It’s the story of westward expansion.  It’s the story of manifest destiny.  It’s the story of migration.

Telling a story of global proportions  

The Peters world map tells a story too.  First debuting in 1974, it made its way into more and more classrooms as criticisms of the continuing imperialist attitudes in Eurocentric world maps mounted.

Mounds Park Academy faculty, knowing that different maps tell different stories, make a conscious effort to incorporate a variety of world maps.  These include the Peters world map as well as world maps known as the Mercator, the Winkel Tripel, Robinson and Van Der Grinten, and various globes.

To lower school music teacher Mari Espeland, it is important that students experience music from around the world. “Listening lessons include music from varied times and places. Showing the students, or having them locate, the music’s place of origin helps to establish context,” notes Espeland.

Teacher Mari Espeland and her first-grade music class; Peters world map is prominent on the wall.

As lower school students begin to understand their place in the world, Espeland finds herself asking questions like “Where are we?” and “Where are we in relationship to this other place?”  She uses the Peters world map on the wall in her classroom to help answer her budding musicians’ frequent questions.

“The Peters projection accurately represents land mass,” she says, “The students can see a world that does not make North America huge and in the middle.  When we find countries in Africa (this year we have learned several musical pieces from Ghana and Tanzania) the students search on a large, centrally located continent.”  Adding, “For all of my students, but especially the visual learners, representing the world in a more equitable way is important for their growth and understanding.”

Upper school Spanish teacher Marisue Gleason teaches with an upside down world map as well as a Peters world map.  “I use them for reference points, for different ways of looking at the (sometimes upside down) world,” she says.  “Especially with the Peters world map, I talk about the latitude lines and how that influences the actual size of countries and continents.  When students come to the upper school, they have seen a lot of different maps, but they don’t always remember what each map is called.”

A map that can travel

In February, Mounds Park Academy partnered with National Geographic to bring a 26x35 ft. map of South America to campus.  This map, an azimuthal equidistant projection, stayed on campus for 2 days, affording nearly every student the opportunity to get down on hands and knees to closely examine each feature and detail on the map, spread out over half of a basketball court.

Middle School Spanish teacher Kevin Hagen took students in his classes to see the map.  “It’s really important to have students see how the geography and land formations influence the culture of Spanish-speaking countries,” he says.  “We paired the map activity with a presentation about South America where they got to see more images of key locations and animals on the continent.”

Different Stories

Including a variety of maps in the classroom creates different ways of learning about the world.  Just as the mean center of population map told the story of a burgeoning westward expansion, the varying maps of the world tell different stories about the Earth.

“We try and show our students a variety of different world maps because each map shows a different perspective.  We challenge our students to think about the inherent biases of each map and acknowledge that even the best map distorts.  It’s impossible to portray a 3D spherical object on a 2D piece of paper,” says fourth grade teacher Yamini Kimmerle.

At Mounds Park Academy, maps represent an incredible lens through which to think critically and globally.  They dot the walls of every classroom in the school, each an essential piece in the pursuit of the joy of learning.

 Mounds Park Academy, founded in 1982, is an independent, PreK-12, co-educational, college preparatory day school in St. Paul, Minnesota.  MPA teaches students to think independently, communicate effectively and act with respect and integrity in a diverse community that models intellectual ambition, global responsibility and the joy of learning.

Two: Surprising Things Happen

This post reflects comments made by Ron, a new friend, in conversation.

It’s funny how things work out sometimes. Some of us – five people, then nine - were engaged in conversation over coffee after church. My friend and I were visitors, and we got asked “So where are you from?” I named my little town, which nobody ever heard of, then added, “If I had a map handy I could show you exactly where I live and some interesting things about the area.”

That’s how we got talking about maps and how we’re dependent on the help they provide.

After a while [Ward Kaiser] brought out a map that was different from anything I had ever seen. It didn’t show my town, in fact, it didn’t show any towns or cities. Surprisingly, it didn’t show countries by how much land they had – instead, it showed how many people live there. This is what it looks like:

2015 World Population Map. Cartography by Paul Breding. Copyright 2015 ODTmaps.com.

The conversation turned lively: Is this really a map? How do map makers decide what to show and what to leave out? Why haven’t we seen maps like this before?

I was able to take that very different kind of map with me and introduce it to some of my friends. Three of them – teachers – now tell me they have found it useful. It has practical applications in math and science, cultural studies and contemporary history, for example. At least a few classes in two states and Canada are asking questions about climate change, international business dealings, persecution and conflict, birth rates and disease control and how they all interact with population.

Out of a chance remark, good things happened. Was it luck – or something more? Serendipity? Part of our collective horoscope for the day? Since it happened in church, should we see God somehow at work in it? Personally, I can’t say. I just know that an unplanned event happened that I couldn’t have engineered, and I’m glad to be part of it! 

Three: Do the World’s Time Zones Make Sense?

Our third map focus this time comes from Kevin Kaiser, a National Parks Ranger. (Hey, he’s also my grandson, I announce proudly, so if in this 100th anniversary year of America’s national parks you’ll be among the estimated 310 million visitors, and you get to either Big Bend (Texas) soon or to Kings Canyon (California) where he’ll be this summer, say Hello to him, please!) Kevin sent this map of the world’s time zones, commenting

• This discredited image of the world seems like a poor choice for this purpose. But since it was prepared in 1968, (the Peters map was produced in 1974 and introduced to the English-speaking world in 1983, making size -distorting, mess-with-your-mind maps like this one seem archaic and highly questionable) I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. 
• It comes as a surprise to learn China has only one time zone!

Commenting further:

The fascinating story behind our present system of time zones – how it got started, its benefits and the problems it creates – may be found in How Maps Change Things, Chapter 5, “A New Day for the World?”  It also sets out Arno Peters’ bold proposal for shifting the International Date Line, represented here by the line zigging and zagging from Pole to Pole through the Pacific including between Siberia and Alaska.

China is the only nation with a long east-west stretch that tries to get by with a single time zone. Almost 100 years ago – it was 1918 – the country set up five time zones; these lasted to 1949, when the Chinese (Communist) Revolution abolished hem. The present arrangement, known as Beijing Time or China Time, works, but makes for sometimes confusing differences in sunrise/sunset times from one part of the country to another. Do you see this as one more way China is out of step with the rest of the world? What, after all, is the point of time zones? Just asking!

For Justice Scalia – a Most Uncommon Question

Setting the Context

The sudden death of Antonin Scalia removed from us a towering figure. Sitting on the bench of SCOTUS (The Supreme Court of the United States) for thirty years, he gained staunch support and vigorous opposition. Our goal is not to justify either side; instead, it’s time to ask a question.

Is it foolhardy for a guy with no legal training to put a question to one so prominent, so highly esteemed as Justice Scalia? I think not. As some quip, "There are no stupid questions… only wrong answers." So I’ll set out my simple question knowing that you would respond with honesty. If I’m lucky, others will do the same and we’ll all be the wiser.

Posing the Question

Were they not mortals like the rest of us, those nine-at-a-time on the bench -- even – I hesitate to use the word but I must – flawed as we all are? If so, why do we hold them in unique veneration, as if they had god-like power over us?

And if, as some would claim, as individuals they had shortcomings but all such problems were somehow cancelled out in the give and take of their collective wisdom, the question gives rise to a series of even sharper questions: how many people are needed in a synchronized search for truth to guarantee a good result? Two? Nine? Three hundred and thirty million – maybe the collective wisdom of the American public today? Which raises the next question: exactly what level of wisdom is required, and how do we know the framers met that standard? (Even if we assume that that elusive something called wisdom partners with intelligence, what exactly was the IQ range among the fathers of the country? Even more, how long does it take for collective wisdom to emerge in a group process?)

Let’s take our questioning a step further: since, clearly, the Founding Fathers did not achieve perfection on the first try but humbly, realistically, opened the door to amendments based on the judgment of others, should we not accept that change can come through wide experience among millions as well as through the amazing vision of a small elite? Is an amendment not, in the final analysis, a reflection of new insight into what the nation needs as it seeks to reach its full goal, its full potential as a people?

This is not, Mr. Justice, to diminish the importance of “original intent.” Rather, it is to raise the question why original intent alone should be seen as binding for all time to come; why what was going on in the heads of a few white men of privilege --if indeed we can even know that-- should forever be shielded from rethinking. Is it perhaps time to acknowledge, as Mark Twain is supposed to have said, that the search for truth is bigger than the search for facts?

The Question in Context

Civilization, for all its shortcomings, is smart enough to confer on no other product of human creation such exalted status.

The Bible probably comes closest, of all the world’s writings, to being above such human critiquing. In it we read

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything it contains;
the world, even everyone who lives on it.
(Psalm 24)

The words are credited to David, the second King of Israel, who lived about 3,000 years ago. Would originalism – your system for interpreting documents– not require us to conclude that David’s affirmation applies only to a flat earth and only to the tribes he knew about? Forget the “blue marble” spinning in space …too bad about the Inuit of the Arctic, the aboriginals of Australia, the residents of Greece and Rome and – yes – you and me – given that he had no inkling of our time in history, our way of life or who we really are as persons. Modern understandings of space would have seemed preposterous; even the most primitive of world maps -- mind-stretchers all -- had not been invented in David’s day.

Yet – here is the point: the common – let us say common-sense -- interpretation given by multi-millions: people of faith and seekers after meaning and students of culture everywhere, is that David’s concept has value: it opens new vistas, its message stretches us beyond the shackles of words and David’s puny scientific knowledge.

Mountains of similar examples can be cited. Do people not find insight in Shakespeare and the philosophies of Socrates and Aristotle, in Tolstoy and Lao Tzu and Nelson Mandela and the Q’ran and Albert Einstein and Harper Lee and a thousand others? Fully to grasp what was going on in the mind of Vincent van Gogh or Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart or Marie Curie may forever be beyond our powers, but what they created has power beyond intent. When Columbus came to an unknown place, he thought it was the Orient; should we forever be locked into his mistake simply because what we call the Far East was his original intent?

So the question morphs from What did the writer/artist/scientist/creative genius know at that time? to How can we apply their discernment to our need?

Does this mean not caring about original intent? No way! Rather, it may say to us that understanding the mindset of the originators is only half the equation.

Somehow, to this observer, it appears that you have operated from a different principle. If the point we have just made is correct, you set out a single exception to the general rule: The United States Constitution. To cite a particular example, you seem to say that same-sex marriage is not a constitutional right because the framers did not know about it. The possibility didn’t exist then, so they couldn’t have thought about it, so it shouldn’t exist now. Somehow, that reasoning doesn’t square with the practice that most of us apply every day to other issues. Does that fundamental discrepancy not call for further debate – whether in the Court or in the public arena – on the merits of the exception?

Thank you, Mr. Justice, for stimulating this conversation. Thanks especially for listening to a wonderment from an ordinary citizen – of this country and of the world. Thank you, not just for myself, but on behalf of that ever-growing number who seek to map and follow the way to a better world. 

___________________________

Update on Two Days. Two Events

January’s post “Two Days, Two Events” prompted some readers to act. If you also are interested in follow-up, here’s the info: you need:

• To learn more about standing with peace-loving Muslims, go to Groundswell.com.
• To learn more about the new Population Map, go to ODTmaps.org. Prices and ordering info are shown.