Another good precedent to the pile.

Yesterday, at school, while I read the news, I saw that the Brazilian Superior Court of Justice dismissed an accusation of rape in a relationship between a twenty-year-old man and his twelve-year-old girlfriend. The accusation was made by the girl’s mother. But the two loved each other, even lived together, the girl was pregnant and they intended to build a family. I saw four very interesting points in this case:

First, the man did not know that what he was doing is illegal. The law (article 217-A of the Penal Code) says that any carnal conjunction or other libidinous act, with or without consent between the parties, is illegal, whenever one of the parties is less than fourteen years old. But most Brazilians think that only harmful things can be crimes. This is a wrong belief. Our law prohibits several things that do not harm anyone. And that is terrible. Really, if the two are in love, if there was consent and no one has been harmed, an act should not be forbidden. What should be forbidden is the forced or harmful sexual act. If there was no force and no damage, why should it be forbidden? Someone could then ask: “then would you be in favor of child prostitution?” No, because it is harmful, since it exposes the child to several partners, increasing the kid’s exposure to sexually transmitted diseases, and also because most children and adolescents only go to school to have a diploma that ensures a job that pays well. If it were possible for the child or adolescent to earn money now, the dropout rate would skyrocket, impoverishing both the future workforce and the average intellectual level of the nation. Same thing applies to selling child porn, produced or not by the child in question.

Second: the majority decision was that the intervention would cause more damage to the victim than it would repair. That’s because the girl is pregnant. Arresting the man, who is willing to take care of the baby, would leave the pregnant teenager helpless. By the way, not only her, but also the baby who would be born from her. Very correct that the court have considered that. If the man had been convicted, the teenager would be harmed by the court. But if justice causes harm, it is not really justice. It is not fair that the victim is harmed by the court that should protect her.

Third: one of the judges stated that this case is a “exception that confirms the rule,” so exceptions are possible.

Fourth: it is unlikely that the decision will be reversed without a new assessment of evidence and facts, something that cannot be done at the moment in that court for reasons I do not understand.

I reaffirm the idea that acts against the article 217-A (refuses to use the term “rape” to label consensual sex) should be tried on a case-by-case basis, assessing the individual merit of each relationship and the consequences of the conviction for victim. Justice must repair damage, not cause it.

Deveríamos revogar o novo ensino médio.

Hoje é dia da mobilização nacional contra o novo ensino médio, modelo de organização imposto por Michel Temer em 2017 e que passou a viger em 2022. Nesse modelo, as disciplinas passam a ser “estudos e práticas” a serem inclusos em conteúdos maiores: artes, língua portuguesa, inglês e educação física passam a ser “linguagens e suas tecnologias”; história, geografia, sociologia e filosofia passam a ser “ciências humanas e sociais aplicadas”; química, física e biologia passam a ser “ciências da natureza e suas tecnologias”; a matemática foi inafetada. Apesar disso, língua portuguesa e inglês também são ofertados como disciplinas próprias, além de sua participação no currículo de linguagens. Espanhol foi eliminado da grade obrigatória.

Isso já é ruim o bastante. Dependendo do estado, as disciplinas desapareceram. Mas, além dessa aglutinação de conteúdos diferentes e sua apresentação como componentes curriculares homogêneos, o conteúdo lecionado também sofre. É que a Base Nacional Comum Curricular, a qual define quais competências e habilidades devem ser cultivadas nos alunos, é organizada por essas áreas. Para que o modelo de áreas do conhecimento funcione, é preciso que a Base se limite a atribuir às áreas apenas competências e habilidades que podem ser tratadas em conjunto pelos professores da área. Tome o caso das ciências humanas e sociais aplicadas: suas competências e habilidades são limitadas àquelas que a história, a geografia, a sociologia e a filosofia podem cultivar juntas. Então, o conteúdo específico de uma disciplina é deixado de fora da discussão, caso ele não possa ser também discutido pelos outros professores que compõem a área. Assim, o professor de filosofia é desencorajado a tocar em assuntos típicos da filosofia, sempre que eles não puderem ser tratados pelos outros três saberes. Metafísica, epistemologia, teoria do conhecimento e estética, por exemplo, não têm lugar nesse modelo, pois não há nessas narrativas filosóficas competências que possam ser cultivadas em conjunto com o historiador, com o geógrafo e com o sociólogo. Ao menos, não pelos outros três ao mesmo tempo, igualmente. Como isso reduz o conteúdo que precisa ser lecionado na formação geral básica, é óbvio que a carga horária da mesma foi também reduzida: de 2400 horas para 1800. Os alunos passam a ter menos aulas de conteúdos cobrados no vestibular e no Exame Nacional do Ensino Médio, o que pode ter um impacto negativo nas suas chances de entrar na universidade.

Isso tem seu impacto nos livros didáticos, os quais ficaram menores, deixaram de ser seriados e são organizados não por disciplina (pois esse é um conceito ultrapassado, segundo os proponentes do novo modelo), mas por competências. No entanto, embora os livros tenham ficado menores, eles agora estão em maior número: são seis competências de ciências humanas e sociais aplicadas, então deve haver seis volumes para esse conteúdo, um para cada competência. O aluno não trará os seis para a escola todos os dias, até porque a consulta nos livros seria um desastre em sala de aula. Ele terá apenas dois por ano. Assim, espera-se que o professor cultive apenas duas competências por ano, as quais devem ser combinadas com os outros professores da área, a menos que ele decida (como muitos fazem) abandonar o uso do livro didático. Há, assim, vários impecilhos à manutenção da identidade de cada conteúdo. Tudo trabalha para que história, geografia, sociologia e filosofia virem “uma coisa só”; tudo trabalha para que química, física e biologia virem “uma coisa só”. O mesmo se diga de artes e educação física.

Com o avanço do ensino em tempo integral e a redução da carga horária da formação geral básica, com o que preencher o tempo em que os alunos ficarão em sala sem ter aulas importantes? Entram os itinerários formativos: novas disciplinas obrigatórias, disciplinas eletivas, trilhas de aprofundamento e projeto de vida. As novas disciplinas obrigatórias, as quais variam de estado para estado, são mais do mesmo: jogral, dancinhas, conversa sobre sentimentos e outras bobagens. As eletivas são mais interessantes, mas para coibir qualquer possibilidade de fazer algo útil com elas, cada uma tem duração de apenas seis meses. As trilhas de aprofundamento têm uma proposta interessante, acompanhada de péssima execução: cada trilha de aprofundamento contém um conjunto de disciplinas que misturam duas áreas, o que requer que o professor lecione coisas que simplesmente não aprendeu na faculdade. Já o projeto de vida se propõe a desenvolver perícias socioemocionais do aluno e prepará-lo para a vida adulta, mas tal conteúdo deveria ser dado por pessoas com alguma formação em psicologia. Aulas de projeto de vida frequentemente tocam em assuntos muito sensíveis, os alunos choram às vezes, não querem participar e ainda pode sobrar pro professor.

O modelo anterior era bem melhor. Deveríamos voltar a ele. Mesmo que isso não seja possível, o mínimo a ser feito é restaurar a estrutura e a carga horária da formação geral básica, com a volta de todas as disciplinas tradicionais (incluindo espanhol) e o aumento da carga horária para 2400. O ideal é o modelo anterior, mas o mínimo é a reabilitação da formação geral básica. Um passo de cada vez.

Citaĵoj: Acres of Diamonds.

The book “Acres of Diamonds: Our Every-day Opportunities” is a biography of Temple University founder Russell Conwell. At first, it seemed strange to me that a Christian pastor would place so much emphasis on money in his speeches. My first impression was that Conwell was one of those greedy pastors, preachers of a “prosperity gospel”, but this is not so: Conwell does not say that God will make you rich as a reward for joining the church, but that everyone should seek wealth through means of hard work. Still, it seemed strange to me, hearing from a Christian, all this emphasis on wealth, but, throughout the book, we see that what he means is that money is necessary even for the achievement of our good deeds, as this is the Western capitalist system, in which almost nothing is possible for those who do not have money. One should not have money simply for the sake of it, but to use it as a means to perform good deeds, in order to improve the lives of others and the community. Beautiful and plausible. But that doesn’t save the book from a fatal flaw that occurs throughout almost the entire text: it reads like one long piece of propaganda. You see, this book was not written by Conwell himself, but by someone else. And this person has done little investigation into Conwell’s flaws, while at the same time sparing no effort in praising him in every way at every opportunity that arises. This is highly tedious and embarrassing. If someone wrote a biography about me and wrote it that way, I would be embarrassed.

El libro “Acres of Diamonds: Our Every-day Opportunities” es una biografía del fundador de la Universidad de Temple, Russell Conwell. Al principio me pareció extraño que un pastor cristiano pusiera tanto énfasis en el dinero en sus discursos. Mi primera impresión fue que Conwell era uno de esos pastores codiciosos, predicadores de un “evangelio de la prosperidad”, pero no es así: Conwell no dice que Dios te hará rico como recompensa por unirte a la iglesia, sino que todos deben buscar riqueza a través del trabajo duro. Aún así, me pareció extraño escuchar de boca de un cristiano todo este énfasis en la riqueza, pero, a lo largo del libro, vemos que lo que quiere decir es que el dinero es necesario incluso para la realización de nuestras buenas obras, pues así es la cultura occidental. Vivemos en un sistema capitalista, en el que casi nada es posible para quienes no tienen dinero. No se debe tener dinero simplemente por tenerlo, sino utilizarlo como un medio para realizar buenas obras, con el fin de mejorar las vidas de los demás y de la comunidad. Hermoso y plausible. Pero eso no salva al libro de un defecto fatal que ocurre a lo largo de casi todo el texto: es muy forzado en la descripción de las calidades de Conwell. Este libro no fue escrito por el propio Conwell, sino por otra persona. Y esta persona ha investigado poco los defectos de Conwell, al mismo tiempo que hace total esfuerzo para elogiarlo en todos los sentidos en cada oportunidad que se presenta. Esto es muy tedioso. Si alguien escribiera una biografía sobre mí y la escribiera de esa manera, me daría vergüenza.

La libro “Acres of Diamonds: Our Every-day Opportunities” estas biografio de la fondinto de Temple University, Russell Conwell. Komence mi trovis strange, ke kristana pastro emfazas monon en siaj paroladoj. Mia unua impreso estis, ke Conwell estis unu el tiuj avidaj pastroj, predikantoj de “prospero evangelio”, sed tio ne estas la kazo: Conwell ne diras, ke Dio riĉigos vin kiel rekompenco pro aliĝo al la eklezio, sed ke ĉiuj serĉu riĉecon per laboro. Eĉ tiel, ŝajnis al mi strange aŭdi ĉi tiun emfazon pri riĉeco el la buŝo de kristano, sed, tra la libro, ni vidas, ke tio, kion li volas diri, estas, ke mono estas necesa eĉ por plenumi niajn bonajn farojn, ĉar tiel estas Okcidenta kulturo. Ni vivas en kapitalisma sistemo, en kiu preskaŭ nenio estas ebla por tiuj, kiuj ne havas monon. Vi ne havu monon simple por havi ĝin, sed vi devas uzi ĝin por fari bonajn agojn, por plibonigi la vivon de aliaj homoj kaj la komunumo. Bela kaj kredebla. Sed la libron havas fatalan difekton, kiu okazas tra preskaŭ la tuta teksto: ĝi ŝajnas kiel propagando. Ĉi tiu libro ne estis verkita de Conwell mem, sed de iu alia. Kaj ĉi tiu persono malmulte esploris la difektojn de Conwell, dum ankaŭ laŭdi lin ĉiumaniere ĉe ĉiu okazo. Ĉi tio estas tre teda. Se iu verkus biografion pri mi kaj skribus ĝin tiel, mi tre ruĝiĝus.

O livro “Acres of Diamonds: Our Every-day Opportunities” é uma biografia do fundador da Temple University, Russell Conwell. A princípio achei estranho que um pastor cristão enfatizasse o dinheiro em seus discursos. Minha primeira impressão foi de que Conwell era um daqueles pastores gananciosos, pregadores do “evangelho da prosperidade”, mas não é o caso: Conwell não está dizendo que Deus o tornará rico como recompensa por ingressar na igreja, mas que todos deveriam buscar riqueza através do trabalho. Mesmo assim, me pareceu estranho ouvir essa ênfase na riqueza da boca de um cristão, mas, ao longo do livro, vemos que o que ele quer dizer é que o dinheiro é necessário até para realizarmos nossas boas obras, pois é assim que a cultura ocidental é. Vivemos num sistema capitalista em que quase nada é possível para quem não tem dinheiro. Você não deve ter dinheiro simplesmente para tê-lo, mas deve usá-lo para fazer boas ações, para melhorar a vida de outras pessoas e da comunidade. Bonito e crível. Mas o livro tem uma falha fatal que ocorre em quase todo o texto: parece propaganda. Este livro não foi escrito pelo próprio Conwell, mas por outra pessoa. E essa pessoa investigou pouco as falhas de Conwell, ao mesmo tempo que o elogiou de todas as maneiras e em todas as oportunidades. Isso é muito tedioso. Se alguém escrevesse uma biografia sobre mim e a escrevesse assim, eu ficaria muito vermelho.

99 a 100:

A man dies, but his good work lives.

188 a 192:

Ali Hafed heard all about diamonds, how much they were worth, and went to his bed that night a poor man. He had not lost anything, but he was poor because he was discontented, and discontented because he feared he was poor. He said, “I want a mine of diamonds,” and he lay awake all night.

209 a 210:

So he sold his farm, collected his money, left his family in charge of a neighbor, and away he went in search of diamonds. He began his search, very properly to my mind, at the Mountains of the Moon. Afterward he came around into Palestine, then wandered on into Europe, and at last when his money was all spent and he was in rags, wretchedness, and poverty, he stood on the shore of that bay at Barcelona, in Spain, when a great tidal wave came rolling in between the pillars of Hercules, and the poor, afflicted, suffering, dying man could not resist the awful temptation to cast himself into that incoming tide, and he sank beneath its foaming crest, never to rise in this life again.

298 a 304:

There was a man living in Pennsylvania, not unlike some Pennsylvanians you have seen, who owned a farm, and he did with that farm just what I should do with a farm if I owned one in Pennsylvania–he sold it. But before he sold it he decided to secure employment collecting coal-oil for his cousin, who was in the business in Canada, where they first discovered oil on this continent.

306 a 308:

You see, friends, this farmer was not altogether a foolish man. No, he was not. He did not leave his farm until he had something else to do. _*Of all the simpletons the stars shine on I don’t know of a worse one than the man who leaves one job before he has gotten another_.

358 a 363:

_*If they had raised that boy’s pay from $15 to $15.60 he would have stayed and been proud of the place, but when they put it up to $45 at one leap, he said, “Mother, I won’t work for $45 a week. The idea of a man with a brain like mine working for $45 a week!_ Let’s go out in California and stake out gold-mines and silver-mines, and be immensely rich.”

365 a 366:

Said his mother, “Now, Charlie, it is just as well to be happy as it is to be rich.”

372 a 378:

They sold out in Massachusetts, and instead of going to California they went to Wisconsin, where he went into the employ of the Superior Copper Mining Company at $15 a week again, but with the proviso in his contract that he should have an interest in any mines he should discover for the company. I don’t believe he ever discovered a mine, and if I am looking in the face of any stockholder of that copper company you wish he had discovered something or other.

505 a 509:

Says another young man, “I hear sometimes of men that get millions of dollars dishonestly.” Yes, of course you do, and so do I. But they are so rare a thing in fact that the newspapers talk about them all the time as a matter of news until you get the idea that all the other rich men got rich dishonestly.

541:

I say, then, you ought to have money.

566 a 568:

Money is power, money is force, money will do good as well as harm. In the hands of good men and women it could accomplish, and it has accomplished, good.

779 a 783:

He takes his bride into a finer mansion, it may be, but he is obliged to go all the way through it and say to his wife, “My mother gave me that, my mother gave me that, and my mother gave me this,” until his wife wishes she had married his mother.

795 a 800:

But as a rule the rich men will not let their sons do the very thing that made them great. As a rule, the rich man will not allow his son to work–and his mother! Why, she would think it was a social disgrace if her poor, weak, little lily-fingered, sissy sort of a boy had to earn his living with honest toil.

863 a 868:

His fortune was made by his losing something, which taught him the great lesson that he must only invest himself or his money in something that people need. When will you salesmen learn it? When will you manufacturers learn that you must know the changing needs of humanity if you would succeed in life?

1188 a 1192:

Why isn’t Philadelphia a greater city in its greater wealth? Why does New York excel Philadelphia? People say, “Because of her harbor.” Why do many other cities of the United States get ahead of Philadelphia now? There is only one answer, and that is because our own people talk down their own city.

1223 a 1224:

The people rule, or should rule, and if they do, we do not need the greater men in office.

1273 a 1277:

We ought to teach that, however humble a man’s station may be, if he does his full duty in that place he is just as much entitled to the American people’s honor as is the king upon his throne. But we do not so teach. We are now teaching everywhere that the generals do all the fighting.

1470 a 1471:

Howells went on to say that, so he was told, the colonel’s success was principally due to his making the church attractive to young people.

1476 a 1481:

“Attractive to young people.” Yes, one can recognize that to-day, just as it was recognized in Lexington. And it may be added that he at the same time attracts older people, too! In this, indeed, lies his power. He makes his church interesting, his sermons interesting, his lectures interesting. He is himself interesting! Because of his being interesting, he gains attention. The attention gained, he inspires.

1981 a 1982:

I rather suppose the old-time martyrs rather enjoyed themselves in being martyrs!

2015 a 2017:

Every step forward, every triumph achieved, comes not alone from his own enthusiasm, but because of his putting that enthusiasm into others.

2137 a 2140:

And the amber-colored tiles in the inner walls of the church bear, under the glaze, the names of thousands of his people; for every one, young or old, who helped in the building, even to the giving of a single dollar, has his name inscribed there.

2163 a 2170:

At the outbreak of the Civil War he began making patriotic speeches that gained enlistments. After going to the front he was sent back home for a time, on furlough, to make more speeches to draw more recruits, for his speeches were so persuasive, so powerful, so full of homely and patriotic feeling, that the men who heard them thronged into the ranks. And as a preacher he uses persuasion, power, simple and homely eloquence, to draw men to the ranks of Christianity.

2184 a 2186:

His voice is soft-pitched and never breaks, even now when he is over seventy, because, so he explains it, he always speaks in his natural voice. There is never a straining after effect.

2190 a 2194:

“Enthusiasm invites enthusiasm,” is another of his points of importance; and one understands that it is by deliberate purpose, and not by chance, that he tries with such tremendous effort to put enthusiasm into his hearers with every sermon and every lecture that he delivers.

2203 a 2204:

He never fears to use humor, and it is always very simple and obvious and effective.

2262 a 2263:

Always remember, as you preach, that you are striving to save at least one soul with every sermon.

2474 a 2475:

Trust in God and do the next thing.

2537 a 2540:

And he intensely believes in prayer–faith can move mountains; but always he believes that it is better not to wait for the mountains thus to be moved, but to go right out and get to work at moving them.

2671 a 2672:

But he was original and he was popular, and therefore there were misunderstanding and jealousy.

2958 a 2962:

And it needs also to be understood that, outside of his own beloved Temple, he would prefer to go to a little church or a little hall and to speak to the forgotten people, in the hope of encouraging and inspiring them and filling them with hopeful glow, rather than to speak to the rich and comfortable.

3176 a 3177:

Awaken in the character of young laboring men and women a determined ambition to be useful to their fellow-men.

3276 a 3277:

The state money is invested in the brains and hearts of the ambitious.

3282 a 3286:

His belief in education, and in the highest attainable education, is profound, and it is not only on account of the abstract pleasure and value of education, but its power of increasing actual earning power and thus making a worker of more value to both himself and the community.

3368 a 3369:

I should like to see the possibility of higher education offered to every one in the United States who works for a living.

3621 a 3623:

Deeply religious though he is, he does not force religion into conversation on ordinary subjects or upon people who may not be interested in it.

3628 a 3632:

His sermons are, it may almost literally be said, parable after parable; although he himself would be the last man to say this, for it would sound as if he claimed to model after the greatest of all examples. His own way of putting it is that he uses stories frequently because people are more impressed by illustrations than by argument.

3707 a 3710:

If he is really set upon doing anything, little or big, adverse criticism does not disturb his serenity. Some years ago he began wearing a huge diamond, whose size attracted much criticism and caustic comment. He never said a word in defense; he just kept on wearing the diamond.

3719 a 3720:

The ambition of Russell Conwell is to continue working and working until the very last moment of his life.

3777 a 3779:

And I tell them that I am hoping to leave behind me men who will do more work than I have done.