Transcripts to the “Alien Thoughts” videos

 

Welcome! And don't judge the  blog by its "cover", please.   

Appearances can be deceiving.

The Litmus Test.

I am looking for a manager in the field of (distant) education, who:

·     Knows the  difference between remote teaching and online learning;

·     Distinguishes being polite from being nice;

·     Is not afraid to team up with people who may disagree with her/him;

·     Seeks in others professionals skills and knowledge;

·     Values long-term goals over short-term gains;

and

·     who is capable of making bold decisions.

I have a stable full time job (and a gig or two).

But I believe in the future of distant education, (especially for teacher professional development), and would like to switch to that area full time (my last career change). 

I have all the relevant experience (and more), including, but not limited to, teaching – in its most general sense: selecting the relevant content, developing a syllabus, envisioning learning trajectories, designing teaching strategy, creating teaching tools (to facilitate and guide learning, to assess learning outcomes), and teaching (literally – acting as a teacher).

In addition to my professional experience, I have various publications on the matters of teaching science and philosophy of education (and more).

But my most valuable “badge of honor” is a decade of a proven (!) professional success <= this is the link I would advise to start from, of course, if you are curious enough.

Sincerely,

Dr. Valentin Voroshilov

"I hated physics before taking this course, and now after taking both 105 and 106 with Mr. V, I actually really enjoy it. He is one of the best teachers I've ever had. Thank you"

 

 What I Do: Dr. Voroshilov: from A to Z; (Professional past, present, and future of a driven professional, an eloquent expert, a productive author, and a collaborative colleague)

Who I Am: Dr. Voroshilov: A Peek Inside!

·      

          The Full List Of Posts

·                Politics

·                Artificial Intelligence

·                Fundamentals of Quantum Physics 

·                Full List Of Post On Education

·                Philosophy Of Education

·                Strategies For Teaching Science

·                From The Top Of My Head: a collection of random ideas

Two short video presentations:

1. Open Classroom Initiative: invest in thefirst world-wide open library of lessons

2. Invest in EdTech and disrupt K12 education

Specific projects for addressing different areas of education and science of education.

 1. Entry125253: High Frequency Data Streams in Education 
(link to the full text)

2. Entry124656: objective measures of physics knowledge 
(link to the full text)
 
3. Entry125317: National database teacher PD 
(link to the full text)
 
4. Entry124655: role of NSF in funding education
(link to the full text) 

5. Entry125719: The new type of a science course for science teachers.  
(link to the full text) 

6. Entry126205: The development of the uniform standard for measuring content knowledge in physics.
(link to the full presentation)

Executive Summary of Professional Experience
(An excerpt from the full description of my path)

(I) Teaching

(A) Groups

5th-graders; 6-th graders; 7-th graders; 8-th graders; 9-th graders; 10-th graders; 11-th graders; 12-th graders; 2-year college students; 4-year college students; university students; school teachers; school administrators; district administrators.
(B) Subjects

Physics for Engineers (two semesters); Elementary Physics (two semesters); algebra, geometry; trigonometry; formal logic; problem solving; group theory (discreet and continuous); methods for teaching science courses; methods for advancing individual teaching practice; managing innovations in education (initiation, implementation, growth, support, assessment, audit).

(II) Managing/Consulting

Assistant to Director of an Institute; Director of Department of computerization and information technologies; Director of Center for Development of City School system; member or a team, leader of a group of consultants for schools and school districts (initiation, implementation, growth, support, assessment, audit of innovations in education).

(III) Learning

graduated from schools with high GPA; participated in a wide range of extracurricular activities; developed personal approach to teaching (flipped the classroom before the approach was described in publications); published papers on various aspects of advancing education; converted publications into PhD theses and then found an adviser; moved to a country without knowing the language; learned the language; learned how to teach using foreign language; started publishing in foreign language.

P.S. A large portion of my ideas come to me while I am in traffic or in a swimming pool. During the day there is not often much of a time to formalize them in a fashionable way. Most of my post are written in one seating as a raw flaw of thoughts. This blog is the best I can do. Well, so far - let's wait for retirement (and the memoir! ). However, I welcome anyone who would like to coauthor a piece and transform it from my "singing as you go" to a fashionable publishable form - polish statements, new points, references, ... . And also, if someone would find in any of my posts a useful idea and used it, I would appreciate a reference to the original.
(C) Education Advancement Professionals consulting services

We, Humans, are the only anti-entropic force in the whole Universe! Everyone has to do his/her part in fighting chaos! That's why the Universe crated us.
P.S.S.
From On the Definition of AI: 

"This is what teachers can do! From the NASA's "Brief History of Rockets"
https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/TRC/Rockets/history_of_rockets.html

“In 1898, a Russian schoolteacher, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935), proposed the idea of space exploration by rocket. In a report he published in 1903, Tsiolkovsky suggested the use of liquid propellants for rockets in order to achieve greater range. Tsiolkovsky stated that the speed and range of a rocket were limited only by the exhaust velocity of escaping gases. For his ideas, careful research, and great vision, Tsiolkovsky has been called the father of modern astronautics.”

What is the difference between an expert and a professional?

A professional does what is needed to be done.

An expert explains - why.  

How do people become professionals?

By accumulating professional experience.

How do people become experts?

By reflecting on accumulated professional experience.                                                        

A Master is an expert professional.

My Mentors taught me a secret of becoming a master teacher:

There are ONLY two rules for becoming a Master

1. Learn from the Masters;  

2. Never stop pushing yourself.

"In order to be able to think you have to risk being offensive" (From Jordan B. Peterson), because ability to take risk is correlated with curiosity (only curious people are capable of taking risk; people who play it safe have no curiosity and hence a vision). 

Disclaimer 
I am an "investigative blogger". I insert myself into a situation I study and then I expose all BS I found there (BTW: BS means "beyond sense-making). I  am not an idiot or a reckless person. I am a person who has strong opinions on matters (I believe U.S. needs more people like that, people who can lay out strong reasons for their statements and take a "blow" of a disagreement). The reason I can allow myself writing what I think, even if that is perpendicular to commonly adopted and conventional views, is that my financial situation is sufficient and stable. Of course, as a normal person, I wouldn't mind making more money, or being involved in more interesting projects (as described in my generic resume). But I do not have to pretend to be someone I'm not to make my living. I am aware of the fact that my chance to find many professionals with views similar to mine is slim. The demand for "professional correctness" is taken to such an extreme that it has become a demand for personal conformity. I believe in telling truth. Truth is facts. Facts are science. I believe in science. Facts can be upsetting or encouraging, but facts cannot be offensive. As a master in my field, I have no reservation to offer my critique of people whose actions overlap with the field of my expertise (human intelligence). I know (and fine with that) that the chance that my writing will have a significant effect is negligible. But the butterfly effect exists, so the chance is not exactly zero.

Welcome! 
Thank you for visiting!
And don't judge the blog by its "cover", please. 
Appearances can be deceiving.

If

then you should not read this blog.

Although, if you can't handle the truth, you cannot solve any problem, because the first step of a problem-solving process is accepting the fact that you have a problem.

Why Russian Americans vote for Trump.

 Why Russian Americans vote for Trump.

There are two types of Americans: American Americans and Russian Americans.

And when I say “Russian Americans” I do not mean Russians who have become Americans (i.e. “American Russians”).

I mean American born Americans who have the same mentality as many Russians do.

And the number one trait of such mentality is the longing for a strong leader who will fix their miserable lives.

The political events of the last decades have proved with the undeniable strength that all those theories propelled by Republicans and Libertarians about Ronald Reagan's “bootstrapping” and “pulling themselves up” is a complete and utter BS (Beyond Sense-making).

When millions of Americans, a year after a year, a decade after a decade, have been losing their good paying jobs, they did not convert themselves into entrepreneurs, they did not “pull themselves up”, no. Instead, they have been quietly struggling and waiting for a “Savior” to come to save them. And then they found that “Savior” in Trump.

BTW: only about 10 % of the human population has the entrepreneurial gene; “Anyone can become the President”, or “Honey, you can be anyone you want!” is simply a big fat lie. Although, when parents lie to their children it's because they don't want to discourage them from trying things. Politicians lie because they want to manipulate ignorant people into doing something that is against their (people) own interests. That is why the voting age is set to a relatively high number. But when biologically adults have the mental capabilities of teenagers, voter manipulation becomes as simple as making children into eating veggies. There are parents who abuse their children - they don't deserve to be parents. Politicians abusing power by exploiting voters who have mental capacities of 15-year-olds must be banned from politics.

BTW: this is why good public education is crucial for democracy.

BTW: this is why the Republicans so against of good public education. They sabotage everything that can improve public education for, well, anyone - Blacks, Hispanics, Whites, ... . Especially Whites! (that's a thinker).

Back to American “Russian Americans”.

Of course, Trump will not solve their problems. Of course, the Republican party will not be able to fix their miserable lives. But the Republicans are using this time as an opportunity to strengthen their hold on political power.

Because those American “Russian Americans” also share another important trait with many Russians – they are ignorant and easily manipulated.

As I wrote before, American Republicans are very similar to Russian Bolsheviks. The only principle they follow is the end justifies the means, assuming the end is the power – at all cost, at any cost, even at the cost of destroying the republic.

George Orwell wrote it very clearly in his 1984 novel: “The object of power is power”.

And the Republicans are fighting teeth and nails for power because, as I wrote more than once, they are very scared of the upcoming demographic (read - racial) changes in America, when the white majority will become the ethnic minority.

When millions of poorly educated Americans feel miserable, it is actually a good thing for the Republican party, because that gives them an opportunity to play a blaming game – “It’s the Democrats!”, “It’s the immigrants!” – “They make your life miserable! Only we can save you!”

And the truth is that the Democrats bare a lot of guilt in making life of millions of Americans miserable. Unfortunately, the DNC does everything it can to hide this fact – and that makes things even better for the Republicans - BTW: one of the reasons why many actual Russian Americans also vote for Trump.
American “Russian Americans” love to display their love for America. The love to repeat on any occasion how proud they are to be an American. But if you ask one - what specifically are you proud of? The answer usually is - what? what do you mean? I'm an American, what else do you need? Well, there are such factors as wage, health, education (!), the feeling of the satisfaction of your life (i.e. happiness, or on the opposite side - a suicidal level), and other parameters of the quality of life, of the general well-being of the commonwealth. Statistics shows that in America, for many Americans, the quality of life is very low - nothing to be really proud about. “But at least I'm free!” is the common denominator for many “Russian Americans”. But - really? Free of healthcare? Free of having good education? What does freedom to enterprise worth if one has no knowledge, skills, and health to do work as smart and as hard as needed? What does freedom to speak your mind worth if the mind is blank? When people say that democracy dies in darkness, that' not very accurate.

Democracy dies in darkness of human minds.

So, to answer the question in the title – many American “Russian Americans” vote for Trump because they do not trust in the ability of American establishment to make their life better, they don’t believe that American establishment cares about them, and because of that (and since they have no good education) they represent an easy prey for manipulative politics.

They very first step the Democrats must make to even begin gaining back the trust of those people is to openly accept their responsibility for the gradual demise of the quality of life of those people.

But since the Democrats are not going to do that, even if Biden takes the With House, Trump or other populist politicians will always be lurking around.

Trump was the legacy of Obama.

Biden’s legacy may be someone even worse than Trump.

P.S. Speaking about the role of education,  found this picture on Facebook. It was posted at an entrance of a South African university.

Transcripts to the “Alien Thoughts” videos

1. https://youtu.be/hUFRvzBfnzU

Hi everyone.

A short note on choosing how to vote in November.

All my life, since I reached the voting age, I knew exactly how to vote, and why.

Until now.

I am 50-50 torn between voting for Trump or Biden.

I know that Trump represents the worst of America, that he rides the wave of racism, fascism, bigotry and misogyny.

But I have serious doubts that Biden, or the Democrats in general, have any idea what is happening in the country, why Trump won, and what to do about that.

Too many Americans still believe that Trump is just a fluctuation.

Too many Americans are still having good life and do not treat Trump as the most dangerous threat to the country’s future.

Maybe, in order to see how serious the things are, America needs another shock – in the form of another Trump’s term.

Although, the next Trump’s term my lead to irreparable social and political damage.

That’s a risk I have to weigh.

Maybe, when the time comes, I’m just gonna toss a coin.

I’m Dr. Valentin Voroshilov.

Thank you for watching “Alien Thoughts”, you can find more on my blog Cognisity.How.

And thank you World for our existence.

 

P.S. For more reading, please start from Why Do I Want To Vote For Trump?

 2.

https://youtu.be/D5D8PccN0UY

Hi everyone.

A short note on how to beat Trump.

I believe that for Biden’s campaign attracting Bernie Sanders supporters is much more important than trying to convert Trump-undecided.

And the best guy for the job is President Obama.

He needs to make a short video (or a speech) saying something along these lines.

“Like many of you, I did not believe that Donald Trump could win the presidency. And like many of you, when that happened, I was shocked. I was forced to reassess my views on the social, economic, and political landscape. And today, I have to admit, that I underestimated the depth and the breadth of the economic struggle of the millions of Americans. That was my mistake, and I don’t want President Biden to repeat it. I believe that Joe needs to design his policies in close cooperation with Senator Sanders. Some of the Bernie Sanders’ ideas may seem too radical. But together, the left wing Democrats and the centrists Democrats will be able to redesign our economy, to shift it from being beneficial to just a few rich guys toward beneficial to all Americans.”

I hope someone from his circle would come across this message and let him know about it.

I’m Dr. Valentin Voroshilov.

Thank you for watching “Alien Thoughts”, you can find more on my blog Cognisity.How.

And thank you World for our existence.

 

P.S. For more reading, please start from In politics thinking makes all the difference.

 

3.

https://youtu.be/vGp7TWWaQ4E

Hi everyone.

A short note on banning foreign students from staying in the U.S..

In a long run, Trump is right about it.

I know, his motives have nothing to do with the wellbeing of the country, but even a broken clock is right twice a day.

America is the only country in the whole world that cannot survive without constant influx of foreign intellectuals. Tech leaders, business leaders, college and university officials openly accept this as a fact.

America has become addicted to foreign intellectuals the way in the 70^th it was addicted to oil. Nothing good can come from that. We talk here about the most important national capital – human capital.

The real problem is that American system of education does not produce enough domestic intellectuals. And the main reason for that is that for American businesses it is much cheaper to buy a highly qualified foreign professional who was educated without spending a single American dollar, than “loosing” their precious money on making Americans educated on par with foreigners.

The only reason American businesses will finally turn their attention to the dismal quality of American education, starting from public education, is if they will be cut off from the influx of foreign professionals.  

I’m Dr. Valentin Voroshilov.

Thank you for watching “Alien Thoughts”, you can find more on my blog Cognisity.How.

And thank you World for our existence. Bye.

P.S. For more reading, please start from “Trump is right about foreign students” at https://www.cognisity.how/2020/07/GoTrump.html.

 
4.
https://youtu.be/REcsG2b25-I

Hi everyone.
A short note on strategic thinking in politics.
The last 20 years have a very distinct feature - a lot of close races, on all levels, including the Presidential race.
This is a clear sign telling us – “Change your political strategy!”
And yet, politicians, political pundits and strategists, and most importantly big donors who feed all those people with money, keep acting like nothing happened.
It's like putting on every morning the same shoes again and again, even though you have grown up, and you can barely squeeze your feet is those shoes anymore.
Politics is about power, and when two strong political forces cancel each other out, they become powerless; and that means – a third force – however week it is – will be making all the difference.
Yes, I'm talking about the third political party, or a movement, or an affiliation.
But not about any of the existing ones.
Those people are egoistic ignorants.
Anyone who believes that the third party candidate can become the President is an idiot.
But everyone who believes that the third party is irrelevant is even a bigger idiot.
The true role of the third party is not to propel its own candidates – at least for the first 5 to 10 years.
It's to propel candidates from other parties.
Candidates with whom they will make a deal.
A deal that would show people the importance of the party.
I deal that would eventually put the party on a political map, bringing to it more and more respect, giving it more and more political weight.
However, in order to succeed, this new party has to be built on a strong internal discipline. To be a member giving money is not enough. You wonna be a member? You have to be involved in actions.
And the name of the party should be inclusive to everyone, like “Conservative Liberals of America”.
The current state of political stalemate will stay for decades.
That is why rich and politically active people like Michael Bloomberg or Tom Steyer, if they had any ability to think strategically, would be building – right now – such a party, or a movement, or an affiliation.
I’m Dr. Valentin Voroshilov.
Thank you for watching “Alien Thoughts”, you can find more on my blog Cognisity.How.
And thank you World for our existence.

P.S. For more reading, please start from “An Open Letter to Dr. Wheelan”.
 

____

 

This is not the first time I turned to YouTube.

 

This part of the page provides links to short videos (made years ago, but still current), which I call TubeCasts.

 

It is like a podcast, but on YouTube.

 

However, the video is not important, so one can just listen to the it.

 

Why wouldn’t I just make a podcast?

Because making YouTube videos is very simple, easy-peasy, 1,2,3 done.

I know how to do it and I have plenty of experience in doing it.

 

And because I am too lazy to learn how to do a podcast.

 

The list of TubeCasts

 

Free business ideas: part 2

A word to Mr. Jeff Bezos of the Amazon

Much ado about gloves

DON'T buy "Made in China"!

Making inexpensive chagrin dock for Samsung phones

Free business ideas: Part 1

Coming out of a closet

Perimeter Institute for Learning and Teaching

On free education

What liberals should learn from physics?

Whishing a good luck to new Education Secretary

Essentials of good teaching

Why to learn physics?

Four critical educational projects

NES-AAPT; measuring learning outcomes in physics

Aftermath of Forbes 30-under-30

Prepping to Forbes 30-under-30

Treat Education Like Space Exploration!

An elevator pitch

How to solve problems?

What is Physics about?