Bedtime stories with a twist

Mankind has a problem many problems, some of them can be fixed. Some can be fixed quickly, some will take a long time. Education is one of the most effective solutions, not only because it develops problem-solving skills, but also because it helps prevent the issues in the first place.

Adults are rather difficult to change, their personality has taken shape, and only those with a strong will can change it. Therefore, it is very important that education is applied as early as possible; basically, the idea is to "hit them while they're too young to be able to retaliate" :-)

I conclude that one of the ways in which this can be applied, besides conventional education (schools, universities), is bedtime stories. Yes, fairy tales are not just "text about nothing", they play an important role in the development of a child's individuality. They are a valuable resource which we must use wisely.

My plan is to change the course of history by preparing a generation of people who are able to build a better society.

What's wrong with today's stories?

• Nurturing the wrong features - some stories teach us about wrong things. For example the story about Иванушка Дурачок (Ivan the Fool) tells us that one can get things done by doing nothing - just sit on your bum and watch how things come to you. This breeds people who inspire Dilbert comics, this breeds cheaters who get free rides on the backs of hard working and honest people, etc.
• Nurturing no feature - some stories are just that - a story about a person doing something... nothing special. Yes, there can be descriptions of the breathtaking beauty of nature, or a series of events that the protagonist is a part of... But is that sufficient?
• Not high-tech enough - people get smarter as time flows by. The reason IQ tests are updated to become more difficult is because the average level of intelligence is also growing as mankind evolves. Even though the Flynn effect is disputed, it is still certain that kids today know more than average adults knew many generations ago. Children will learn, all we have to do is feed them with information. It is time to raise the bar.

There is plenty of room for improvement, stories need to be optimized to develop some good features in a child's personality. By "optimized" I mean "specially crafted", such that they get to learn something, and such that whatever is learned is what we believe is important for an individual.

Objectives:

• Establish a list of requirements that define what the new stories should be like.
• Write some stories and test them.

I set up a new section on my wiki, where I collect all the ideas I have about this project - Stories for children. Please take your time to go through the list and do not hesitate to let me know what you think about it. You can express your opinion either via a comment on this page, or on the discussion page on the wiki.

Help is needed, and you can provide it. Whether you are a parent, an older sibling, a teacher, a future mom, a writer or "just" someone who can share some thoughts - please offer your feedback. Let me know which features you think are important for a child, which stories are good, which ones are bad (and why?).

I will be very grateful if you can tell me about things that happened to you and played an important role in your evolution. An example of such an event is provided on page#2 and it can be used as material for a story that teaches a child to put themselves in other people's shoes before judging them (the "Others can be right too" article is another example).

So far the project is still in the "gathering requirements" phase, and it will continue to be in this phase for quite some time.

The switch

It happened to me many years ago. A friend of a friend left his computer at my place and asked me to fix it. I did it. I notice that inside the computer he had a modem from "Creative" - a company that I knew was making only sound cards, CDROMs and sound speakers. The modem also looked awfully a lot like one modem we used to have (one from Acorp). So I removed it from his computer and showed it to my parents and explained to them what made it special. They were clueless, of course, but I just had to share it with someone.

Anyway, I did what had to be done, I put the modem back in and called him to let him know he can visit me and pick it up. Said and done.

The next morning he visits us again, he takes the modem out of his pocket, puts it on the floor and says something like "Sasha, I have no idea what this is, but I want my modem back". I tell him that this is the modem that was inside his computer when he gave it to me - he actively denies that.

I had no idea what to do, all I could do was say that I had no idea which "other modem" he was talking about.

He kept repeating his words, we were in a deadlock. I cried a lot then. I saw no light at the end of the tunnel. He even told my dad something like "Только не бейте его" (whatever you do, please don't beat him)... How thoughtful of him :-)

No party is complete without "gas on the fire", right? The other night I was walking around with his modem and explaining to my parents how unusual it was, etc. What could my dad think in such circumstances?

He told the guy he'd call him later that day. When he left, dad asked me if I was 100% REALLY ABSOLUTELY sure this was the modem that was in the computer when it entered our house. I said "yes". He believed me.

Phew! That felt great. I hope he didn't secretly meet the guy and pay him the money for "his modem", or anything of that sort.

The guy said that before he delivered the computer to me he had it taken to "Ptichka" (a flea market) where someone added more memory to it (or performed some other tasks?). Oh I wonder, would it be so impossible that some switched the modems THERE?!

And the funny part is that I couldn't find a driver for his modem - so when I gave him the computer I said "everything works except the modem, can't find a driver". He said "I have it, will set it up myself". Would I be so dumb as to NOT COVER THE TRACKS of my CRIME and give him a computer with a non-working modem? Apparently he thought I was that dumb :-)

What an episode... My dad really supported me then.

Some time later the guy called again, asking me something about computers. I didn't answer his question but I asked him about the modem instead - was he able to find it or not. He said "А я уже забыл про это" (~"[you were forgiven,] I forgot about it"). I told him to fuck off, in a polite way. Never met him again.

The problem is that he is the cousin of the husband of a woman who means a lot to me. She was the first person whose computer I fixed for money :-) I often visited them. She was the one to show me what the Internet is, she was the one to show me how a scanner works, etc. I imagine that he told them "the truth" about me, which explains why they haven't gotten in touch with me since that event.

Technically, there is nothing I can do. From their point of view it is all "crystal clear". I can only blame them for being dumb, but not for being genuinely evil.

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