By Mario deSantis, March 7, 1999

Many of our leaders are pathological liars(1) who can't even be "linear thinkers"(2) when they contractually sign our assets away(3). I never realized the extent of our political, bureaucratic and social corruption until Justice Barclay(4) stated in the Court of Law that racism, along with the related mental models, is rampant and institutionalized in our justice system(5) (6). Here I am writing about Systems Dynamics in education and you could be asking me what corruption, lying and racism has to do with our educational system and the need to reform it. Well, since I have been publishing articles through the North Central Internet News, my common theme has been the need for societal organizational changes compatible with the philosophy of the Learning Organization(7).

Education and learning are very important components of the Learning Organization and therefore we cannot sustain organizational changes without addressing the need to reform our educational system. Our educational system is archaic(8), our students are not learning(9), and it is a consequential fact that our educational system is representative of our declining political, business and cultural values(10). We can't follow our "tin pot dictators"(11) anymore, we can only follow ourselves as we understand our world, and since we construct our understanding(12) (13) of the world we require a new way of thinking. And as education is concerned, we must free ourselves from the constraints of an obsolete and autocratic system(14) and let our imagination construct our knowledge by visualizing models and virtual realities of our physical and social world.

For me, and for its founder Dr. Jay Forrester, this is Systems Dynamics, a conceptual educational and learning approach where we let our imagination run in cyberspace to construct our understanding by building models or virtual realities of our microworlds(15). Cyberspace is just like a theatre(16), rather, another imaginative medium transcendent of time and space where we become actors and share our experiences and stories through conversations. Our perceptual realities(17) are our realities, and as we learn by building virtual realities of microworlds in cyberspace, we change our mental models and our realities, and we become more real, closer to our fellow man and more tuned to our changing world.

We have schools "...that are inconsistent with the technological, intellectual, social milieu of this 21st century. You're not going to answer this by taking tests, where the children take tests of 19th century..."(18) (19) Instead, we must move forward the current sterile teacher-centred classroom, and use our technologies to enhance our imagination and our understanding so that we can finally reconcile science and religion by being able to "Know Thyself."(20)

Endnotes

1. I have personal experiences supporting the deceptive and lying environment of a segment of our political and bureaucratic leadership

2. The paradox of Linear Thinking has been described by the saying that "nine women can't make a baby in one month"

3. Refer to the selling of Channel Lake by SaskPower for a price which was $5.2 million less than authorized. Provincial Auditor Saskatchewan, 1998 Fall Report Volume 2, Chapter 21

4. Judgment dated July 17, 1998 in the Queen's Bench Judicial Centre of Yorkton, Saskatchewan, by Justice Barclay J.

5. NEED OF TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGES IN SASKATCHEWAN: Fight Against Racism and a New Worldview, by Mario deSantis, October 7, 1998 Published in North Central Internet News

6. Examples of mental models in Saskatchewan health care and racism, by Mario deSantis, July 29, 1998 Published in North Central Internet News

7. Coping with changes: the Learning Organization, Knowledge Economy and current practices in Information Technology applications, by Mario deSantis, June 1997 http://www3.sk.sympatico.ca/desam/paper-coping_changes.htm

8. Thoughts on Education, Knowledge, Learning and the Internet, by Mario deSantis, January 23, 1999 Published in North Central Internet News

9. Math debate sparks spirited response, Straight Talk, by Randy Burton, The StarPhoenix, January 23, 1999, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

10. Refer to pertinent articles published in the North Central Internet News by Mario deSantis (1998-1999) http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/authors/authorsindx.html

11. Saskatchewan Tin Pot Dictatorships: Lack of Integrity is Lack of Leadership, by Mario deSantis, February 7, 1999 Published in North Central Internet News

12. A web site on constructivism and related links. University of Colorado at Denver School of Education. http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/constructivism.html

13. A personal experience: knowledge is not transferred, it is constructed, by Mario deSantis, February 1, 1999 Published in North Central Internet News http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantis27/education.html

14. A relevant research resource in education: Project Zero (PZ), Harvard Graduate School of Education. Howard Gardner and David Perkins are co-directors of Project Zero. Howard Gardner is the author of the book titled "Frames of Mind:The Theory of Multiple Intelligences."(1983) http://pzweb.harvard.edu/Research/Research.htm

15. Microworld is a part or a system of our physical and social world

16. Virtual Reality and Creative Imagination, by Angela Bilia, Virtual Reality and Education Laboratory, East Carolina University http://eastnet.educ.ecu.edu/vr/vrits/3-2Bilia.htm

17. The Limitations of Perceptual Reality, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3; by Timothy Shire, February 1999. Published in North Central Internet News

18. Child Power: Keys to the New Learning of the Digital Century, by Dr. Seymour Papert, June 2, 1998, Imperial College, London http://www.connectedfamily.com/main_alt.html

19. College tackles tough math problem, by Gerry Klein, StarPhoenix, January 12, 1999, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. An excerpt from this article: "...Last year some (university) students were given a 60-year old exam meant for Grade 10 students. The majority failed..."

20. A constructionist perspective on values: a response to postmodern fragmented identity, by Marina Umaschi Bers and Rabbi Sergio Bergman http://marinau.www.media.mit.edu/~marinau/BB-values.html