spelling errors?!

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer inwaht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.
Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas thought slpeling was ipmorantt.

Public discussion: an activity, which is social, intellectual and creative

Democracy is simply a model of governance by discussion. Values change in the process of discussion and decision making. Value formation is a social process involving public interactions. There is a crucial role of public interaction in the formation of values and ideas of justice. In the making of public policy the agency of the public has to be considered in different perspective. It seems necessary to create conditions for more informed understanding and enlightened public discussion.
Public policy has a role not only in attempting to implement the priorities that emerge from social values and affirmations, but also in facilitating and guaranteeing fuller public discussion. The reach and quality of public discussions can be helped by a variety of public policies, such as press freedom, media independence and enhancement of economic independence and other social and economic changes that help individuals to be PARTICIPATING citizens.

Amartya Sen, a liberal economist, in his influential book "Development As Freedom" chapter 12 brillianlty elaboarets on this, please read the book, strongly recommended for everybody esp liberals.

A clarifying comment on a friend's comment

A Torontonian friend, Mr. Namazi in his comment on my last post advised me to write in simpler language and asked why I do think I know something that others do not know and asked what makes me qualified to help others. Earlier he believes there is a typo in my title by using the word "doing" in "doing graduate studies".
I am grateful for his comment, I stated my mission as helping others learn as a facilitator not as a learned philosopher or teacher. Facilitation does not mean transferring knowledge from a wise person to an ignorant. Instead it implies providing an enabling structure for the learners to reflect on their knowledge and build upon it on their own through dialogue and communication with others within an environment. It is a kind of situated learning.
And I definitely feel I am qualified, since it is a relative term. I am relatively qualified to pursue what I thoughtfully feel I could accomplish. I am not sure what words in my post indicated that I, solely, hold on to the throne of knowledge? In this weblog I reflect on my own life and understanding of it. I, sometimes, prefer to write in English for my practice and pleasure. I am not necessarily writing to satisfy my readers. I am writing now for myself. And as an individual I have the right to have a mission based on my take and paradigm of the world. Is my mission an exclusionary one? Did not I in my last sentence clearly indicated that I am aware of my insufficient knowledge of the subject and hoped to learn through the praxis of my research?

Why the hell diong a graduate degree?!!!

Having bored you with all these words on my political learning, simply, explains why I believe there is no choice other than expanding our boundaries, our critical understanding of the world. That is where I draw my mission as to help others learn from the life and the earth to ultimately remove the unfreedoms now exist in our tiny world. And now I am an immigrant, a newcomer, a FOB! wandering around at UofT in such a dream or peut-etre hope!
A doctoral research, although, would be lost or perhaps disregarded within the shelves and stacks of a library, but, arguably, reflects one’s endeavour to carve his/her definition of meaning onto the mind and soul of his/her future.
I chose to pursue doctoral studies, first, to experience, thus learn, the “critical rationality”, the Western fruit of thought, often lost in the midst of the oriental voyage of the modernization order. Second, to profoundly celebrate the salient turn in engineering of my life; defocusing from the science and techniques of “development” to engaging in the development of mindful arts and conscious comprehension of the term. Where else could have been more inspiring than the circle of scholars and students of OISE/UT and the Program in Planning? Third, I chose to pursue post graduate studies to expand my vision, systematically engender my talent and direct my aspirations to social change. In so doing, I am well aware of my insufficient knowledge of the subject and the language of the context. However, I am determined to progress; learning through the praxis of research is my goal and hope.

A bit more on my learnings

After graduation, I was lucky enough to get an actual engineering career (unlike non-actual engineering jobs, recent immigrant engineers do in Canada) in a high-rise complex in the north of Tehran. The work hierarchy was as high as the building itself. I learned the politics involved in hierarchical technical jobs, where non-engineers are the ones who thoughtlessly should do the job, of course, how they have been told to be. I never enjoyed the opportunity of working with such a famous engineering team.
That is why I voluntarily rushed to UNICEF where I first found myself excited after so many years of being attached to so called "instrumental rationality", what modernization project left behind in my country.
My three years of rural development facilitation was the source of all kinds of aspirations and inspirations for the "critical rationality" side of the modernization coin. I was fully engaged in a participatory rural development project in five pilot areas, among them were nomads, herders, fishers, and peasants, surprisingly, none of us spoke the same language!

And more on political learning

Throughout my 16 years of school back home, I always tried to express my dissatisfaction with the regime in a way or another. I, often, showed it to the symbols of power, be it the teacher, principal, or the dean of graduate studies. Pursuit of such strange feeling materialized in several formats such as disobedience, rebellion and etc. In addition, I tried not to miss any informal meetings held by students of my type. I have definitely learned a lot in those gatherings. Now I feel that I simply wanted to remove the unfreedoms imposed on me by a few ignorant blind authorities who never took the chance to look at the world and re-examine their vision. I am now confident to say that I don’t hate them and I hope one day I will have the opportunity to help them out of such dreadful darkness.

More on Policitcal Learning; When I could cross the street on my own

In my formal education and through early years of school, I had no significant political learnings or better to say nothing considerable within the planned curricula:

Civic, religious, Persian literature and history courses were the formal sources of what I learned about politics. I learned about the legislation, executive, and legal pillars of the Islamic republic with the ayatollahs on top, representing God. Isn’t it funny? A Republic governed not by people but by God's reps, a very fundamental paradox in the very beginning of the constitution! I should say that the word republic is the result of the attempts made by many who actually influenced the power to defend democracy during the very first days of the revolution, of course, they were either escaped from the country or killed in the prisons later.
Our Persian literature is enriched with poetic stories. With no doubt the moral strength of such wordings have influenced and shaped my idealistic worldview.

In the early years of school, stories from Koran and Bible have inspired me, and I should confess that the traces are still there. It explains why I draw my utopian community with people of some sort of faith, an ultimate belief in human rights or goodness. I don't know something that you believe in wholeheartedly!!

On My Political Learning; before the time I could cross the street on my own!

Five years ago I had no clue what Halloween meant. In early October Mona, my little cousin, who has the privilege to live here in Toronto all her life; while watching Cinderella for the nine hundred ninety ninth times told me she would love to have Cinderella’s costume for the Halloween. It was the Disney store on the 3rd floor of the Eaton Center where I walked in to get the costume. Oh God, Look at all these kids, jumping in the teddy pool, having no idea what anything other than their games are, let alone knowing imperialism whereabouts, some kind of toy, candy or what? Frankly, I could have even spelled the word at their age.
The reason is simple; because I was a political offspring, in a huge zoo of political animals, selling papers to those political giraffes who bent down to give me a political hug. On one afternoon, my political mother and I joined the pride of political lions who had got the keys to open up the cage. Soon after, colorful flocks of political birds flew above the beds of tulips grew out of red. There I was in the bosom of the true king, who didn’t survive the crows’ rush to the throne. He asked me why I had been there. “ To fight for freedom and against imperialism”, I replied.
I still remember my grandfather's political stand and his arguments with his two opposing sons. Then, I was sure my grandfather was a socialist. I knew Shah sucks and U.S. was sucking our oil. Later, I got to know that Khomeini sucks too. I knew something was happening in Nicaragua at the same time. I have been told stories of the Palestinian kids who have nothing but stone to defend themselves. I knew they were living in the refugee camps on their own soil. Of course I was aware of the Vietnamese success story and I was sure we, all united, would ultimately win the battle and indeed we won.
But it was no time after the victory that I remember, one day I promised my father not to tell anybody even his mum about all these strangers who join us in our tiny apartment a week or two, some with names and some not. But they all had something in common; they helped me memorize all the countries’ flags before I even could read and write. Later, my political but more spiritual mum told me of some of those roommates who lost their lives for the sake of freedom, not achieved yet, of course.
That seed planted in me during those times never enjoyed Islamic gardeners watering her. Now in another settings, she needs to re-orient her passion and excitement while adding some blue rationality to her original yellow.