This Unbearable Boredom of Being : A Crisis of Meaning in America

Rating:
Summary: Reversing Spengler's "Decline of the West"
Review: In his influential "The Decline of the West," the German historian Oswald Spengler saw little hope for civilization. More than eighty years later, the physicist and humanitarian Genrich Krasko believes that a thorough overhauling of the American educational system can reverse the "decline" and usher in an era of unprecedented peace and prosperity. Krasko argues in "The Unbearable Boredom of Being" that "poor education is the main cause of almost all the problems our society is facing today." The evidence is overwhelming. Content to let machines and unscrupulous political and commercial manipulators do what passes for thinking, we have become a semi-literate society. In nearly 300 pages of stimulating analysis, Krasko offers a number of well thought-out ways to reform the educational system and in so doing achieve America's promise. This is an unusually provocative book.

Rating:
Summary: This Unbearable Boredom of Being
Review: This book should be read by all who care for the future of America, and, first of all, for the future of our children. The book is about the loss of meaning in people's lives - the illness that follows society's affluence. The author, however, identifies a factor that, in his view - and I completely agree with him - has exacerbated this "crisis of meaning" in America. This factor is the degradation of our educational system. The system does not care any more to create a strong "spiritual core" in a child, and help develop child's personality. It cares only for "building skills." This, in fact sentences our society to "spiritual poverty," and "without any chance of parole."
The author discusses a "true" educational reform, but his suggestions are diametrically opposed to what is being discussed and implemented as "reforms" today. Reading the book one may think that nothing can be done, that what the author is discussing is an "idealistic delirium," a pipe dream never to be materialized.
However, to my astonishment and joy, I discovered in the Boston Russian Bulletin, an ad about a new "Advanced Math and Science Academy Charter School," which is, in fact a realization of Genrich Krasko's dream of a school giving children KNOWLEDGE, rather than disseminating information helping to "build skills."
In spite of being a "science-math" school, the depth of teaching the humanity subjects will be as strong as that of scientific ones. The school's philosophy is that an individual cannot be cultured and educated without deep knowledge and understanding of the history and cultures of the previous generations.
This short review is not a place for detailed description of the new and "revolutionary" school with its curriculum, which has absorbed the best achievements of European and former Soviet pedagogical sciences.
What is important: the dream of this excellent book is becoming true.

Leon Reznikov

Salem MA
USA

Rating:
Summary: must reading for educators & politicians
Review: Genrich Krasko's book "Boredom of Being; A Crisis of Meaning in America." Should be on the "must reading" list for educators & politicians.
Krasko is well versed in Viktor Frankl's understanding of
"Meaning in Life." and personal responsibility. He draws a sharp line between "Training" and "Educating". The American school systems focus on "Training" when the focus should be on
"Educating". Educators should not lower education to the lowest common denominator, but help the least to raise their knowledge level and help the student to have and maintain meaning in life.
His dream is for "our children to grow up happy and fulilled, eager to learn,..., growing up to be mature adults able to love, wanting the world better and transfering the treasure of their souls - 'Meaning; to their children."

Rating:
Summary: Thought-provoking book offering a fresh perspective
Review: For me the central theme of the book rang true and provided fresh perspective. -- The amount of one's education and awareness, not to be confused with the degree of professional training, is essential for living more meaningful if not happy life.

While many of the author's observations and conclusions are open to the debate, in my opinion, the raised questions are valid and very much relevant for our time and our society.

To summarize, this is a fascinating, thought-provoking work which I highly recommend.

Rating:
Summary: Training or Education?
Review: I read this book with great interest. It is not a secret that our educational system is in crisis. As a university professor, I have observed that the U. S. educational system places a much greater value on training rather than education. That is, the students at my engineering school appear to appreciate professional training more than broad knowledge of basic science principles. Unfortunately, such approach may lead to a decrease of cultural and ethical meaning of education.

The author passionately addresses this issue in his book when he emphasizes the underestimation of the humanistic role of education in our society. Being familiar with the culture and educational system of Soviet Russia he makes interesting and useful comparisons between different systems of education.

Undoubtedly the book addresses a very important issue and it would be great if it would stir a serious discussion of the problem. Of course this will depend, in the first place, on how many people will read the book. Thus, I hope this important book becomes more widely available.





Rating:
Summary: A Crisis of Meaning not only in America
Review: This book discusses very thoroughly most pending society ills
of today's America from a non-traditional angle: from the
point of view of the loss of meaning in people's
lives. The author, Dr. Krasko, is a follower of Viktor Frankl, one of the
greatest minds of the 20th century, the founder of the so-called
"Third Viennese School of Psychotherapy", and author of a
very important book "Man's Search for Meaning." In one of his
books Frankl wrote: "Ever more people today have the means to live,
but no meaning to live for." This is the gist of Dr. Krasko's book.

The book discusses very thoroughly the most burning American problems:
America's scientific ignorance, drug culture, gender polarization,
racism etc. A very serious issue is the deterioration of the educational
system. According to Dr. Krasko, the system substitutes
training (disseminating information) for true education (which is
supposed to disseminate knowledge), thus preventing young American
generation from acquiring a strong spiritual core based on knowledge,
and, as a consequence, preventing young people from acquiring maturity.
Dr. Krasko sees the absence of true education as the major reason that
has exacerbated the loss of meaning among millions people.

In the book, there is a very interesting essay, "Battered
the First Amendment, Forgotten the Ninth" (the author
means the Amendments to the US Constitution) which
treats very thoroughly the relation of the freedom
of an individual with respect to freedom of the
others. The author also suggests a non-traditional interpretation of
the Ninth Amendment, which may be of interest both to lawyers and
constitutional experts.
I should also note that this book is not only about America. The
existential crisis of the "loss of meaning" has engulfed the whole
world, and Dr. Krasko's book may serve as a warning to other
democracies, which either have already all the symptoms identified in
the book, or are about to develop them (especially if they allow their
educational system to deteriorate). One can trace such tendencies
also in so-called "newly emerged democracies" of Central and
Eastern Europe that have not had enough time yet to implement
all changes into their educational system according to American
pattern. I am sure that this book may definitely find interested
readers in the Czech Republic and in Poland, and I will recommend
it to all my friends.

In my view, Dr. Krasko's book of is very convincing. It is certainly
worth reading: it brings a lot of material to think about.


Prof. Mojmir Sob
Masaryk University
Brno, Czech Republic