Entries in the 'Education' Category

“Women And Girls Have Been Hit Hardest”

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from Plan and the Overseas Development Institute): “Girls are bearing the brunt of the global economic recession – being more likely to experience poverty, reduced life expectancy and drop out of school, according to a new report from Plan and the Overseas Development Institute (ODI). …

“It says family poverty hits girls hardest – with only a 1% fall in GDP increasing infant mortality by 7.4 deaths per 1,000 girls versus 1.5 for boys.

“The findings also indicate that food shortages and malnutrition are more common among girls than boys. Women also reduce their own food consumption to become ‘shock absorbers’ for household security.

“As women go out to work longer hours for less money, more girls are pushed out of school and into filling the gaps at home with domestic work, into hazardous child labour or even transactional sex.”

My Comment: Integral education leads us to building a society of equals, providing everyone with basic needs, and everyone’s duty to participate in their own correction (education and upbringing). If we stop producing more than is essential for existence, we will get rid of unnecessary and harmful work and will be able to raise ourselves to the next level dictated by nature, the level of integral humanity.
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David Cameron: “Don’t Force Political Union”

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from Reuters): “British Prime Minister David Cameron told European leaders on Thursday that any attempt to force countries into ever-deeper political union was a mistake that Britain would not be part of. …

“’Countries in Europe have their histories, their traditions, their institutions, want their own sovereignty, their ability to make their own choices, and to try and shoehorn countries into a centralised political union would be a great mistake for Europe, and Britain wouldn’t be part of it,’ he said in a speech.”

My Comment: He is right. It is not worth getting closer. I must be prepared in advance to live with another person in one room. It is necessary to implement integral education first, and only then to the extent of its impact on the European nations, bring them closer together, up to a single country—only this approach will be beneficial.
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Spaniards Are Willing To Work For Free

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from Espanarusa.com): “The economic crisis has disappointed Spaniards so much that 14% of unemployed people aged over 30 are willing to work for free, with no financial reward. The survey revealed that among the Spaniards, who have a job, 18% do not receive a salary. Three out of every four explain that working for free will help them find a paid position in the future.”

My Comment: Society is not obliged to provide everyone with work, but it must take care of providing basic necessities for everyone. It also should take care of integral education for all the citizens in order to bring society to equilibrium with Nature.
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Bringing Integral Methodology To The World

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If positive and correct surroundings ever emerge in Israel, what will it look like?

Answer: I spoke about specifics in Israel yesterday in Ashdod at the lecture that was dedicated to “What Awaits Us in 2013.” All we can expect is the result of our own work. Whatever we accomplish, we’ll get back accordingly. We are the masters of our destiny and all depends on what we choose.

If we know how this world is organized and governed and have some idea on what the upper force is, the way It acts and where It leads us, if we follow it and become Its partners, we will easily and quickly reach success. In this case, everybody will follow us and we will be blessed both in this world and in the upper world.

If we don’t do that, we will have to go through very harsh adversities, mostly in the fields of safety, healthcare, unemployment, anti-Semitism, etc. We will be subject to very strong pressure that will obligate us to do our job anyway and give the method of correction to the entire world.

The world has always hated Jews without any clear understanding of the reason for this animosity and they blame the Jews for all their troubles. Today, we have to explain to others why they hate us so much. Actually, unless we fulfill our mission, there is reason to hate us. However, hatred by itself won’t help. Other nations should be assisting us in the mass distribution of the wisdom of Kabbalah masses; it will bring all of us to correction.

The time has come; there is no point in waiting for something particular to happen. Whatever comes about will be an outcome of our desires. This is what I talked about at the lecture.

We have to move in this direction, and Israel will become the center of the worldwide education where the Light will spread to all.

This means that there will be a large integrated education academy. It will be based on a strong and solid ideological platform; thousands of people will learn how to act together in connection with each other. For without connection, there is no force. They will be similar to the Sanhedrin, and unity will let people develop new and innovative methods of educating children, adults, and various sectors of society and will provide answers to their questions.

So the method of correction will spread from here all over the world, and our regional groups will become major educational branches that will adapt and translate the study materials to suit their countries and regions. They will hold workshops, lectures, discussions, and broadcasts in the media so that the methodology will quickly spread everywhere and the world will see it as the only way to achieve a good and comfortable future and satisfaction.

And then, thanks to integral education, people will see that there is another “dimension” behind it. People will see that unity offers them the possibility of a special uplifting, and they will aspire to it. This is the way they will attain the Creator. It is said: “All shall know Me from the least unto the greatest.” The wisdom and general desire to unite with the upper force and nature, to achieve harmony, universal integral relationships, internal connection, and worldwide community based on the principles of mutual guarantee will spread throughout the world.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/11/13, “The Peace”

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Computers Have Overshadowed Children’s Interest In Traditional Toys

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from GlobalScience.ru): “American psychologists are alarmed. Today’s kids increasingly abandon traditional toys in favor of computers; moreover, the process begins at a very early age. This trend is observed in all the developed countries and brings producers of traditional toys to ruin. Is it necessary to teach children to use computer technology so early, immersing them in the virtual world?

“Psychologists warn that happiness is in good communication with the child, spending time together with him, and therefore, they advise parents not to buy their way out of responsibilities with expensive toys, but to spend more time with children.”

My Comment: We have made our life so that we have no time for children; we push them towards computers. If it were not for the threat of the ruin of manufacturers and sellers of traditional toys, no one would have raised the issue. In integral education that Kabbalah offers, the main emphasis is on communication between children and discussions with the teacher, guided tours, and games; working with a computer is only supplementary.
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The Debilitation Of The USA

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from Fox News): “ Nearly one-fourth of the students who try to join the U.S. Army fail its entrance exam, painting a grim picture of an education system that produces graduates who can’t answer basic math, science and reading questions. …

“The report by The Education Trust found that 23 percent of recent high school graduates don’t get the minimum score needed on the enlistment test to join any branch of the military. …

“The military exam results are also worrisome because the test is given to a limited pool of people: Pentagon data shows that 75 percent of those aged 17 to 24 don’t even qualify to take the test because they are physically unfit, have a criminal record or didn’t graduate high school. …

“The study shows wide disparities in scores among white and minority students, similar to racial gaps on other standardized tests. Nearly 40 percent of black students and 30 percent of Hispanics don’t pass, compared with 16 percent of whites. The average score for blacks is 38 and for Hispanics is 44, compared to whites’ average score of 55. …

“A Department of Defense report notes the military must recruit about 15 percent of youth, but only one-third are eligible. More high school graduates are going to college than in earlier decades, and about one-fourth are obese, making them medically ineligible.

My Comment: Nothing can be achieved by force. Integral upbringing must come first and education only in parallel with it. Otherwise, students will not study. And with integral education, they want this education themselves; this is what we see in our system. Integral upbringing uses the natural inclination of children and adults, not pressure and coercion.
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Responsible For Humanity

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhat is the future of humanity because every day it feels itself more and more confused? Underneath the external bravado there are small, perplexed people who don’t know what to do. They rush from side to side, trying to eliminate the causes of all the problems: social, political, economic, and environmental. And the problems will keep on growing because at the center of them is the human being who is not adapted to the new system, a new world.

That is why we are faced with an enormous task of telling humanity about the new world and how to match it. We have to feel responsible for this.

There is no need to wait until suffering accelerates the development of humanity; on the contrary, it slows down this process. People hide from suffering, shrink, and can accept nothing. Instead of expanding, understanding, and correcting, people begin to regress backward. Only the proper awareness of the problems will speed up their development. That is why we need to make every effort to bring our message to humanity.

Integral education, integral upbringing, the integrality of all the levels, sectors, nations, and states is the future of humanity; there is no other method. It depends only on us, our global group, which way will take there: being forced or by a kind and short path. Therefore, I urge you to think about this and develop clear plans for our dissemination.

Dissemination consists of two systems:

1. Internal dissemination: the connection between us who study the science of Kabbalah and strive towards unity, as well as between us and the world;

2. External dissemination: through the Internet, books, lectures, workshops, etc.

But one should not be at the expense of the other! The proportion should be the following: internally, we have to expand constantly educating teachers and organizers. Hundreds of thousands, millions of people will need us!

You will soon see that this need will arise. Even today, if we were ready, we could find the employment of our forces in the field of integral education. You can do everything! You have no idea how important each of you are to the world! You have to bring yourselves up as teachers of the world. This is the guarantee of the good future of humanity.

I hope that we will be able to bring a new approach to the world, especially through our inner part, through internal dissemination, through the common network, linking all the people in the world. It depends only on us. And here of course, our personal obstacles will either help us or hinder us from accomplishing this mission.
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From the Novosibirsk Convention 12/9/12, Lesson 6

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American Teachers Learn To Shoot

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from The Province): “Teachers have flocked to a Utah firearms training programme to teach them how to tackle an armed assault like the Sandy Hook massacre, which left 20 children and six teachers dead earlier this month.

“More than 200 teachers responded to the Mass Violence Response Training course offered by the Utah Shooting Sports Council, a week after the National Rifle Association (NRA), the powerful national gun lobby group, launched a controversial campaign to put armed guards in every school in America.

“Utah is one of two states in America that allows licensed teachers to carry concealed firearms on school premises.”

My Comment: Egoism develops, satisfaction diminishes, frustration and stress grow; so, it’s not surprising that this kind of shooting will occur more often if no attention is paid to people changing by means of integral education; no laws will be able to restrict similar incidents.
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Where Are You, Common Europe?

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (Daniel Innerarity Grau, Spanish philosopher and lecturer in philosophy at the University of Zaragoza, Spain): “Power is the ability to define the situation, that is, to impose, by force and manipulation or argumentatively one’s vision. … In the EU, all the members participate in that.

“The euro crisis has caused break up of the weak union that was formed around certain shared goals and equally shared fears. But this union was fragile and yielded to the powerful voice of some states. …There is no solution to the institutional crisis of the EU until all the member states become convinced that they are not autonomous, but interdependent and hence are obliged to cooperate as a whole. ….

“An understanding and acceptance of these duties require a sense of co-belonging that no historical distinctiveness or administrative body seems able to provide. …

“The European Union is a real challenge to the idea that a national state is the only form of political community and identity. A uniform national identity is not a requirement either for democracy or for solidarity. … The European democratic experiment is precisely an attempt to share rights and responsibilities, costs and benefits, but without the guarantee of a national interaction of the old style.

“Consequently, Europe is established not only through institutional reforms, but also through shared practices. … Governments have to end up accepting, however reluctantly, the fact the European Commission will have more power.

My Comment: An egoistic approach by each country to the EU tears this union apart, and it is quickly heading towards its collapse. Salvation is only in intensive integration. But this is possible only under the condition of educating all the EU members in the spirit of unity. Its absence before the creation of the EU brought about all their problems. But this defect has not been corrected yet. It is necessary to implement integral education for the EU; otherwise, we will witness its collapse …
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The Recovery From The Crisis Is In Self-Correction

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (Lucrezia Reichlin, professor of economics at London Business School):  “‘The economy is spoken about everywhere after the crisis of 2008. It seemed that things will resume, but in reality in Europe, which is in recession, things got worse since the summer of 2011. …’

“‘If Europe, including Germany, does not address the problem and get into a position to invest in “education,” if human capital will not be enhanced, and if the problem of corruption is not solved, I would be very worried.’”

My Comment: Education and corruption cannot be cured without introducing an integral approach to humanity and its re-education.
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