To what does the 'educational' refer in JREF?

[UnrepentantSinner]

According to some on this forum it refers to telling religious people how stupid and/or mentally ill they are. Or at least that's the "educational" purpose of the forum.

 

[Solus]

I think there is an E in JREF is because of Randi's efforts in the past and present to educate people about frauds. Although I see the OP's main point and have wondered that myself. More could be done but that requires a new organization to be created. I suppose small steps could be made however.

 

[sthomson]

I always thought "Educational" meant "Randi gives lectures and speeches, holds conferences, etc." The "James Randi Educational Foundation" is just a name that means that the profits from these endeavors is payed to an organization, instead of to Randi himself, so that Randi can benefit from certain tax and liability shelters. It also makes hiring employees a bit easier.

 

[Darth Rotor]

You also say you've learned a lot from books such as those written by Dawkins, which you were referred to by here.
Again, is that being educated by the JREF, or was it simply encouraging you to actively go out and learn something new? Indeed, being shown how Uri does some of his tricks is a useful resource in demonstrating how psychics fool people, but once again I don't see this as educational, per se.

Athon

I think I get the gist of your intentions, and I think you are on to something, but, for my own clarity of understanding, how do you define education and educational?

As I was taught, the purpose of education in the broadest sense, as opposed to training, is to prepare the mind for independent learning in a given discipline, or more generally in all disciplines. Basically, once out of undergrad, one is at least partially a self learner, and self educator, for the rest of their lives, though I am very glad I went through the cauldron of a masters degree or two for the sharpening of the already forged blade.

Continuing education programs, if they are using the term correctly, provide people with some training, but also with educational base to become self learners/self growing professionals in whichever field.

What do you mean by education, if what you don't mean is what you have noted so far?

DR

 

[athon]

What do you mean by education, if what you don't mean is what you have noted so far?

DR

In post 34 I said;

Ideally, in order for education of any sort to be most efficient, in my opinion it should:

Be bi-directional, where the learner is directly interacting with the facilitator.
Offer a variety of resources that encourages the development of skills over being purely informative.
Address various pedagogical needs of the targeted community.
Be active in its adaptation to changing attitudes, developing skills and informing the population, rather that passively offering a narrow range of texts.
Integrate with other programs, disciplines and systems available in order to remove the compartmentalisation of the skills being conveyed.

These are just some of the things which makes education effective. Note I never said the JREF is not educational at all. But whether it is as effective as it could be is open for discussion.

It's by no means comprehensive or complete, but gives something of an idea of what I mean by 'effectively educational' against something being merely informative. I also acknowledge that educational has a colloquial meaning, where it insinuates anything that merely teaches you something new. However, such a colloquial definition is far too broad for a foundation which defines itself as 'educational'.

Athon

 

[Erin]

athon,

I agree with your sentiments. Someone should ask these kind of questions more often if just to let the powers that be know someone is taking note. Personally, I'm more interested in the information contained on the board. For me at this point that's educational enough. I may get into this more though once I have completely familiarised myself with the board, it's members and it's claims.​

 

[Darth Rotor]

In post 34 I said;



It's by no means comprehensive or complete, but gives something of an idea of what I mean by 'effectively educational' against something being merely informative. I also acknowledge that educational has a colloquial meaning, where it insinuates anything that merely teaches you something new. However, such a colloquial definition is far too broad for a foundation which defines itself as 'educational'.

Athon

OK, I get that, thanks again.

It seems to me that your purpose is both noble and of interest to an educational foundation. If this foundation's aim is to support, or act as a catalyst for education, it has succeeded. One of its aims is to promote critical thinking, and I think it does that. Critical thinking is one of the tools of modern education.

Now that I understand better, from the discussion, that your vision involves "what more can the JREF do for education" I will return to lurk mode and soak in the inputs of those who make concrete suggestions for expanding the reach of the foundation, and its mission.

DR

 

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

Haha, it's the curse of not being about to edit titles. As soon as it went up I cursed out loud.

We aim both to educate and to serve.

~~ Paul