Literacy is language in use – speaking, listening, reading, viewing, watching, writing and drawing. Children of the future need to be as fluent in as many of these disciplines as they can be. The family that reads, draws and plays together is a happy healthy well balanced one, especially if it encourages its children to become proficient and learn how to read from a screen.

Do you Love2Read? In Australia it is the National Year of Reading in 2012. Ensuring that we become a nation that loves to read is what it is all about. It’s also about boosting the literacy of children. Especially those coming new to the learning experience. Parents need to  ensure that their reading efforts are up to recommended educational standards. Statistics reveal nearly half Australia’s population is unable to read, at least with a good degree of fluency. This does not augur well for the future of Australia and her economy, let alone for the people who fall into this category. All parents of children from the cradle onward need to ensure that some part of their day includes a period of reading, or being read aloud to.

Our days can become so frenetic it is often difficult to take time out to indulge ourselves in pleasurable reading. But take time out we must if we are going to contribute meaningfully in the years ahead. Are we right however to put the main emphasis onto books per se?

This is a world in which children and students are growing up computer savvy and often literate in multiple software programs. They are growing up with technology and have readily adapted to its many intricacies as they must, if they are to contribute to their future in their own time and long after their parents and grandparents have gone.

Because so many now look at a screen all day that doesn’t mean that they grasp all of its complexities. Eric Anderson, Assistant Professor at the School of Design at Carnegie Mellon University, USA has written a paper about enhancing visual literacy through cognitive activities.  He believes one of the main reasons many students are having difficulties is because of the mixed signals they receive. It does not do them a favour if their parents and other people around them, who may be avid readers of books in print, rant and rave (and I have heard some do this) about how they should not be reading on a screen but in book format.

Reading on a screen may not be as romantic, as tactile or as delightful in some people’s eyes as reading a book printed on paper. And, I certainly concur, but only to a point. The main point is to have them read in the first place. Words are how the world works, and they need to use any means at their disposal, and available to them if they are to learn how to enjoy the experience of reading. Today books are increasingly available to download to the iPhone, iPad, the Kindle and to our computers. The launch of iAuthor by Apple recently will change the face of textbooks in our schools. The new application is available free, and together with other apps for publishing ebooks, just about any kind of book can be brought to life in ways the printed page could never offer and it will reinvent the future of learning.

This is part of an ongoing debate about nature vs. nurture. Today we would probably agree nature is about what a child brings into the world with them, their physical appearance and genetically engineered character traits. Nurture is how the environment a child is exposed to shapes its genetic tendencies. Then there is heredity vs. environment and morality vs. immorality. Do people in the main react more to ways they are taught or according to genetic predisposition?

What is the importance of conditioning and thought on human development. How does it affect gender roles? The debate is not new. It has been raging for centuries. We do know young people learn through their physical, social and cultural environments. It is not a case of one or the other either, but all. If they see a parent enjoying the experience of reading then they are likely to read themselves.

Subject a child to cruelty or abuse, either physically or emotionally, or both, and you might expect that eventually it will end up committing horrendous crimes and in prison. Seems to be the ‘profile’ for serial crime offenders, at least on T.V. However that has not always been found to be the case. Humans do seem to have an extra quality, or an ability that allows some at least to adapt and change as they grow. This undefined element ensures some do overcome nature and nurture, heredity and environment to become something else entirely? What is this inner strength of will that enables one child over another, including siblings, to suffer and struggle often silently through terrible times and in maturity overcome adversity to triumph and go on to lead what they may consider a ‘normal’ life? But what is normal?

To advance historically, creatively and culturally since way back in the distant ancient past humankind has always needed to achieve far beyond what might be otherwise constitute normality. Where would the world be now without some of those larger than life people in history, who not only changed its course but also impacted on what would happen in the future? Today we see some of them through very rose coloured glasses, seemingly overlooking their flaws because that is how it is with memories of those who have passed on, that in time it is only their goodness we remember.

In endeavouring to understand we can turn to popular culture. For instance: In Hollywood producer and director George Lucas’s six episode epic Star Wars he endeavours to explain the enigmatic Anniken Skywalker’s ascendancy from being child who appeared insightful, clever, good and even wise (wisdom has nothing to do with age) to descend as a man into the darker side of his nature to become the dark evil Lord Darth Vader. Anniken fell foul to temptation, casting aside his wife refusing her love and deserting his only children to pursue power, which once attained became for him the loneliest place in the galaxy. But his son Luke doesn’t give up on him. He demonstrates a singular strength of will to resist the same persuasion metered out by the Emperor and redeems and forgives his father so that he can become part of a life giving force.

We are left to ponder was it conditioning, a failure of genetics or a conscious educated choice his father made? Was he simply immoral, understanding the difference while doing wrong anyway? Or was he confused because he was emotionally and physically scarred. Whatever the answer the moral of the Star Wars series remains, that through achievements in literacy, learning and living a life of forgiveness, so much more is possible for human society.

Its good to remember that before books in print there was an oral tradition of storytelling in cultures all over the world. Reading on a papyrus or on a scroll was an advancement of society, just as some type of screen is the way of a child of today’s future, and so to be proficient in that medium too is very important.

In ancient Roman society life was very hard and very different to society today. A father was considered a child’s ‘owner’ whether it was a natural or adopted child. Roman citizens taught their children to read and write and the boys to use weapons. They could also deny them and cast them out and newborn children could be killed or sold. Deformed and unwanted children were placed on a hillside to die.

From the third century onward children were given an education until they were twelve, with boys only taken into a situation of higher learning. During the Middle Ages (c5th – c15th centuries) children of the well to do were dressed and treated as miniature adults whether they were boys or girls. By the time they were nine they had to be able to converse with adults.

They were also regularly flogged for every kind of offence including bad manners and untidiness. Most parents agreed it was a necessary corrective and they were sent away as their forbears had been into service, to schools where cruelty seemed to thrive and only occasionally they were brought to see their parents to say grace for them or to read a passage of scripture.

One of the founding principles of humanism in the fifteenth century in Italy was an emphasis on virtuous action as an aim of learning. Architect and leading thinker Leone Battista Albertini (Alberti) 1404-1472 wrote “Della Famiglia” (of the family) about marital problems, father and son conflicts, bringing up children, love and friendship and much more.

He sincerely believed the natural place for education was in the home. He wrote his influential treatise about the family for a broad based urban public, one that was not skilled in Latin. He was endeavouring to reach out and raise standards of literacy across the wider community. His youth was all about achievement and the positive attitude that he was raised in affected his life’s journey. His accomplishments reveal that he was able to strike a unique balance between theory and practice, which are often poles apart.

By the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Europe social attitudes toward children were changing significantly. In the continual circles of the aristocracy and upper middle and merchant classes essays expounding the nature and nurturing of children were being taken seriously.

For working class children however the situation didn’t change, and between the ages of ten and sixteen they still lived an adult existence as throughout the Middle Ages.

They were apprenticed early and obliged to help their parents with routine chores. They well knew the rhythms, constraints and rigors of a hard working life. Although not yet independent they belonged as much to the neighbourhood as to their parents, by serving as a link delivering messages in the area where they lived. In this way neighbours, artisans, merchants, curates, policemen all kept an eye on youngster’s growing up. Raising children was a community concern.

Le Petite Dejeneur c1739 by French painter Francois Boucher (Musee de Louvre, Paris) captures perfectly the spirit of the eighteenth century intellectual enlightenment. The scene is delightfully intimate.

The family are sharing a morning meal together in a small room, whose furnishings while tasteful are not really luxurious by our standards today. It is the look of care and concern on the faces of the parents, who are gazing at their little daughter, playing with her horse and doll that is quite moving and a scene of graceful informality pleasing to behold.

Traditionally since that time children have learned within their family and community groups. Within this social context a wealth of knowledge, diversity of experiences and identities enhanced the learning process

During the nineteenth century as printing presses and the books they produced became more accessible, the adult-child shared book reading experience became recognised by many early childhood organisations and other regulatory bodies. Reading together emerged as an essential interaction for young children and became very definitely associated with various developmental outcomes.

Sharing stories also became a bridge between speaking and reading that began in infancy and continued throughout childhood. It was important to foster a child’s emerging literacy, as it also strengthened the bond between the adult and child. J.M. Barrie’s famous novel Peter Pan encouraged parents everywhere to read to their children who were hoping that he, Wendy, Tinker Bell and the Lost Boys might come to listen.

Reading aloud boosts the literacy, learning and listening skills of children everywhere. The warmth of the stories, the care and focus of an older child or an adult reader and the establishment of a reading routine can expand a child’s horizons. It is also a joyous experience providing parents, families and friends with opportunities for communicating in a happy environment.

When an adult, or older child reads to a young child it aids its emotional wellbeing and boosts its self-esteem. Teaming knowledge with imagination assists them to discover the world around them and inspires their interest and attitude in what the world has to offer.

An educator of over twenty-five years experience Australian children’s author Mem Fox says children who are read aloud to associate books with feelings of safety and happiness.

Listening to stories from the first months of life helps children understand the stories we hear and read through books are filled with facts, fun, fantasy and food for thought.

For children less than five; reading aloud prepares them towards success at school.  They have a greater capacity for absorbing information at this period in their lives so it follows that the greater the opportunities to learn then the greater their options will be.

For children over five reading aloud assists to expand their experiences and enjoy being positive about themselves and others.

Statistics available from various State Government Departments of Child Safety and organisations such as Early Childhood Australia, or the Talaris Institute in the USA document the expansion and strain on regulatory bodies, organisations and people as the world changes rapidly for children, families and the professionals who work with them.

Interestingly the time where the least funding by governments is directed to children’s care and education is in the years before they turn five. In this area the important role parents, carers and families play in helping a child is acknowledged as a major determinant in the success of their future learning.

Neurologists, psychologists, educators and mentors are acutely aware of the significant role nature and nurture plays in the evolution of a culture and its society. So perhaps declaring a National Year of Reading in Australia is a step in the right direction. How we deal with children, especially in their early years, needs to be placed within the broader context of social development and gender equity if we want to improve the quality of life for everyone worldwide.

The National Year of Reading 2012, it is all about accessing and learning words, which are how the world works.

About the revolution in textbooks – Apple in Education

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDNQr52b4oI

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2012

*Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689 – 1762)

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The news from the corporate world in January 2011 that Apple CEO Steve Jobs was for a second time on medical leave indefinately was very sobering. For someone whose whole adult life seems to have been in one way or another connected to Apple computers, it is with some ambivalence that I reflect on what that means for Apple, and the world at large, when their powerhouse executive is no longer guiding the helm. It will be difficult, and different, but over the last decade he has gathered together many great and good people around him to support his vision and he has become one of a team of talented individuals who work together for the greater good. And, it is always good to remember that, in the scheme of things no one is indispensable although they can be sorely missed.

Steve Jobs presence, and the products Apple has produced over the years certainly loom large in our family and its journey through life. As he traversed the road from Geek to God and became part of his own creation story we rode alongside him using Macintosh, Apple, Powerbook, G3, G4 and finally iMac, iPods, iPads and iPhones. Whew. Wish they had established a points reward system years ago, we would all be way out in front.

My eldest son was born in 1968 the year the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey was released. It seems to me that it had far more impact on history and people than the book of Revelations and perhaps even Homer’s story of Ulysses, in the Odyssey. Although I will stand corrected if I am wrong. 1968 was also the year the Intel Corporation was founded by Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore. Its innovative processors would go on to become the technology that makes much of the current world tick, including the world of products produced by Apple.

In April 1976 when my eldest son was only seven, and his siblings five and three years of age Apple Inc. was founded by Steven Jobs and his colleagues Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. So perhaps it is not a coincidence today my eldest son’s greatest interest is technology, science and sci-fi. And, that he works in a world of advertising, creativity and websites.

A great deal has happened in between it is suffice to say. All of it has had some sort of an impact on our family, perhaps as much as William Tell’s family when he shot the apple off his son’s head. We certainly didn’t have to resort to archery, although son number two was a fair shot with a bow and arrow growing up shooting a number of ‘Robin Hood’s (one arrow into the back of another).  But I digress.

Out of three sons perhaps the eldest benefited the most initially, because he was leading his X generation into the whole new world of PC’s (personal computers). He was encouraged at every stage to take the journey, going off on his own aged twelve to America to attend an Atari Computer Camp, as it was one of his first computers prior to becoming Apple Mac focused. In his final year of school in 1986 he published his secondary school’s year book on his MacIntosh II computer. It was a first for his school, and among his peers. Years later when going for a job in advertising when he told that story his potential employers were agog because it was at the point of pioneering in Australia.

Look now how mortals are blaming the gods, for they say that evils come from us, but in fact they themselves have woes beyond their share because of their own follies…*

Steve Jobs. There has been so much written about the man that perhaps my few words would hardly seem to count. Although I would like to think those I do write are constructive not destructive. I can only look at him from my own perspective and endeavour to be objective, not judgmental as so many people today alarmingly tend to be. It is certainly an aim of mine to take people as I find them, not as others tell me that I should. Inevitably that can lead to far more challenges, but hey, at least I am dipping my toe in the waters of life.

Steve Jobs seems to me to have been a highly creative individual. who immersed himself completely in his creative career choices. Over a twenty year period he went from being a real Geek, in terms of his public ego and profile, to becoming a total God – completely self effacing and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. His vision has always been long term, which a lot of people, especially banks and financiers often find difficult to support. Good for him that he found one at least in multi-millionaire Mike Markkula, who provided not only essential business expertise but also funding of $250,000 for incorporation.

We are too often wanting instant fame and overnight success rather than embrace an old Latin tag such as il festina lente, or make haste slowly. If we choose that way to proceed, while it may sound boring, it can lead to building a far more solid foundation on which to support a lifelong journey.

Jobs’s ego, like many confident young men before him, probably caused a great deal of frustration and heartache in his youth and on his earlier corporate journey. It certainly seemed to have got in his way a great deal. Comments about, and disagreements with other colleagues in the industry attained high status.

When Apple went public on December 12, 1980 it instantly created more millionaires (about 300) than any other company in history. Would it have been that we had bought some shares, rather than property. They would have returned far more profit than any real estate package over the same period.

Eventually in 1984 Steve Jobs was fired from the firm he founded by the board. Left to wander in the wilderness for a decade he turned his creative forces to great account. He also learned that instead of being competitive with everyone,  the best strategy for him was to become far more enlightened about his approach and also become inclusive. By exercising self control Steve Jobs gradually made far more effective decisions, without depleting or dismantling his creativity in any way. While he was separated from Apple he made brilliant choices that broadened his horizons and experience enabling him eventually to return as a successful CEO to assist the company in a dark hour of need.

Back in the starring role he became a true leader, using less rhetoric and far better communication. This allowed him to also embolden others. And, he has helped many I am sure step outside their comfort zone to achieve success. He has certainly empowered many to create, which has led to far greater choices. This has monetarily and in many other ways benefited he, his colleagues, economies, shareholders and the community at large.

The relationship he built with English designer Jonathon Ive since he joined Apple as head designer in 1992 informs this view. It has allowed Jobs the time to refine his role as a forward thinking CEO. This approach is highly evident in the podcast and conference broadcasts we have listened to or watched in recent years as he was busy launching the latest products from Apple. He has created, in his second incarnation at Apple, a community for people to belong to. Much the same as Oprah has done in the television world.

Humans are individually and communally creatures of habit, who enjoy social interaction,  being in community and, doing things together. They really need to belong. The flood crisis recently in Australia reflected that fact as people put aside differences to join forces to battle a common foe, the fury of nature.

Following his return to Apple in 1992 Steve Jobs spent a great deal of time researching and studying people, their habits and their expectations before launching Apple’s new products in their own sensational new stores. He has surely perfected the art of retail, launching aesthetically pleasing to look at super service oriented spaces that feel great to be inside, to be connected to and to be part of. Millions want to belong and be part of their success. The huge queues and huge profits inform this comment.

There is no sense of humbug these days about Jobs. He is minimalist in approach and his own aesthetic, while maximizing experience and enjoyment for others. His journey from being a young outstanding Geek in a world of men playing it safe has been equal to that of ancient Greek hero Ulysses in the great epic journey The Odyssey. Perhaps even twice over.

His 2005 Stanford Commencement Address was often inspiring and very enlightening.

As he has learned to come to terms with the God within, like many others I am sure, it is hoped he will be resurrected once more. And, if he can overcome the challenge he is facing with his health, he can continue to aid society as it struggles to build a sustainable world, at least for a little while longer.

Don’t get the idea that I think Steve Jobs is perfect. Far from it. Flashes of the old arrogance and his explosive temperament still emerge, albeit briefly. Like the rest of us he has many demons inside that he is constantly wrestling with. True creative genius in my experience seems to require a certain fixation, or focus on self. Most artists of the past inevitably painted their own portraits aided by reflection. The trick is not to step over boundaries into the realms of true narcissism and become an introvert. The reality of the present requires of us all, compassion, cooperation, connectivity and communication.

What Jobs has proved incidentally, or intentionally is that by understanding our weaknesses we can learn how to anticipate and avoid mistakes. By being thorough and realistic in terms of personal or professional growth, we can all continue to move forward to embrace the brave new world.

Since 1997, Steve Jobs has led Apple, which surely in the world of the 21st century represents one of the greatest business success stories of all time. Jobs was on the ground with the rise of the PC. He revolutionized his chosen industry, rocked the music world and business by introducing the iPod to listen to iTunes. He has enhanced business by catalyzing the smart phone revolution with the iPhone. And, he has created an entirely new category of product for both personal and professional use with the iPad. Theories associated with the relationship between economics and society and economics and ethics are indeed complex. And theory and practice often poles apart. However it is the wealth of experience that Steve Jobs can offer the next generation of youth that is of significant importance. It is worth surely, much more than gold. And, it is to be hoped that, once again, he will return to complete the Odyssey.

‘Dreams surely are difficult, confusing, and not everything in them is brought to pass for mankind. For fleeting dreams have two gates: one is fashioned of horn and one of ivory. Those which pass through the one of sawn ivory are deceptive, bringing tidings which come to nought, but those which issue from the one of polished horn bring true results when a mortal sees them’…*

© The Culture Concept – Carolyn McDowall, January 2011

*Quotations by Homer – from The Odyssey

Footnote: Steve Jobs passed away on October 5th, 2011

Vale Steve Jobs

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I Pad

Macintosh 1984

Apple is relying on ease of use,  crisp, clean wide angle and accessible viewing display to carve out a whole new market for its new wiz bang wonder iPad. Its e reader capabilities are tipped to be the key to its success over the next decade.

It was my eldest son  who first started teaching me to use a computer. It was his first, a Macintosh produced by Apple Inc that hit the market as a revolutionary product in 1984 becoming the first commercially successful personal computer. He still has it, a reminder of the rapid progress of technology. It was great learning way back then because you could increase your proficiency as computers very gradually transformed.

Now 25 years on Apple Inc is still making history with its an all new easily transportable, revolutionary Ipad. Users can check emails, watch videos, play games, surf the web, organise photos, prepare documents and present them. Professionals can upload PDF’s of presentations and keep them with them at all times. It is certainly good news for publishers because one of its great features is that the iPad allows its user to buy and download digital books.

British actor and technology buff Stephen Fry, who attended the launch event as a guest of Apple, spoke effusively about the iPad after the main event. “It’s just beautiful,” he said. “You want to fondle it and lick it and play with it. And I’m going to run away with it now.” It is easy to understand his enthusiasm. I am sure it will be at the top of many must have lists…including mine.

Carolyn McDowall, January 28, 2010

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