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View Full Version : The Jokkmokk Effect on Education everywhere



razz
2-10-17, 2:08pm
Despite all the $$$$$$ spent on education or the lack of dollars and the different options that get discussed, intention of the student is the crucial factor. How is this being considered in all the discussion going on right now? How does focus and intention get triggered or the lack thereof overcome?

From http://painterskeys.com/the-jokkmokk-effect/
The quiet town of Jokkmokk (pop. 8000) in Swedish Lapland has been the subject of considerable study. It seems that most of the schoolgirls there are smart and most of the schoolboys are not. Experts have taken a look at the gene pool, relative brain capacities, corpus callosum deviations, family dynamics, even teaching methods in the schools. Things seem about the same as most other Swedish towns. But for several generations now the girls get the marks and the boys drop out.

What’s going on? Hunting, fishing and forestry are Jokkmokk’s main industries. Young men have traditionally made their living in the bush or on the water. Young women, perhaps responding to some faintly understood genetic need, or just realizing that they need to get out of the place, use good grades to gain their exit. The girls work harder. The boys goof off.
It’s called The Jokkmokk Effect when one group or another moves away to the big city, travels abroad and “makes something of themselves.” Jokkmokk girls have rocked the world by becoming scientists, financiers and artists. Albert Einstein said, “One of the strongest motives that lead to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness.” It’s all about desire. “Desire,” said Benedict Spinoza, “is the very essence of man.” Desire and the intention to do something are more important than brains, wisdom, or even talent. In IQ tests, Jokkmokk boys are just as smart as Jokkmokk girls. Georges Braque said, “The only thing that counts is intention. What counts is what one wants to do.”

ApatheticNoMore
2-10-17, 2:33pm
There doesn't seem anything wrong with what the men are doing if there are ways to earn a living in hunting and fishing and forestry and they can manage to get by with that, then good for them. Nor do I imagine the Swedish career-focused experience for women is much like the American one either (for one thing work life balance is actually quite likely to be supported there - with paid maternity leave, more support for work life balance etc. - so maybe it works out especially well for them).


“The only thing that counts is intention. What counts is what one wants to do.”

I don't know what it has to do with what one wants to do, since if it really breaks down that strictly by gender, I'm not sure how what one wants even figures into it rather than responses to the economic and social conditions one finds oneself in. Not desire in any individualistic sense but cultural (and economic I guess in terms of forestry etc. jobs being there for men) determinacy.

Historically who does what work has often been gender split (not just paid work but even division of housework). I'm not saying it's good or bad, just not new. And it wasn't about desire, just men did this, women that (and sometimes without any real biological reason for it either). I guess this is also some case of that. So this is some version of the culture (of Jokkmokk in this case) one finds oneself and it's values heavily determining people, which is true to a degree of course. The only unfortunate (and noones fault really) part is all the women are leaving, leaving the men there with not enough women.

Teacher Terry
2-10-17, 2:40pm
When I was testing clients to see if they could benefit from further training I always used to say that I wish there was a test for motivation.

JaneV2.0
2-10-17, 2:40pm
Interesting article--
"you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink" is as true as ever.

LDAHL
2-11-17, 12:07pm
Desire and the intention to do something are more important than brains, wisdom, or even talent.

I've built a career on that proposition. No one would ever mistake me for a genius.

Or as the man said, "Eighty percent of success is showing up."

razz
2-11-17, 12:21pm
The problem arises when the jobs have disappeared and those who have no intention cannot adapt. The future for everyone is that adaptation and moving is necessary but first there must be 'intention'. Those who have no 'intention' then complain that jobs are not available.

catherine
2-11-17, 12:32pm
I've built a career on that proposition. No one would ever mistake me for a genius.

Or as the man said, "Eighty percent of success is showing up."

+1
I could definitely say the same.

JaneV2.0
2-11-17, 12:34pm
I had just enough intention and desire to keep from starving to death. Depression can be a bitch.

ApatheticNoMore
2-11-17, 1:37pm
The problem arises when the jobs have disappeared and those who have no intention cannot adapt. The future for everyone is that adaptation and moving is necessary but first there must be 'intention'. Those who have no 'intention' then complain that jobs are not available.

have the jobs moved away from Jokkmokk? I didn't see that in the article. So as far as I know they can make a living at hunting fishing and forestry. Downside is beings a bit short on womenfolk. How far do they move? Well the whole of Sweden is only about the size of California alone.

creaker
2-11-17, 1:52pm
The problem arises when the jobs have disappeared and those who have no intention cannot adapt. The future for everyone is that adaptation and moving is necessary but first there must be 'intention'. Those who have no 'intention' then complain that jobs are not available.

That is the plus side of immigration - those who have emigrated are the ones acting to adapt.

Of course the people of no intention aren't happy when people of intention show up to compete with them.

JaneV2.0
2-11-17, 1:59pm
That is the plus side of immigration - those who have emigrated are the ones acting to adapt.

Of course the people of no intention aren't happy when people of intention show up to compete with them.

Good point. I read an article relating how so many patent applications are filed by immigrants to this country. And lists of science award winners, science faculty, and tech pioneers are full of immigrants and second-generation Americans, judging by surnames. We clamp down on immigration at our peril--we should be grateful such outstanding people are willing to come here, IMO.

LDAHL
2-11-17, 2:19pm
Good point. I read an article relating how so many patent applications are filed by immigrants to this country. And lists of science award winners, science faculty, and tech pioneers are full of immigrants and second-generation Americans, judging by surnames. We clamp down on immigration at our peril--we should be grateful such outstanding people are willing to come here, IMO.

The trick is getting the outstanding people (and hopefully their capital) in while not serving as the unlimited safety valve for the world's problems. I think we should consider adopting the enlightened self-interest built into Canadian immigration law.