Let's Get Honest! Absolutely Uncommon Analysis of Family & Conciliation Courts' Operations, Practices, & History

Concepts vs. Characters, Systems vs. Persons…

I realize there appear to be some people who think in terms of systems, and others who think in terms of personalities and characters (“left-brain, right-brain”). Just a heads-up: Those who think only in terms of LOCAL PEOPLE and PERSONALITIES, who don’t, won’t or conceivably can’t understand certain concepts in some more depth than one layer of buzz-phrases are going to be (and are) ruled and led by those who can manipulate — and sell — ideas which play upon the emotions and personal prejudices/hatreds (group-think) of large groups of those who cannot. There are strategist, field practitioners, and those practiced upon — which will be those who didn’t figure out the systems previously, or were for some reason, unable to resist their application on the population as a whole. We cannot have liberty, freedom, or justice, if we do not step up to the balance of power plate, and start moving (and taking some neighbors along with us) from the “personalities” into the “systems” levels of understanding. NOt just single systems, but interlocking sets of systems — and what is their LCD: their Lowest COMMON Denominator. If System A differs from System B, in what lowest COMMON area are they the same? That’s simple observation adn than naming what they have in common. Just as surely as the debtor is servant to the creditor. How did that person become debtor — through force only, through persuasion, or through the creditor being fiscally smarter? That said, I may not be fiscally smarter at all in all this writing, without settting up my OWN “distribution network” to rival, say, the welfare roles, the prison population, the supervised visitation batterers intervention population, or the parent-education target market, which is actually (in many states) ANYONE who actually initiates or modifies a custody and visitation order!! Smart, mass-marketing (or getting others to unconsciously consume and market) of some product (or idea) at a profit (small or better yet, larger) would interest me for one purpose — to have enough to live on and more free time to do something better (including for the community, not just my own soul/ psyche/spiritualiy (that which inspires) not to mention, body) with my time. In our country, the main creditors (collectively speaking, government), so-called, also control the prison, school, and court systems andhave the capacity of incarcerating, marginalizing, or eliminating the debtors if they getto be too much of a pain in the neck.

Economic Enmeshment of the Middle Management Sector

These same have been very wise, and made it financially profitable to entire sectors of people to receive social status and a paycheck (or several paychecks if it’s more than one nonprofit they’re on)to function as “middle management’ in controlling the supposedly out of control or somehow inferior sector of the population thatwill be run through their programs. Like, Supervised Visitation Network-style programs. This gives a whole layer of Socially (if not morally) Respectable Individuals in their own Social Spheres (often Social Science) closeness to bask in thefederally-funded (which is to say, on the backs of the common wage earners, and or the slave labor (i.e., prison labor, minimum-wage, minimum-hope lifestyles) sunlight while the federal funds last.

Economic Enmeshment of the Stockholders/Shareholders Sector

The same crowd has exercised the same optionspreviously throughout the world as corporations, or when it comes to the largest collective corporation around, our government, in the form of wars. So I highly recommend people stretch their personal boundaries and preferences and start to UNDERSTAND a few basic concepts — and those who do, make sure your neighbors increasingly do so (i.e., teach them!), or find a new set of neighbors. Corporations produce dividends. Prisons, esp. privately run ones, are also corporations, and those corporations are lobbyists (i.e., Corrections Corporation of America). Talk about pretty good dividends. Once you start locking people up for misbehavior or criminal behavior (including drug use, or falling behind on child support payments?) then you can also start forming corporations to market educational and training courses to the, obviously, Captive Audience, torecondition their thinking and morality — and then we are into trademarked language soundbites like “MoralReconation Therapy(TM). Here are the links, I blogged it long ago:

Moral Reconation Therapy (TM) Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT) is the premiere cognitive-behavioral program for substance abuse treatment and for criminal justice offenders. Developed in 1985 by Gregory Little, Ed.D., and Kenneth Robinson, Ed.D. (BELOW)**, more than 120 published reports have documented that MRT-treated offenders show significantly lower recidivism for periods as long as 20 years after treatment. Studies show MRT-treated offenders have rearrest and reincarcertion rates 25% to 75% lower than expected. MRT programs are used in 47 states. A 1999 report by the Washington State Institute for Public Policy estimated that the combined cost benefit to taxpayers and crime victims for the MRT program results in an $11.48 cost benefit for every dollar spent.## {##who paid for the report? Anyone get a second opinion?}} Correctional Counseling, Inc., has developed MRT-based programming for individuals with chronic substance abuse problems, anger management and domestic violence issues, and much more. A Proven Concept MRT is a cognitive-behavioral counseling program that combines education, group and individual counseling, and structured exercises designed to foster moral development in treatment-resistant clients.  As long as clients’ judgments about right and wrong are made from low levels of moral reasoning, counseling them, training them in job skills, and even punishing them will have little long-lasting impact on their behavior.  They must be confronted with the consequences of their behavior and the effect that it has had on their family, friends and community.  Poor moral reasoning is common within at-risk populations.

That’s funny, because when they get out, and if they are parents, theymay be in a custody situation in courtrooms which themselves have a “low level of moral reasoning” and intentionallyminimize and divert the “consequences of the behavior” regardless of the effect (including sometimes injury and/or terrorizing others, rape, abandonment, murder, etc.) upon the community. **I looked up Dr. Robinson, who was I see 35at the timeMRT(tm)was invented. He has a background in education and psychology, which adequately prepared him for a lifetime of managing others suffering from the womb-to-tomb policy of governmental regulation of their lives, starting with the public school system, most likely. EDUCATION & PSYCHOLOGY = PREPARATION FOR A LIFETIME IN GOVERNMENT OFFICE REGULATING OTHERS AND TESTING THEORIES ABOUT HUMAN BEHAVIOR ON CAPTIVE POPULATIONS, AT PUBLIC EXPENSE. Such a deal — here’s theMRT for BIP (Domestic ViolenceBatterers Intervention Programs).

The MRT Domestic Violence Batterer’s Program The MRT® Domestic Violence program is an evidence-based process designed to meet all minimum standards for Batterers’ Intervention Programs. The Bringing Peace to Relationships workbook is based on the guiding principle and outline of our MRT power and control program approach and is appropriate for both male and female batterers.  The MRT approach uses a positive group dynamic to alter inappropriate thought and behavior in batterers. The MRT model is a cognitive-behavioral program designed to change how batterers think (beliefs) and change behavior to one of equality and acceptance.***  The designers of the MRT® cognitive-behavioral approach have long seen behavior as learned and capable of being changed through altering beliefs and habits.  This is a power and control model in the truest sense as seen throughout the entire book. The MRT domestic violence program in no way blames victims, coerces or mandates victim participation, does not include or allow any form of couples, marriage, or family therapy during its process. In addition, the cognitive behavioral method we use is a social learning approach that assumes that domestic violence and power and control behaviors are learned—and that they can be unlearned. This is repeatedly stressed in our extensive training that is required to utilize the method.

It looks like the real money behind MRT training, including treating domestic violence offenders (aka batterers, or thereabouts) isn’t in the selling of materials (well, maybe given the volume, it might also be) — but in the training of people to run the workshops using the materials. An upcoming training in Olympia Washington can be ordered-online (WHO SCREENS WHO DOES IT?) for only $600.00: MRT training Olympia, Washington 2013. In fact, here’s a list of the nationwide trainings @ $600/participant (or, $150 for a one-day training). In fact, I see two in Sweden…. Do the math — how many participants does it take (cost / $600) to make a profit? If the curriculum is already pretty well set in advance, who runs the trainings, and what do they get paid? Such a wonderful business!!) **I have to point out that this same concept is implicit in the “CCR” (Coordinated Community Response) model out of DAIP Minnesota. In other words, if you can only train the ENTIRE community (which is to say, control its learning environment) of PEOPLE, you can reform them to believe in equality and justice. Not that our government — or business interests — typically believe in the theory. In fact, nor do many religious sectors which are beyond government control, and which government decided to rather, encourage collaboration wtih — tax-exempt status in exchange for, we get to promote our ideas through your distribution networks, too (i.e., faith-based & fatherhood/marriage stuff). Hmm.

Interesting that both CCA (Corrections Corporation of America) and this company (Corrective Counseling, Inc.) have roots in Tennessee. CCA was tied into a governorship (Lamar Alexander and his wife “Honey”), and has also been cited by a former prisoner (who became a shareholder in order to address this) for failing to reduce sexual assaults on prisoners, to the point that operations were shut down in some areas. (pls. research yourself, not on my agenda today, MAY be on this blog)… I heard TN has not state sales taxes. It went through several mergers and currently there are 30,000,000 shares in its stock. From the history page, you can see howmany different “Entities” had the name “Corrections Corporation of America”: Note that a NAME =/= and ENTITY; one is the business itself, the other is what it gets to do business under (legally). In America, to do business above-board requires having either a corporate name or an individual name identified with a social security# (if you’re a wage-earner or benefits recipient, probably drivers-license holder, etc.) You have to hook up your flesh-and-blood self with a number and legal identity. Corporations are not their contents; corporations are legal fictions created by statute (granted credence) — for the purpose of doing business. Their privilegesare limited to whatever the statutes theywere created under (state & federal law, etc. for USA) say. This means they can change with the speed of lightning (well, with the speed of filing a name change) from one name to another. In the US, they also have toincorporate WITHIN a state, or territory? — hence they have to lay claim to residency AS the “Entity” in that state. PEOPLE (flesh and blood people) fail to reckon with this in the pursuit of justice, and (too often) keep trying to get justice within the local county courthouse,for example (or one of its service providers) without “reckoning” with the nonprofit associations that branch states and countries in their agenda and businesses. It might be much moreaccurate to name corporations by theirstatutorily-created CONTROL#s but that’s not how the human mind works, or language. So we use words instead. However, the list below shows SIX sets of 9-digit numbers describing Business “ENTITIES” which were, at some point of time, called “Corrections Corporation of America (with or without a State Nameattatched — Tennessee, Delaware, or Maryland, which is another clue it’s a multi-state operation.

---

Control # Entity TypeName Name Type Name Status Entity Filing Date Entity Status 000359774 CORP CORRECTIONS CORPORATION OF AMERICAMARYLAND Entity Active 10/27/1998 Active 000330360 CORP CORRECTIONS CORPORATION OF AMERICATENNESSEE Entity Inactive 05/05/1997 Inactive – Merged 000124694 CORP CORRECTIONS CORPORATION OF AMERICATENNESSEE Entity Inactive 01/28/1983 Inactive – Merged 000355816 CORP CORRECTIONS CORPORATION OF AMERICATENNESSEE Entity Inactive 08/13/1998 Inactive – Merged 000176505 CORP CORRECTIONS CORPORATION OF AMERICADELAWARE Entity Inactive 08/15/1986 Inactive – Merged 000124694 CORP CORRECTIONS CORPORATION OF AMERICA, INC.TENNESSEE Entity Inactive 01/28/1983 Inactive – Merged

---

SCOPE OF OPERATIONS FOR CCA — and STOCK PRICE? Stock under “CXW” on the NYSE is presently $34.77+ and going up. Who is CCA?

from its “Investor Relations/Corporate Profile” page: << Back Corrections Corporation of America is the nation’s largest owner and operator of privatized correctional and detention facilities and one of the largest prison operators in the United States, behind only the federal government and three states. CCA currently owns and operates more than 65 facilities including 47 company-owned facilities, with a design capacity of more than 90,000 beds in 19 states and the District of Columbia. The Company specializes in owning, operating and managing prisons and other correctional facilities and providing inmate residential and prisoner transportation services for governmental agencies. In addition to providing the fundamental residential services relating to inmates, CCA offers a variety of rehabilitation and educational programs, including basic education, life skills and employment training and substance abuse treatment. These services are intended to reduce recidivism and to prepare inmates for their successful re-entry into society upon their release. The Company also provides inmates health care (including medical, dental and psychiatric services), food services and work and recreational programs.

The State of Texas (I should mention, ALSO a legal entity, just a different kind!!!) is closing two 2,000+bed facilities in Texas, one it owns AND operations, and another one the State of Texas owns, but CCA operates. (see above page under “recent news” 6/12/2013: “em>– (Marketwired) — 06/12/13 — CCA (NYSE: CXW) (Corrections Corporation of America) announced today that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) elected not to renew its contracts for the CCA owned and operated 2,103-bed Mineral Wells Pre-Parole Transfer Facility and the 2,216-bed Dawson State Jail, owned by the state of Texas but operated by CCA. The TDCJ was legislatively required to close two facilities due to budget reductions..

---

---

Now, let’s talk about CCA from the other point of view — who’s funding its operations (i.e., the public — because it’s a government contractor for the business of government, i.e. lockup andrehabbing and transporting people involved inlockups, plus mental health treatment for them (such as it be) and of course things like MORALRECONATION THERAPY(tm) to make sure that the prisoners — if not the companies operating the prisoners — have sound moral judgment from now on, and consider the impact of their behavior on the larger community (???).

CCA IDAHO:

(this was simple news on a google search and is from BARRONS.com): IT seems like some CCA prisoners in Idaho figured out that CCA was falsifying its reports,becuase they were morallyreconated to the point of contacting the ACLU and filing a lawsuit:

April 12, 2013, 11:04 A.M. ET Corrections Corp. of America Dips After False Staffing Admission Shares of Corrections Corporation of America (CXW) are down a fraction today after the company late yesterday admitted to violating its contract with the state of Idaho:

A private company that operates Idaho’s largest prison acknowledged Thursday that its employees falsified nearly 4,800 hours of staffing records over seven months last year in violation of its contract with the state. The admission by Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America is the latest in a string of staffing problems alleged or being investigated at the Idaho Correctional Center south of Boise. Earlier this year, the Idaho Department of Correction asked state police to investigate staffing discrepancies at the lockup. Corrections Corporation of America confirmed an internal review concluded some employees at the prison falsified the number of hours worked last year, starting in May and running through November.

The watchdog group Private Corrections Institute hasa issued scathing statement about Corrections Corp. today, suggesting the latest news may have broader implications:

CCA further said “[t]he unverified hours represent a fraction of the total staffing requirements, and there was no apparent increase in violence or other security incidents during the period in question.” However, unstated was the length of time that understaffing – concealed by falsified staff records – had occurred at the Idaho Correctional, and whether such understaffing had contributed to the excessive violence at the facility that led to the class-action suit filed by the ACLU… “Based on the findings by the Idaho Department of Correction and CCA’s own admissions, every single jurisdiction that contracts with CCA should conduct an audit to ensure contractual compliance and adequate staffing at facilities operated by the company,” stated Alex Friedmann, president of the Private Corrections Institute, which opposes prison privatization. “CCA has a lengthy track record of understaffing and high staff turnover, resulting in incidents such as riots, assaults and hostage situations that threaten public safety. This is likely the tip of a larger iceberg.”

PCI says Idaho pays CCA $30 million a year, while the AP says the contract is worth $29 million a year. Earlier this week, Corrections Corp. had seen its stock rise after it announced a $675 million special dividend as part of its conversion to a REIT; through yesterday the stock was up 7% this week.

REIT — Real Estate Investment Trust… Its profits apparently come in part from overstaffing and falsifying billable hours, with the ticket picked up by the PUBLIC, who funds our own government tos tart with, at least about 1/3 of government operations (see CAFR1.com for more detail on THAT)> So, thebottom line is actually commerce. Do shareholders really care if there is excessive violence, or even rape, or cheating (i.e. pillaging the public pockets) in corporations they have invested? Are they dumping stock because their company is immoral (where would one put ANY stock if that were a qualification for holding it!!!) Probably not! AlexFriedmann was actually an ex-con and figured out that to attempt toreduce the sexual assault OF prisoners in CCA institutions, he should become a shareholder and try to get it on their radar. It may have been on the radar, but as I recall, it didn’t make a major difference: CCA is still doing fine. It did at least make a Mother Jones article:

Ex-Con Shareholder Goes AFter the World’s Biggest Prison Corporation Alex Friedmann, who did time at a CCA facility, demands it get better on prison rape. And investors are listening. —By James Ridgeway | Thu May. 10, 2012 12:01 AM PDT Courtesy Alex Friedmann Tomorrow, at the annual meeting of Corrections Corporation of America, the nation’s largest private prison company, shareholder activist Alex Friedmann will have exactly two minutes to speak about the unconventional resolution he introduced earlier this year to the chagrin of CCA’s board. The resolution is unconventional because it concerns not corporate profits or dividends, but the well-being of the roughly 81,000 inmates in CCA’s care. Friedmann, too, is unconventional, for although he holds just $2,000 or so worth of CCA stock, he has inside knowledge of the company’s practices—because he served time at one of its prisons. Indeed, Friedmann spent six years at CCA’s South Central Correctional Facility in Clifton, Tennessee—part of his 10-year sentence for attempted murder, armed robbery, and attempted aggravated robbery. Since getting out in 1999, he has been an advocate for prisoners’ rights and criminal-justice reform. Now he’s an editor with Prison Legal News and head of Private Corrections Institute,** a nonprofit watchdog. ………. CCA was none too happy with Friedmann’s resolution. He filed it, as required, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which must verify that corporate resolutions are relevant before the documents are attached to proxy materials and sent to shareholders for a vote. CCA’s board—which includes former Clinton/Gore official Thurgood Marshall Jr. and Dennis Deconcini, the former GOP senator from Arizona—responded with a letter to the SEC , urging commissioners to kill the resolution. The letter argues that the company already intends to start posting such reports on its website annually and further implies that Friedmann is a disgruntled ex-con with a bone to pick. The SEC (surprisingly, given its reputation) sided with Friedmann—whereupon CCA amended the proxy package with a lengthy rebuttal to his resolution, asking shareholders to vote it down.

(As I recall, they did….). While we’re here, the Private Corrections Institute (above) says that the shareholders weren’t properly notified of the conversion of CCA to a REIT….the resolution was toprovide information to the shareholdersprior to conversion; looks like CCA had done this in 1999, withsubstantial losses (I think $104 millionwas mentioned in lawsuits about it,previously). This is above my pay grade and following, just mentioning it (Dated March 2013). Makes me wonder why an ex-con this smart would feel it necessary to attempt armed robbery to start with…

BACK TO THE COMPANY PROVIDING MRT(tm) TRAINING FOR INMATES:

Quick Lookup of Correctional Counseling, Inc. shows THREE entities, several name changes (one apparently hit the road for Michigan, “HIA Counseling” and that the registered agent for this one is probably Mrs. Robinson (or at least Edith Robinson at the same address). Tennessee Corporations Search. (I should note that before Supervised Visitation Network (SVN) — main (lower)portion of this post — was in Florida (running conferences in Ontario, Canada obviously intended for “local” public participation), it was in Tennessee. It is in a somewhat similar or overlapping field, i.e., dealing withbatterers, allegedly, so they can see their kids. This of course quickly turned into flipping the case to extortnonbatterer parents as “parentalalienators” who were subject to having custody of their child/ren returned to thebatterers, such a deal… what a great business plan if you are a provider!!)

Control #	Entity Type	Name	Name Type	Name Status	Entity Filing Date	Entity Status
000454811	NCORP	SUPERVISED VISITATION NETWORK, INC. TENNESSEE	Entity	Inactive	09/29/2003	Inactive – Terminated

1-1 of 1 Please note that NAME status and ENTITY status are NOT the same. An Entity can survive past name changes, and NAMES can change hands. Kind of like kids, or incarcerated adults… Got it? SHELL GAMEs…. If an ENTITY changes its name, someone else can pick it up. DidSVN actually file its annual reports? I don’t know the TN database system that well, but it could be found out by looking up their images. What do you think? I think “Notice of Determination” probably means, entity deemed inactive for non-filing…But I don’tknow for sure. Another type of notice of determination is of nonprofit status (but unlikelyto be shown in this site). Here’s the “history” log:

---

The public can for free click on any of those names (and should) and from there, the “History” tab (and should). See if you can put it in a chronology — looks like multiple name changes, address changes, a few “involuntarily dissolved” but somehow this one has the longest filing history. It also looks like at anypoint in time (for example, shortly afterMRT(tm)was established) up to three groups which — sooner or later — had the name “Correctional Counseling, Inc.” in their history, were alloperational, possibly under different names. Actual images not easily available… However — does this sound likesubstantial business income off the business of prisons? This one (2028 Exeter Road, Germantown, TN) usedto be “Correctional Centers Incorporated.” 8 days after formation, namewas changed. Within about ahalf year, changed again, multiple changes in fact. I should also point out, it has shares, which means stockholders, which means profits to the stockholders (whether it’s private or public, IDNK, probably private). One of these names was “HIA Michigan, Inc.” — a company which incorporated, became or was (apparently) some version of CCI shortly after its first (1988) annual report was due:

---

Control # Entity TypeName Name Type Name Status ~~Entity Filing Date Entity Status 000187330 CORPHIAMICHIGAN, INC.TENNESSEE Entity Inactive~~ 04/10/1987 Inactive – Dissolved (Administrative)

---

I looked up (here we go…. curiosity….) “Counseling Centers Inc Tennessee”) to find that, (looks like within two months) after the original one changed itsname FROM Counseling Centers, Inc. TO (current name? Correctional Counseling Inc – notice, same acronym CCI would apply) — then ANOTHER corporation (not the same one) was formed out of the same address 2028 Exeter Drive. What a mess. Corporations have identifying numbers; i.e., the new “Counseling Centers Inc Tennessee” is Corp. 00023065, while the one that later became “Correctional Counseling Inc” appears to, after having dumped that name, still remained Corp. #000221021. This may be legal, but it sure looks like a shell game to me. Perhaps they need some Moral Reconation Therapy for serial incorporators on the public dole…

---

Control # Entity TypeName Name Type Name Status Entity Filing Date Entity Status 000221021 CORP CORRECTIONAL COUNSELING, INC.TENNESSEE Entity Active 10/12/1989 Active 000187330 CORP CORRECTIONAL COUNSELING, INC.TENNESSEE Entity Inactive 04/10/1987 Inactive – Dissolved (Administrative) 000189539 CORP CORRECTIONAL COUNSELING, INC. TENNESSEE Entity Inactive – Name Changed 05/29/1987 Inactive – Dissolved (Administrative)

---

Kenneth Robinson, Ed.D. President Correctional Counseling, Inc. [[see also other individuals under “key people”]] Kenneth D. Robinson, Ed.D., is one of the most respected teachers and lecturers on cognitive-behavioral treatment and correctional counseling. Robinson, President of Correctional Counseling, Inc., and Executive Editor of Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment Review, has published and presented numerous professional articles in the areas of psychopharmacology and mental health services and is co-developer of Moral Reconation Therapy™ (MRT). He is a familiar speaker at both national and international symposiums and conferences, including the National Judicial College, National Association of Drug Court Professionals, and American Probation and Parole Association among other organizations. He has also been asked to testify before legislative bodies on the efficacy and value of cognitive-behavioral treatment programs that can reduce recidivism, enhance public safety and lower costly incarceration expenses. . . . (see para. of all his associations and work experiences)… Dr. Robinson received his Doctor of Education degree in educational psychology and counseling and his Master of Science degree in psychology from Memphis State University.  He co-authored “How To Escape Your Prison,” “Your Inner Enemy,” “Filling the Inner Void,” and all the MRT programs and materials.

Dr. Robinson has a counterpart (British) who is actually a SIR Robinson and who has a far better understanding of human nature and educational systems. If this were respected or valued in our country, we probably wouldn’t be the world’s largest per capital jailor, and probably would be a less violent society; I believe this comes from NOT treating people (including kids) like animals, by honoring their human and spiritual qualities. This Sir Robinson (first I heard of him, just a SEO coincidence) came froma working class family and hada quadriplegic father. Apparently he did OK… His blog (actually, it’s a pretty cheapass blog for someone who has apparently married into nobility?) states a truth: “Imagination is the Source of All Human Achievement.” What kind of imagination (i.e., what is one’s imagination wishing to produce? A nation of controlled and trained dogs (a.k.a. people) in cages for testing theories of how to better alter their behaviors so they can be (now domesticated to morality) be let loose on society and again run free in packs of others? “Do Schools Kill Creativity” Huff post article 2012. Notice that, regardless of what it says, the medium was the same as the user of moralreconation therapy, above: Downloadable DVDs after conferences. TED is an on-line forum??? –either way, its owner (or operator) is cleverly called instead a “curator” so it’s considered a museum (??). (notice, he’sreferencing a 20-minute talk put on a downloadable platform, and how it spread. But it began with a talk at a conference putonto DVDs. ).

There are two main themes in the talk. First, we’re all born with deep natural capacities for creativity and systems of mass education tend to suppress them. Second, it is increasingly urgent to cultivate these capacities — for personal, economic and cultural reasons — and to rethink the dominant approaches to education to make sure that we do. One reason the talk has traveled so far is that these themes resonate so deeply with people at a personal level. I hear constantly from people around the world who feel marginalized by their own education, who want to thank me for helping them to understand why that may be and that they’re not alone. In the talk, I mentioned a book I was writing about the need to find our true talents and how often people are pushed away from them. The responses I get show that this is a common experience that’s deeply felt and ultimately resented. (Incidentally, I said in the talk that the book is called Epiphany. I later changed the title to The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything. It was too late to change the reference in the talk, which has since done wonders to promote sales of books called Epiphany… )

Of course schools kill creativity, which is no accident! A March 2013 dialogue (SAME VENUE,HuffPost) shows a clingingonto the concept of school failures in America being the result of a mistake, instead of planned failures to draw more funding to fix (like the courts). No one wants to let go of the institution, or let others kids GO. As CCA stockholders are “enmeshed” in continuing to fund the organization (but unlike us, they get real dividends as a result of ownership, whichcan be spent) we, in America, are “shareholders” in the Component Units of Government called “School District” and are unaware of theirCAFRs or their corporate/wealth/assets identity, as if these did not exist. A world without public education, as a result of decades of it, cannot seriously be envisioned — however, anyone who DOES envision such a world, is unpatriotic, or simply doesn’t care about poor people.

One of the themes of TEDTalks Education is that current policies are based on a tragic misdiagnosis of the problem. They treat education as an industrial process rather than as a human one. They are driven by a culture of testing and standardization that has narrowed the curriculum and sees students as data points and teachers as functionaries rather than as living breathing people. To improve our schools, we have to humanize them and make education personal to every student and teacher in the system. Education is always about relationships. Great teachers are not just instructors and test administrators: They are mentors, coaches, motivators, and lifelong sources of inspiration to their students.

We WHO??? Speak for yourself! That type of talk (“tragic misdiagnosis of the problem”) shows that the speaker isn’t aware (or letting on, if he is) that those who designed the dumb-down schools (of America) are on the same page as the public, rather than forming institutions for mass control of the masses at the expense of the masses… Same deal with, for example, a Barry Goldstein et al. get up and say, with a straight face, that judges just don’t understand batterers, or something similar. Wikipedia gives his background — interesting, from a working class Liverpool, to knighted (2003) and living in Los Angeles. Ken Robinson (Educationalist)

Sir Kenneth Robinson (born 4 March 1950) is an English author, speaker, and international advisor on education in the arts to government, non-profits, education, and arts bodies. He was Director of The Arts in Schools Project (1985–89), Professor of Arts Education at the University of Warwick (1989–2001), and was knighted in 2003 for services to education. Originally from a working-class Liverpool family, Robinson now lives in Los Angeles with his wife Marie-Therese and children James and Kate.

Actually, I”m not sure where I stand on this guy, regardless of all the wonderful things he’s saying on creativity and the arts, which I agree with. I’m watching what he does — and it still boils down to speaker, writer, conferencer, dealing with major institutions funded by gov’t (the public), i.e., schools. However I hope this brings out a few point: There’s always a commercial element. If it got to you, it came through some media, or someone who related something promoted by media on you. The INFORMATION had a CONDUIT (soem technology platform) which cost MONEY which came from somewhere. Pay better attention to the CONDUITS and who owns and operates them, just as CCA of America produces its profits in the form of DIVIDENDS and CONTRACTS for some, at a heavy costs to the inhabitants of the prisons (i.e., they are getting sexually assaulted) and to the taxpayers which are going to have to deal with these people and which are also funding the prisons because we pay taxes. The other point I am absolutely firm about is that we need FEWER, not MORE people majoring in education and psychology — both of which prepares them for re-conditioning and managing huge populations of people previously run through some lousy government system to start with — such as schools, courts, or prisons. This is shown by what people who major in education or psychology end up doing. Whereas, people who major in their PASSIONS (as Sir Robinsons is talking about) are not going to act in such a conformist, easily regulatable, and MUCH less easily controlled through bribery, intimidation, or coercion. That’s the nature, I believe, of the human spirit (let’s not get into any other forms of spirituality which most humans (including myself) believe exist, if you really get down to it)….. What BUSINESS cannot afford is TOO MUCH CREATIVITY and TOO MANY PEOPLE EXERCISING IT – because BUSINESS PROFITS from STANDARDIZATION AND MULTIPLICATION OF PRODUCTS PRODUCED & SERVICES RENDERED. SO, TO BETTER GRAB A HOLD OF (THAT IS, TO RESTRAIN, REDUCING THE COMPETITION IN OTHER WORDS) OF THE CREATIVE POPULACE (i.e., those NOT in ruling positions currently are many more than those who ARE) — WAYS TO CHANNEL, REDIRECT, AND REGULATE THE TRULY CREATIVE IN SOCIETY NEED TO BE DEVELOPED. While creativity may be spiritually and morally more desirable, conformity and control is better business. The problem is, it’s hard to be in both sectors at once — suppressing creativity in the masses, and profiting from it. Therefore, government, to control a population, has to collaborate with others to control the universities, the schools, the media, (the prisons), the military of course, and the technology for tracking and monitoring all of these. Which, of course it does, and has been doing. I suspect most of that didn’t register. No matter, maybe some did. I am talking, basically, about who funds universities and their research labs, where some very creative sorts work, sometimes a lifetime? In exchange for a lifetime of social status and employment (with a pension at the end, often), these sorts cannot and do not typically get too creative on organizing the economy to reduce the role of government which has been feeding them. [Oh well, “The End” — of this post!]