---

Learning, Teaching and Schools (*)

15 August 2006
{HRI 20060815-V3.2}

(Version 3.2
on 21 Aug 2006)

'Pride only breeds quarrels,
but wisdom is found
in those who take advice.'

King Solomon

'

You live on Earth, remember? (see below)

Most people don't realize that - especially
after they have been "educated," as children,

educated not about life, educated not about
people, but about going to school and about
sitting in a class room and about going home
from the class room, and

how to keep up this system in which your
natural desire and intense curiosity to learn,

is in most cases quite irreparably destroyed
for the rest of your life, the destruction
already accomplished in primary school, in
most cases, or else they finish it off in high
school:

"Do not be curious or interested,

UNLESS and UNTIL you are told to

- and then ONLY AS MUCH AS you are
told to."

'

There are some sixty million most severely Criminal
psychopaths alive and on the loose, here, on Earth,

and you have to learn how to live with that

- which, in my experience and opinion, is not
taught by addressing children as "morons" who
"know nothing, feel nothing, perceive nothing
and can remember nothing."

We did have a teacher - a kind man, at
college, Mr. Brommer was his name, if
you want to know - who said that to us.

He said that about pupils, when he
observed it in them and was annoyed
about it - observing, that many pupils
reacted as morons who "know nothing,
feel nothing, perceive nothing, and
remember nothing;" and he was annoyed
that it was being so, without that he
could change it in his pupils.

In his younger years, he had been
the director of the school.

What he FAILED to observe, was, that
actually the whole class - of some
thirty pupils - and EACH class, was MADE
into that

BY the school itself:

All interest and curiosity was almost
wholly destroyed in almost all of the
pupils in almost all of the subjects
taught.

'

Neither the teachers, nor the pupils,
nor the parents, understood anything
about THAT being the case.

Instead, each child, each teacher and
each parent had all kind of "reasons"
why things did indeed not go well at
all.

I was, you can imagine, the best of the
class:

Curious, participating, interested,
perfect memory and perfect
understanding, while the other
pupils were, well, being pupils,
you know - sitting there because
they have to, and answering the
minimum and the worst they could
still get away with.

I found it very strange, that they
did not show interest and joy and
enthusiasm, but somehow 'did what
they were told.'

'

'

Thus one teacher, in all aspects an
extremely ugly woman, dressed as a
tasteless, self-righteous and old woman
would dress, stiffly, having a mouth like
a dried prune, and the eyes of a joyful
sadist, *(3)

and Energies to match those
qualities, emanating from
between her legs, she

made it her task, to have my Beauty and
my Intelligence and Interest

in the subject she taught, in
which I was by far the best of the
class, to have that

destroyed, at least to have it NOT shown
by me in HER class room or in HER
presence.

'Tut' van Eck was her name,
for those who want to know;
teaching the Dutch language
to the pupils, was what she
was paid for.

I did not know what struck me, you know:
"I had to figure out" how it OFFENDED
her, to be very interested in the subject
she taught, AND the best of her class.

And (I did not know) what
she at the same time

- which was a main part
apparently, of her
strategy to prevent
me from looking at
her soul - what she

started to emanate at me
from between her legs,

an Extreme Ugliness of
sexuality - that, at that
time, I had no way of
understanding

(of understanding, that
anyone could or would
possibly WANT to create
and project anything
like it, at anyone,

nor what it actually was,
except that it was Extreme
Ugliness and intending to
destroy life)

already the concept,
that "normal" people
intentionally create
Ugliness, and ENJOY
to destroy life,

was a subject, that my
parents - for good
reason - did not bring
up or discuss with
their children,

good "reasons" for
them, as it would have
all too easily opened
our eyes to seeing
their own nature and
intentions,

seeing which, had to be
avoided and prevented
at all cost, or else
had to be distorted,

supposedly "to protect
us from experiencing
Ugliness and evil:"

Criminal Minds
have everything
in reverse.

They want to
"protect"
children by
hiding evil
from them.

Translated in
understandable
language:

"DO NOT LOOK at the
cars that might kill
you" -

"JUST CROSS THE STREET."

'

All these things, the school did not
teach about, and would certainly not
teach me or anyone about.

'

So after about a month

- while this very ugly woman
teacher was working very hard, to
try and make me wholly unaware
of the very simple fact that
would have resolved everything,

namely, that she had no other
intention than to bring me
PERSONALLY somehow down, and that
she ENJOYED to destroy people:
*(3)

'Why would anybody want to
bring ME down, I had done
nothing at all to her or to
anyone, to annoy her or
anyone, let alone to merit
anything like that,'

was the reasoning, that I
was supposed to use, to
justify my having been made
blind to evil -

however, she, the ugly woman teacher,
found out somehow, that I refuse to
mindlessly memorize things

- one might think, that she had
heard that from another teacher,
where I ALSO was the best in the
class, his English class,

in which I was the best BECAUSE
I refused to memorize word lists,
and instead I did read English
books,

which gave me an UNDERSTANDING
of the words,

and the ability to use these
easily, also in the translation
examinations at school, of
course.

I read books 'in my own time' -

the school teachers made school
into 'not your own time' but into
"their time."


The other teacher, however, a very nice
man - his name, if you like to know, was
Vermeulen - HE allowed me NOT to study
(NOT to memorize) the word lists, and to
NOT have to be checked out each week
on the blunt memorizing of those word
lists,

with the result, that I was the
best of his English class.

'

In any case, the woman,

if you like to call her that:

the 'dried-prune-lipped' vulva,
whose nickname in school was
indeed 'Tut'

- ask any Dutch person some
time, what that rhymes with,
or, you may yourself have a
shameless guess -

this 'woman' teacher 'clinched her deal,'
she finalized the task, that she had set
out to accomplish,

by demanding that I memorize a long
and dull poem - after finding out, that
I refuse to mindlessly memorize things,
certainly including dull poems

- I like to be the master of my own
mind, which, on the other hand,
ill-minded people will object to
and try to nullify, at any cost -

and she was completing the job by
demanding, each day that we came to
her class, that I stand in front of the
class to recite that whole poem,

while she was 'implicitly' not
tolerating any discussion about
her demand, nor any possibility
and conditions of non-compliance,
*(3)

while she apparently saw her - very
sick-minded - "victory" near,

as I had neither a desire nor
intention to memorize that whole
poem.

Me thus "changed" from being the very
best in class, from being alive and
highly interested in the subject she
taught,

she considered that now she could, and
indeed she did give me an 'insufficient'
note.

'

And you can imagine, that that same
school did not teach me how to
understand such intentions and
practices,

let alone how to complain about
such things, and how to defend
myself against such intentions and
against similar actions,

in this case coming from a
Criminally Minded teacher,

who - being a Criminal Mind -
has the intention to destroy,
to bring down, in particular
the best pupils.

'

While this school was "the best" - teaching
'the classic' foundation of culture, with
Latin and Greek, *(4)

we were NOT given Cicero's orations, to read,

but the completely useless war ramblings
of a Criminal Mind:

'De Bello Gallico,' by Mr. Julius
Ceasar himself.

We were NOT given Plato's discourses to read,
not even Euclid's Elements of Geometry, but

Homer's fairy tales instead.

'

I was deeply offended, and highly disappointed.

And it did not stop there, it was similar in
all the other subjects taught,

I will spare the school my talking about
their "art" classes or about their
"music" classes,

subjects that can be taught VERY WELL,
*(a)

or their "history" *(b) classes, or their
"sports" classes, *(c)

also subjects that can be taught with
intense interest and to great joy and
enormous, life-long benefit.

'

'

Yet the director of the school, the 'rector,'
Mr. Nederlof, was a very nice and very kind
man, with love for his pupils and for people in
general.

The teachers - except for the one mentioned -
were not evil, not stupid, not ugly, not
unwilling.

The same applied to the pupils, except
for a few usual exceptions.

'

BUT they did not go out and look where
teaching WAS being done:

No, 'they were a school, so "by definition,
they were teaching",' isn't it:

'School' (noun) - 'A place where teaching
done.'

and

"They were the best school around, so BY
DEFINITION they were teaching best."

'

I had become thoroughly convinced,
that - also at my school -

my being curious and alive and
intelligent, and my really being
interested, and desiring full
understanding, and my also bringing
that understanding about in myself,

was not appreciated at all, was
not desired or appreciated in ANY
pupil,

neither by any of the
classmates, the pupils,

nor by any of the teachers,

at this 'highest quality school.'

'

Instead, things had to be thought
of as being "difficult to learn and
understand," and "you had to study
hard and do a lot of 'homework',"

"before you could even begin
to grasp a subject, let alone
be good in it."

"And it was so difficult," that
"some people could not even
grasp it at all, and had to leave
school."
"They were 'not intelligent enough'
for this great school," so I was
told.

'

There is not anything at all
taught on that school, that
is difficult:

Even the most stupid
person

- provided he is able
to talk about and is
willing to discuss
all of the subjects
taught -

can easily complete the
classes, and that, in
half the time (the six
years) that the school
takes for it, now,

and completing it
WITHOUT doing any
'homework.'

That is, if one does simply
understand, what learning and
teaching IS, *(1)(2)

which is NOT what
current schools or
any 'study courses'
say "it is."

'

It was MADE difficult:

This elevated the teachers above the pupils,
and it elevated the teachers above the parents,

and it was hiding the fact, and it made it
acceptable, that NONE of the teachers could
teach,

nor did they know anything about the nature
and functioning of teaching itself,

other than intuitively, which however,
as with my teacher for English, was
opposed to the methods, instructions
and text-books that all teachers had to
use and follow.

'

There was one teacher, however, and, as
you might ask for his name, I will give
it to you right now,

Mr. Doornik taught biology lessons to
the first and second year classes of the
school,

and he largely contributed to the
illusion in me, that our curiosity
and desire for learning and
observing and creating WAS wanted,
WAS desired, and WAS APPRECIATED:

He gave us things, plants mainly, which
he brought for each of us, to observe,
and to make drawings of.

He gave each of us what he jokingly
called 'peer-tubes,' (a magnifying
pocket lens, to peer through) to see
the wondrous world of living things with.

But there was something else,
that also only HE did, which again
established more firmly the idea
in my mind (and in his mind too)

that the school actually was for
learning:

'

This teacher actually placed the most
eager and most interested pupils IN THE
FRONT OF THE CLASS.

And at the same time, he put those who
refused to learn, or showed no interest,
IN THE BACK OF THE CLASS.

This kept perfect order and respect
in his class, because each pupil
was respected as he actually was,

and this brought about a calm,
quiet atmosphere ideal for teaching
and learning.

The intelligent and faithful
reader might recognize the
proper definition and use of
'respect,' here, at work.

'

He did NOT treat all people as 'equal,'
but, as they were - as very different,

which is the only way of course
to give them an ACTUALLY equal
(equal should mean) FAIR treatment,

and not an enforced, 'fake
"equal":'

I treat a person as the
person he is - a unique
person - a soul, and not as
someone else as that would be
a big insult to a sane
person.

Rather than treating them as if
they were "as everyone should be,"

he was willing to treat pupils as
they are:

He was RESPECTING them as
they were.

'

This was his success in teaching, in
having interested, active pupils -
those in the front rows:

These felt appreciated, and unhindered in
their curiosity and their desire to
understand and examine things,

and the other ones, in the back rows,
equally felt respected, because their
intention to make learning Ugly, was
ALSO recognized and ALSO given the
appropriate respect.

His pupils would not forget him,
for his story about how the giraffe
is actually a fictitious animal:

"Santa Claus, the Stork, AND the
Giraffe, 'do not exist'."

which I will explain to you
at some time, if no one else
does.

After the summer holiday ended, I learned
to my dismay, that the other teachers
had gotten rid of him - I assumed, he was
not polished and smooth enough to "fit
in,"

being slightly rude and lacking in
Beauty,

not fitting in with those who
"kindly" or smoothly refuse to see
or name evil where it is, and who
agree, to 'call it something else;'

not "fitting in" with those (the
'normal' teachers) who had 'closed
their eyes' - and who 'kept their
eyes closed' - whenever they looked
at their pupils.

'

'

I repeat: Being curious and alive and intelligent,
and really being interested, and desiring full
understanding, and also bringing that understanding
about,

was not at all appreciated, was not desired or
appreciated in ANY pupil,

neither by any of the classmates (the other
pupils), nor by any of the teachers,

at this 'highest quality school.'

'

'

Well, feeling thoroughly betrayed, and
certainly not without reason, by the
school and by my parents,

who "explained" it as "me being
too young" - having skipped one
class in primary school, I was
now "too young,"

which translated to me, then,
as: 'too interested, too
intelligent, having too
little agreement with making
myself - AT A SCHOOL - as
stupid as was expected, and
which all others obviously
complied with,'

and as: 'refusing to see or
admit, that any supposedly
"normal" person, would want
to be evil to ME,'

and while I still was appreciated
as the president of the school's
student association,

the board of which had
merely the function of
organizing the school
parties,

I spent the rest of my school years
mainly staring out of the class room
windows,

at the seasons going by

(that is how you are using my
abilities,

that is what you do, to nurture
my love for people; and there was

no Master Verocchio around, far
and wide, to teach, and to nurture
my talents;

and you can imagine, what you are
doing to the talents of others,
and to the love of others for
people - with such a school)

but I spent the time AFTER school and
during holidays,

to 'raid' the local town library,

and to build my electronics, at home,
and to take my motor bike apart, at home,
and to create a chemical laboratory, at
home, and to listen to music on my
home-built sound system, and to roam the
countryside to study plants and birds,
and doing my sailing sport during summer
and autumn weekends, or in the holidays.

'

'

Jokingly I might remark, that there were
a few times, though, that I did impose
upon the school:

When I found out, by accident, that they
had a well-equipped physics laboratory
stashed away behind doors usually locked,

which was meant only, however,
for the very ambitious teacher,

and then only for the purpose of
occasionally taking something
out of it, to demonstrate it in
front of the class.

I remember sneaking in there, at times,
during lunch break, after I discovered
it, and my clandestinely handling the
machinery for physical experiments,

till it was found out by the
'claviger amanuensis' - Mr.
Waarsink, you certainly like to
know his name -

whose task it was, to keep those
machines away from the pupils, and
occasionally to prepare one (an
apparatus) for the physics class,

which allowed him to use the title
of 'amanuensis,' here meaning 'the
assistant to the (physics and
chemistry) teachers.'

'Claviger' translates as
'key-bearer' - he was the
janitor for the school
building.

'

'

Well, un-intentionally I have given you
some more anecdotes, here, which should
connect to the subject of teaching, and

to the consequences of NOT teaching or
of pretending to teach, at school, as was
the case in my school time,

and which is still largely the case in
all schools, no matter what are the study
methods or the slogans that are in use,
about "learning for life," or "learning
for the job." *(2)

It has not changed much, which
is why I am talking about it to
you.

In my next life time, I wouldn't
mind going to an actual school,
you see,

where pupils are ALLOWED to
learn, and not only that,

but also are NOT prevented
from naturally being as they
are, alive and curious and
intelligent and inquisitive,

being much more so
than their teachers.

Where pupils are not being
forced to place themselves
BELOW the teachers

when the teachers have
to claim and enforce
and maintain, that
"they, the teachers,
know more."

Every person does,
on SOME subject, know
vastly more than you
do - about his own life
and his own emotions
for instance, even if
subconsciously only.

'

And it may dawn on you, that the
whole idea of "a teacher is senior
to his pupils," or "a guru is
senior to his students,"

is OPPOSED to the nature of
teaching itself.

Instead, you DO know the correct concept of
seniority, because you know about COACHING:

the subject of coaching someone - TO FIND,
KINDLE AND BRING OUT, ONE OR MORE PARTICULAR
OR GENERAL TALENTS OR ABILITIES OF SOMEONE.

'

'

True teaching assumes, that it is not unlikely,
that the talent coached (for instance your
talent) is bigger than the talent of the coach.

That tells you ONE aspect - and a major
aspect at that - of teaching. *(2)

Any teacher KNOWS (he can feel and he does
feel) that it is his purpose to bring out - to
touch and to develop - the TALENTS of his
pupils.

And talent is guided by curiosity, and
by joy - the JOY of learning something,
the JOY of acquiring some understanding
of something, and some ability to do
things, the JOY of

etc. etc. etc. etc.

The whole idea (anything that is
connected to the idea) that "it is
difficult," or, that "you have to do it,
to pass an exam," does not enter into it,
at all.

"It is difficult to play the
violin" IF you do not really
want to study playing it.

But if you really WANT to learn to
play it, then the whole concept of
"it is difficult," has no meaning:

It is your JOY to learn it, so what
has that to do with anything, that
"it is difficult."

"It is difficult to operate
a computer" - well, you tell
that to a ten year old, and
he or she just laughs in your
face! "What do you mean,
with 'it is difficult'!"

'

But at school, they tried to tell or
force onto you, at any opportunity they
saw fit for it, that "it is difficult" to
study.

"Do your homework! This is a very
difficult subject - work hard!"

'

I think now, that what they meant
but could not express, is, that
THEY did not (and do not) know how
to teach, meaning,

that it was difficult FOR THEM, to
be teaching, because

TEACHING IS LIKE COACHING THE
TALENTS AND INTERESTS OF OTHERS,
OF THE PUPILS. (see 'Textnotes,'
below)

'

For years, I used to have 'nightmares' -
which were dreams about my appearing
at school (at high school - college),
and my appearing in classes and in front
of teachers,

WHILE I ALREADY HAD PASSED my final school
exam (passed and completed),

so, why all their stressing to me 'how
difficult,' or 'how important for my
future' the subjects were,

their ideas of 'difficult,' and
of 'important' had now become
ridiculous in the extreme,

because in those 'nightmares' I was
returning to school, "as a pupil,"
AFTER completing it,

much like Heinz Ruhmann did act,
as an actor, in the German
black-and-white movie 'Die
Feuerzangen-bowle.'

Well, the faithful reader knows enough
about me, or about life itself, to figure
out that dream.

'

Another point quite worth mentioning, is,
that the night before the final exam,

the last and verbal part of the
final school exam, that you have
to pass, in order to be able to go
to university,

I had a very nice party, there was plum
wine, a swimming pool in the garden, and
nice girls, and I did not feel at all
like sleeping, but very happy instead;

and so I appeared at the exams, without
having slept the night before, but fully
rested nonetheless.

I thought, it was maybe the plum
wine, that had wrought the miracle,

but the experiment could not be
repeated with the same result.

'

There are quite other factors at
work:

Sleeping is basically the
same as hypnotism. *(cc)

About which more in another
HRI.

'

Any teacher KNOWS, that his purpose for being a
teacher is, to bring out, to touch and to develop
the TALENTS of his pupils.

And talent is guided by curiosity, and by joy - the
JOY of learning something, the JOY of acquiring some
understanding and some ability to do things,

especially the ability to see, to feel,
to know and to understand and do things,
that others of good will and taste
would appreciate - in short

the JOY of life.

'

Koos Nolst Trenite "Cause Trinity"
human rights philosopher and poet

'Choose my instruction
rather than silver,
choose knowledge
rather than gold.'

King Solomon

________
See also:

'Note On Teaching History' of 22 Apr 2005, in

Section '(Note on teaching history)' *(2)
found in:
'Leonardo Da Vinci - About Aliens, Dimensions, Consciousness,
Time, And Earth's Past And Future'
{HRI 20040829-V3.4.3}
'

_________________
Note on the Title:

(*) 'Learning, Teaching and Schools' {HRI 20060815} (the HRI you
have in front of you now) is taken from:

'Anecdotes of Koos Nolst Trenite Opposing Crime - What Is 'Zero
Tolerance,' Definition - Mozart Effect to Prevent Crime'
{HRI 20060305-V3.0}
(soon to be issued)
'

_________
Textnotes:

(a) Someone who actually CAN teach music, is Mr. Burge - David Lucas
Burge - his courses are called 'Perfect Pitch' master classes,
and 'Relative Pitch' levels 1-5.

He teaches the very basics of music itself, and he teaches it
very well (he recorded his twenty or so years of skill, on audio
tapes or CD's).

And then, furthermore, it is of course interesting, always, what
the best performers feel and think about music, as for instance
in

'Violin Mastery - Talks with Master Violinists and Teachers - by
Frederic H. Martens'

to give you an example of actually teaching something about
music.
'

(b) History is brought about by INDIVIDUALS, and not "by countries,"
nor "by battles fought," etc.:

These countries, and any battles, ALL were led, moved, directed,
by INDIVIDUALS.

Criminal Minds do not want you to know that, and they
invent all kind of concepts, to replace and hide the
truth, that things are ALWAYS caused by INDIVIDUALS,

including, of course, by Criminal Minds, that you
- if you live in a free country - are taught about as
having been intensely evil INDIVIDUALS, in history.

Truth is DEFINED as 'that what happened, who caused it, and with
what intention.'

That also applies to history teaching, of course.

'

This gives you an opening to ACTUALLY studying history, as it
concerns you very much.

Biographies or historic novels or documentaries, of a
period, area or activity that you are interested in, might
be very good starting points for studying history.

Making yourself aware of and thus FEELING the past, is of very
great value to you, and you become of much greater value to
others because now you can UNDERSTAND others - IF you want to
experience the joy of life, of being intensely alive, that is.

'The more you are aware of the past, the more you are in the
present, because the present is almost completely made up of
the past, and the future is almost completely carrying on from,
and determined by actions and decisions made also in the past -
mostly even in a very distant past, by others mostly too.'

Quote from: 'Living In The Present - Definition'
{HRI 20030102} (2 Jan 2003)
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.philosophy/msg/79b86c004f4c16ad
See also:
'The Second Mozart-Effect - Connecting To Your Own Past'
(3 Sept 2002 - Version 1.1)
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.europe/msg/5b077edfe7634b7b
'

(bb) Section '(Note on teaching history)'
found in:
'Leonardo Da Vinci - About Aliens, Dimensions, Consciousness,
Time, And Earth's Past And Future'
{HRI 20040829-V3.4.3}
(29 August 2004 - Version 3.4.3 on 18 May 2006)
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.writing/msg/d986639cd9593ee1
'

(c) You might say, that Pilates - Joseph Pilates, who lived and
worked in the first half of the previous century - that knowing
and practicing his understanding of handling the body, might
very well be the basis of ANY sports teaching.

Sports can be (and should be done in such a way, that it will
be) an excellent way of getting more in command of your own and
your body's Life Energies, and to create more of your own
Energies and to let your body create more of its Life Energies:

(cc) AND to remove - from your body and from your soul - quite some
of the harmful and hypnotic Energies that anyone on Earth is
continuously bombarded with, not only to bring about sleep, and
illness and the like, but also, and in particular inflicted
during the rather defenseless period of time spent sleeping -
hence 'morning gymnastics,' 'morning shower,' 'morning coffee,'
and 'groggy with sleep,' 'morning sickness,' 'needing more
sleep,' and so on.
'

_________
Footnotes:

(1) 'Learning And Reading - Leonardo Da Vinci and Galileo Galilei had
an excellent command of reading and writing'
{HRI 20040811}
(11 August 2004)
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.education/msg/a99e7ca6e050df1a

(2) Section '(Note on teaching history)' of 22 April 2005,
found in:
'Leonardo Da Vinci - About Aliens, Dimensions, Consciousness,
Time, And Earth's Past And Future'
{HRI 20040829-V3.4.3}
(29 August 2004 - Version 3.4.3 on 18 May 2006)
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.writing/msg/d986639cd9593ee1

(3) 'Normal Life Disaster From Not Understanding A Criminal Mind
(A True Story)'
{HRI 20040927-V2.7}
(27 Sept 2004 - Version 2.7 on 17 Oct 2004)
http://groups.google.com/group/sci.med/msg/893fea2afc715539

(4) 'The Nature Of Life As Seen From Earth, Introduction: Life Forms'
{HRI 20010829-pi1-V1.1}
(29 August 2001 - part issue 1 Version 1.1 on 8 Aug 2005)
http://groups.google.com/group/Fine-Particle-Physics/msg/ca03e63aa71603eb
'

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Copyright 2006 by Koos Nolst Trenite - human rights philosopher
and poet
This is 'learnware' - it may not be altered, and it is free for
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who vehemently oppose any true knowledge of life and of themselves).
None of my writings may be used, ever, to support any political
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encourage people to judge un-dominated and for themselves,
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