Miscellaneous things to know

by John Bandler

Here are some "things to know" about learning and life, from my perspective.

Most of this my personal opinion, and opinions vary, I don't require others to agree. But I just ask others to know what my opinion is and to consider it.

If you are a student of mine, you may see these questions in the future (though it depends what course you are taking).

According to Bandler, the most important thing for your success in the class, in school, and life (however you define success) is your _____________________
- Effort.
- With good continual effort, you will keep making progress. Without effort, you probably will not.
According to Bandler, the most important quality when selecting an employee, candidate, or government official is _______________________
- Ethics (character).
- If a person has good ethics, they will try to do the right thing for the company, city, state, country (whoever they are employed by), rather than act in personal interest. They will be honest about their beliefs, what happened in the past, and what they intend to do in the future.
- A person without ethics will say or do whatever is convenient to suit their own interests.
Having a "growth mindset" means what?
- Realizing we can continually grow and improve ourselves, no matter where we come from and where we are now. We can learn from mistakes, and learn new skills. We keep trying and putting in effort to do better next time
Lots of organizations and individuals try to influence what we think and do: True False
- True
How do we become resistant to propaganda, misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories? (choose one)
- Just Google it and follow the top results like a sheep follows the shepherd.
- Seek facts from reliable sources, be a critical consumer of information, analyze facts, apply reason and logic.
How do we become resistant to propaganda, misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories?
- Seeking reliable information and facts. Being critical consumers of information, including media and news media. Analyzing facts. Applying logic and reason to develop reasonable conclusions and opinions. Being wary of calls to emotion, anger, and fear.
Who is in charge of your learning in this course, school, and life?
- You. Your learning in class, in the school, and in life is in your hands.
- Knowledge and skills in reading, researching, thinking, writing, editing, presenting, and law are important for whatever you chose to do in life.
Where should your research start for course related projects?
- Course materials within the syllabus
What skills are important in life? (No matter what profession or job you choose)
- Reading, researching, thinking, analyzing, writing, editing, speaking and presenting
What are the best ways to build yourself and your thinking while pursuing your degree? (Choose one)
- Rely heavily on Google, ChatGPT, and copy and paste functions.
- Put in effort, do the assigned reading, think critically, do your own writing, proofread and edit your own writing.
True/False: Education comes from sitting in class and getting a piece of paper indicating either your course credits or a final degree.
True/False: Most of your learning is done by you, reading the assigned materials, and doing solid research.
True/False: Learning is in your own hands. No one can give you an education, you need to take it.
True/False: The learning is in the effort of reading, thinking, and writing. A tool that does this for your magically robs you of the ability to build these important skills.
Why is it important you inform yourself with facts and reliable information?
- To make good decisions about anything, we need facts and reliable information. If we make a decision based on falsities or lies, it probably won't be a good decision.
Why should every eligible voter cast an informed vote?
- Voting is an essential part of citizenry and democracy. One candidate is almost always better (or worse) than another. With information and facts and logic, an informed vote should be cast.
Why should citizens take their obligation for jury duty seriously?
- Jury duty is an important part of our country and a democracy. Facts and verdicts are often decided by a jury of citizens (not by a government official). Juries are an important check on government. We need responsible jurors willing to do their duty and follow the law, and use common sense.
We can improve our habits to meet deadlines that that will serve us well in life. (True/False)
Supervisors, bosses, customers, clients, family, and friends will be annoyed (or worse) if we miss deadlines. (True/False)
What is the most important quality when selecting someone for a job (any job, including elected officials)?
- Ethics, character
What is a better way to evaluate facts and form opinions? Fear and anger? Or logic and reason? Why?
We should all know something about law (True/False)
We should always improve these things within ourselves: knowledge, research skills, reading, thinking, writing, editing, and speaking.
Why is it important you inform yourself with facts and reliable information?
What is the difference between a fact and an opinion (or conclusion)?
Where can you get reliable facts and information? Name some general places and and specific places.
What places might have unreliable facts, or highly skewed conclusions?
Is it possible for this country to build better voters and consumers? How?

Disclaimer

These are short Q&As and cannot be expected to capture all nuances of all terms.

This page contains my personal opinion, feel free to disagree, but that is why I phrased some of these questions as "According to Bandler". I don't require students to follow my opinion, I just want them to remember what my opinion was, and then they can decide for themselves. I also do not pretend I am perfect personally. I am just trying to put some principles together that can help people learn, help them generally, and help the country.

Purpose of this page

This page is a study aid for my students, and a place for me to draw quiz and assignment questions from.

The goal is for students to learn important concepts, especially foundational concepts that provide footholds for learning more complex concepts. This is the learning concept of "scaffolding", where you start low, learn things, build the knowledge and concept complexity up. See my article on scaffolding and learning (link below).

I used to emphasize these things only in class, quizzes, and assignments, but then realized more was needed, because by the end of the semester, some students had not learned some of these things. By providing this study page and linking to it, I find that students have more opportunity to study and then learn better.