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Showing posts from February, 2011

Beware the Semester is Coming!

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Beware the Semester is coming! This is what I came across  a couple of  weeks back as I was making my way back home from my ministerial place. For more than one reason it has food for thought on the educational practices carried out through out the length and breadth of our great country. These days we are quite familiar with sign posts that say "Beware Dogs In." But not so something like that I am mentioning right now. What does that mean "Beware the Semester is coming"? Obviously it means, come on students you have to score high in your exams; remember it is going to determine your life. To make your way through in life you have to mug up. The educational sector has become a  promising money-making enterprise in India.  What makes me wonder at this statement is its hidden meanings. Is the semester something to be feared? What if  I don't score as every one thinks I should? May be it's worth asking what if I score high as every one thinks I should? Does

COMMON SENSE AND COMMUNICATION

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Introduction   Common sense means paying attention to the obvious. In other words it is the practical know-how knowledge that governs our everyday-communication process. We all know how to act in certain circumstances with certain people not so much through scientific theories but through common sense learning. This is not as easy as it sounds; for common sense, as many say, is uncommon these days. We all have vivid imaginations, and we tend to get lost in our fantasies. When fantasy replaces common sense, communication becomes farcical and even tragic. Life is a series of ordinary events that follow the laws of logic and probability. These ordinary events are indifferent to our fantasies and require the careful, accurate steering of common sense. Lonergan who is concerned with authentic communication between human persons notes: “To err is human, common sense is very human.” This is rather an interesting statement of Lonergan to be noticed. No doubt common sense is limited and we n