Fear

The definition of Fear I have used and believe deeply in my heart is that fear is the absence of knowledge or, in other words, people are only afraid of that which they do not know or understand.  One of the more interesting eyeopeners I have discovered this semester with my students was ushered in by my mandate for my students to read the daily articles I publish with my commentary on the article and expect a reply from each student on what the article says to them that same day. I think seal the circle by speaking to the articles, at times, in my classroom comments or will actually take class time to have team / class debates on the issues of the article's core issue. That is powerful I have learned for that is where real learning is seeded; when the student can and does express their ideas in a qualified manner.

In that process I realize I have uncovered a tender morsel of so many students having to face up to the issues that comprise the patchwork of our very complex and fearful world.  I have had a hunger to understand since I was a small boy and that hunger is insatiable.  Having experienced much of this world in my Goodyear career in seeing many cultures, dealing with many complex matters, having seen the ugly side of people, businesses, economies, countries; that is a powerful elixir for me to seek daily to try and understand the many dots that in some way must be connected.  Having now forced that energy into course work on my students, I am finding  in the replies in many ways words that they are realizing a deep fear of our world resides in these young minds. 

But let me go back to definition of Fear that you only fear that which you do not know or understand but, therefore, the pain of fear, for me, is actually motivational as these young minds are stretched in new directions, different paces and myriad hues and colors.  I yearn to ignite a hunger in my students for them to want to understand the major issues of this every shifting planet of complexities. Why? I believe the more you understand, the richer decisions are made going forward based on knowledge.  That learning is wrapped into the core course objectives thus putting  the ribbon on the gift I believe.

My wife at times will ask me why is important to understand "all that stuff" for "there is nothing you can do about it .."  Great questions with few answers but my response is that the more you know and understand, the better the decisions to slow the rot and enhance the good is triggered. I sincerely believe that.

At the aggregate of the Why my mandate to my students is simple; these minds are the cultural leaders of our future. It is they that will make the decisions. It is they that will die in wars yet to be fought. It is they that will run businesses. It is they that will birth their future and build into that future the cultural values my students are learning today and I get to be part of that equation; how powerful is that?!  How motivating is that?!

I do not seek to make my students always comfortable and warm and fuzzy. I do seek to find a way to get to places in their brains via education that will open new avenues and hungers to want to understand for in doing that, fear, the terrible shadow of fear is triggered.  When I read or hear, "I never had a clue about x, y or z .." or "I have often wondered about that but never had to think about it ...! Those are statements that tell me the brains are being opened and filled with the phenomenal stimulant of knowledge thus accelerating the evaporation of the ghosts of fear. I hate fear and seek to make it go away by replacing it with the sweet cool taste of the water of knowing.

As we begin week four of this semester, I will find new ways to stretch the minds but at the same time to always be there to explain, to illustrate, to challenge my students to debate. I tell my students that education does not happen in the classroom with a professor reading from a PowerPoint but education takes place when a student hears something in a class room, gains competence in that new knowledge and then takes the initiative to engage someone outside the class to share and debate that new knowledge.  Competence, you see, leads to Confidence.

In my selection of articles and in my commentary, I seek to find a very different focus of the article from the previous days submission. I want my students to get a sense of the constellation of events and issues such as the latest QE3 or then the teacher strike in Chicago or then the, see what I mean?

My distribution list for the articles is rather vast and diverse with many students from years gone by, business leaders I have worked with around the world, military leaders I worked with, childhood friends; a very eclectic clientele but the primary target audience is the current semester of students; the Makers of the Tomorrrows!