Xglasgow.com invites you to join with us in co-editing and debating 7 scripts on sustainability -please ask chris.macrae@yahoo.co.uk to see latest version of dialogue of your choice or other queries

Wednesday, September 9, 2020

Abed Bhai from poverty alleviator to new university coalition builder
Unlike machines humans are networked by positive or negative energies- positive intels include faith, hope, love, trust, courage to appear communally strong to those depending on you. when villagers have no access to electricity grids, at ground level these values are not advertised their empowerment depends on the reality of one to one, and one to village circles of up to 40 people.For the first 3 decades of fazle abed's empowerment of women and rural nation building all solutions to safety, health, education, love (professional do no harm), finance depended on bracs front line service co-workers and millions of villagers person to person integrity.

As we entered the new millennium the 64 year old fazle abed could see early partnerships in the vilage arriving round solar electricity and mobile phones. he spent his last twenty years searching for the deepest partnerships ngo world has ever linkedin- but he also knew he would see whether these technologies would need to be useed if youth were to become the sustainability generation. even as he never left his first love serving villagers he started to debate the idea that only new universities could complete the dream of a poverty-free world

Being born 1951 the greatest lesson of my lifetime- how the worlds poorest women developed 3 billion lives away from poverty and early death to a better life

which university network do you go to learn these sgd foundations:

spefifically how 5 markets mattered most from bottom up-SHELF
safety, health, education, loving-leaders, finance,


Village*Engineering*Satellite coms*Tech-analytics*Youth
which 2 of the 5 solutions americans discovered in 1950s mattered
 most to save the two thirds of the world who are asian and who
 had mainly been trapped by the way british empire ruled the waves
of the mercantile era and the first 16 decades of machines and humans
started up at glasgow u 1760s by adam smith and james watt

how did the far east coastal belt 4 islands and one peninsular apply these innovation innovations from 1960-1975

how did the hardest work ever done by women or men network across rural continental asia 1975-2000 without access to electricity grids but my multiplying the best of womanpower and manpower
================================
if you connect with brac university to become joyfully aware of the above lessons and how to 5-factor the 17 sdgs--
 you will be ready to apply the other frameworks that sir fazle abed spent 50 years demonstrating until the largest ngo partnership in the world linked in round brac at his time of death 2019
these are 
the 5 global markets UNITS parents should demand young half of world own most share in IE University, Infrastructure-Nature, Tech, Sports
the 5e's of microfranchising and the 5 value chains of development economics

and partner wizards of poverty leapfrog ahead of each 1G to 5G decade- eg because village women never hand landline telephones what did they invent when first partering with mobile phones

Tuesday, September 8, 2020

y6 crow arizona osun

.HESI Special Event: Where Next? Reimagining Further Education for the Future
The SDG Academy
On July 8, 2020, the Higher Education Sustainability Initiative (HESI) hosted this special event alongside the United Nations ...

transcript extract 80.40  president arizona state uni, with covid and other www community crises, we are where we are, not only because of politics and capitalism, but at the root of it all is us the universities- we are universally inadequate to what lies ahead in terms of the future of our species and our relationship to our beautiful planet which we are all dependent on -let me outline 5 inadequacies

1 we are inadequate in terms of our self-awareness- institutions of higher edu nof the net outcome of our design – why do we have business schools that are teaching economic models that are working against our own in sustainability, why do we have a lack of communication between chemists and biologists and economists and engineers and philosophers and historians and everyone else -82:33
inadequate. We are wholly, universally inadequate to
82:38 what lies ahead in terms of the future of our species and our relationship with 82:42
this beautiful planet that we're all dependent on it. Let me outline five
82:47 arguments for that. First, I think that we're inadequate in terms of our
82:52 self-awareness, as an institution of higher education or as institutions of 82:56 higher education, of the net outcome of our design. Why do we have business 83:00 schools teaching economic models that are in fact working against our own 83:06 sustainability? Why do we have a lack of communication between chemists 83:13and biologists and economists and engineers and philosophers and 83:18 historians and everyone else who sit inside university environments arguing 83:24 with each other in ways that are not just about intellectual development but 83:28 are in some ways inane? And so we have never thought ourselves, 83:35 we've never been adequately focused on our own self-awareness to understand 83:41
that in fact our highly disciplinary design, as Jeff Sachs indicated, our
83:46 highly structured way of doing things, our way in which theories evolve, our 83:50 ways in which faculty are recognized, the ways in which knowledge is advanced, the 83:55 net outcome of all of that is exactly where we are in terms of a non- sustainable trajectory,83:59 the non-sustainable trajectory that we're on is 84:03 a product of us. Point number one. Point number two: that same university 84:10 enterprise, that same higher education enterprise, is inadequate in terms 84:15 of its production of systems-level tools. We're an observer. We're obsessed with 84:22
reductionism. We're obsessed with the belief that somehow if we can only
84:26 understand everything down to the atomic scale, if we could only understand 84:31 everything at the genetic and sub-genetic mechanism, that somehow we would 84:37 be able to find the solution to all things. And so the answer is, no,84:41 reductionism is not the method by which we will gain an understanding of the 84:46 interconnectedness of the systems of the planet and the role of humans. It's only 84:50 through our ability to emerge systems-level thinking of equal 84:55 intellectual stature and of equal intellectual value. Third, our 85:01 universities and our higher education systems in the United States and in 85:05 other parts of the world are completely inadequate in terms of their 85:08 intellectual diversification, their cultural diversification, their socioeconomic diversification,85:13 their lack of recognition of indigenous cultures and
85:18 indigenous knowledge, the dismissal of entire cultural paradigms, all around 85:26 this notion of somehow there being one path and one trajectory and one route 85:31 forward. Well, there isn't. And this lack of diversification, lack of women in 85:37 science, technology, engineering, and math, lack of cultural diversification at 85:43 universities which actually is accelerating not decelerating. That 85:47 lack of diversification is accelerating if you look around the world, is in fact 85:52 limiting our overall intellectual contribution. We have a narrower and 85:57
narrower intellectual contribution ,not a broader and broader intellectual
86:01 contribution. So that's the third factor that I think is a key part of the design 86:06 limits. I think forth, and I would probably rank 86:10 this actually first, universities really don't care as institutions about much of
86:14 anything. They care about bringing in faculty. They care about hiring faculty.86:19They care about having students. They care about their budgets. They care about 86:23 arguing with the government to get more money. But they don't really care 86:26 about sustainable outcomes as an institution. They do not take activist 86:32 positions, intellectual activist positions, as Jeff has built his career 86:36 around, and some of the rest of us have been fighting for decades. We just 86:40 sit back and say, "Well, we did what we could do. We educated the people we could 86:43 educate. We put out the theories that we could put out, and
86:46 we're really sorry that the politicians are too stupid or or too 86:51
lazy or businesses are too greedy or too selfish." And so this notion of not taking 86:57 some sense of responsibility, we don't realize that it is in fact our own lack 87:03 of transdisciplinary capability, our own lack of adequate, our own lack of 87:09 diversification. It's our own lack of systems-level thinking, it's our own 87:13 obsession with reductionism that actually has brought us to this point. So 87:18 when we look out and we're concerned about rapidly rising CO2 levels or we're 87:21 concerned about the overwhelming human consumption, and a manifestly negative
87:28 overwhelming consumption of fresh water, or the elimination of the entire fishing 87:33 stock or conservation disruptions on a global 87:37
scale of geological time, we don't realize that that we're responsible for
87:43 that. If you take response⁠—if you know you've contributed to something and it's not87:47going well, if you're a responsible person or a responsible institution, you 87:51 change what you're doing. We don't have much change in what we're doing.87:54 Fifth on my list is, universities are archaic, at least in the European model, 88:01 archaic, slow, non-adaptable, non-technologically sophisticated 88:05 institutions. We're not moving at the speed of climate change. We're not moving
88:11at the speed of complexity, of complexification. We're too slow. We have 88:17no sense of time. We might argue about something for 15 years and in the same 88:22 15 years the Ross Ice Shelf cracked off of Antarctica and led to some 88:27 massive change in the in the ocean circulation cycle and thus impacting 88:34 climate etcetera, etcetera. So the five points here: inadequate self-awareness,88:38 inadequate emergence of systems-level thinking, wholly inadequate 88:42 diversification of the university itself, no sense of moral duty or moral 88:46responsibility as institutions, and inadequate speed and adaptability. If we 88:51 don't change those things, there's not going to be any climate adaptation or 88:55 climate change. There's not going to be movement back towards a sustainable 88:59
trajectory because we're not producing the people, the ideas, the tools, the
89:04 mechanisms, the devices, the theories, the assumptions⁠—the young students who 89:08 are just presenting, they get this. They understand that they enter a university 89:12 which is in fact an archaic institution,incapable of having self-awareness 89:17 relative to where we're headed. So what are we doing at my institution arizona state, we've 89:22 done everything and then some, and still it's a slow slog. We've built the Global 89:28
Futures Laboratory, the Global Institute of Sustainability. We're
89:31 dramatically lowering our carbon footprint. We have thousands and
89:34 thousands of students. We change the design of engineering. We changed parts 89:38 of the design of our business schools. We built a new school on the Future of 89:41 Innovation and Society, a new School of Sustainability, and we're still moving 89:47 too slow. And so I think the point I'd like to make to 89:50 the audience here is, let's listen to these students. They have a sense, they 89:54 have an awareness, and they are able to see immediately upon entry into our
89:59 bureaucratic institutions that we're inadequate to the assignment and we 90:06 ought to take that as a serious, serious criticism. Now let me tell you 90:09
what's happening right now. So right now, and COVID sort of expresses this, we are 90:14 largely as colleges and universities place-based institutions, driven where we 90:21think that excellence is a function of who we exclude, and this is true all over 90:24 the world, where our structure, our technology, our flexibility, our 90:29
adaptability are completely inadequate. So my message to ministers, to UN leaders,90:35 to SDSN leaders, to higher education leaders, to students, to faculty, is that 90:40 let's shake it up. It is time to shake the foundation of the universities and 90:45 have them raise their hand and say, "Yes. We want to be responsible for the 90:50 climate outcome of our planet, for our species outcome, for the 90:56 sustainability of our species." And to do that we're going to have to change 91:00 everything down to the root. So I think that's about 12 minutes and I'll 91:05 stop there.91:13

Ok. Thank you, President Crow. I like the way you framed it because this

 do you accept partnerships with cities in spain


i do some research for the american international school in barcelona where every student does a service learning project
i can introduce you to marta vernet who heads this work where 11th and 12th graders in particular aim to do sdg work abroad using their multilingual capabilities and unique connections. we met at two of the wise global educational laureates summits


i have introduced her to the former president of ecuador who is a mover and shaker of cop summits and whose colleague was last years head of the un general assembly

i first came to admire barcelona while doing research for the european union - it won knowledge city of the year award

i believe that while most schools have to zoom the opportunity to multiply your wonderful program internationally is unique and so urgently needed by youth

dear project cities team, asu global

we are currently surveying multiple dual language schools having connected with francis jaumont author on this subject and attached to the french mission in new york

if cop26 goes ahead in nov 2021 i will be pulling out all the stops to connect my home town and adam smith alumni with like minded movements

sincerely
chris macrae washington dc +1 240 316 8157
 family foundation of norman macrae japan order of rising sun, uk CBE
host of the economist's entrepreneurial revolution dialogues since 1972


Monday, September 7, 2020

what is education doing to children everywhere - part 1 hong kong

 fortunately hong kong is on the case at www.yidanprize.org by tencent's c-founder

As Hong Kong’s busy children return to schools, time to rethink the point of education

  • We should stop being so overly competitive that we break our children and risk mental health problems. Teaching kindness and consideration instead would increase resilience – and the chance of happiness

Primary school students in a Wan Chai school pray for the Covid-19 pandemic to ease before class on June 8. Photo: Nora TamPrimary school students in a Wan Chai school pray for the Covid-19 pandemic to ease before class on June 8. Photo: Nora Tam
Primary school students in a Wan Chai school pray for the Covid-19 pandemic to ease before class on June 8. Photo: Nora Tam
Hong Kong’s schools are 
set to reopen
 on a phased basis in a week or so. That is good news indeed, especially for parents, who have had to shoulder more responsibilities with their children learning from home. In addition to a perhaps new-found appreciation for teachers, Hongkongers can breathe a sigh of relief now that we seem to have Covid-19 under control.
Understandably, some educators and parents are 
worried
 that students – especially those in critical years who have academic qualification tests to take and scores to worry about – not being able to catch up.
It has been the norm for Hong Kong students to spend almost every waking hour engaged in the task of joyless learning – at school, at 
tuition centres
, and at home with homework. We are a city obsessed with “winning at the starting line”. With the focus on training our students to stay ahead of every curve, falling behind is not an option.
Parents would pay whatever they can afford to make sure their children beat everyone else’s. And all this begins at a ridiculously young age – there are 
interview coaching classes
 for little ones who really should be playing full-time. But what seemed to be preparing our students for the cutthroat competition of the “real world” has unfortunate repercussions.
A child cries in the arms of his mother as they take part in a class preparing toddlers for kindergarten interviews in Hong Kong in 2015. Photo: Reuters
A child cries in the arms of his mother as they take part in a class preparing toddlers for kindergarten interviews in Hong Kong in 2015. Photo: Reuters
Study after study has pointed to the obvious: that our students are in 
distress
. By 2015, the rise in student suicides had alarmed even our lawmakers, prompting a special education panel and legislators to suggest that schools put greater emphasis on non-academic achievements.
ADVERTISING
This fact – that our children are not OK – is not news. It’s tragic and remains a problem. Our education system has its share of problems. The liberal studies curriculum, for instance, 
has been blamed
 for supposedly playing a role in Hong Kong’s months-long protests. But that is a topic for another day.

What most people can agree on is that our education system has become so obsessed with academic performance that the stress placed on our students is enormous. There is very little self-satisfaction that can be derived from a system that piles on the pressure when children reach nursery age.

Being taught to win at all costs is detrimental to our children’s development. When the importance of teaching and nurturing kindness and empathy is neglected, it is no wonder that they find 
happiness and contentment
 so unattainable.

Hong Kong’s education system needs a complete overhaul, from how we prioritise what we teach our children, to how they are taught, to the weight given to exam and test scores.

They say that crises are opportunities in disguise. Now may be the time for all of us to do right by our children. Being competitive to the point of breaking our children and ourselves, and suffering from a whole slew of 
mental health issues
 must be the absolute worst we can do to our children.

Instead, teaching them to be kind and considerate would equip them with the tools to be more resilient – the pathways to their success in the future.

Hong Kong secondary students learn online amid coronavirus fears
Covid-19 has forced us to confront uncomfortable truths and 
rethink
 how we live our lives. The message that we are “stronger together” has resonance across borders. Now, is the point of education to get ahead at all costs? There must be room to learn to connect, understand, empathise with and care for others.

Cheer our children on to – in the words of the late Dr Maya Angelou – “be the rainbow in someone’s cloud”, because it is worth infinitely more than any pot of gold.

Alice Wu is a political consultant and a former associate director of the Asia Pacific Media Network at UCLA