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Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand; of things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgements which are on the land; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms. . ."
"State of the Art" is a difficult concept to understand. What is normed in one locality may not have the same norms in another. What is a norm, anyway? This term was coined by educated experimentors who needed a way to refer to the average (normal) situation or person in a controlled experiment. An experiment must be replicated with the same results over and over again in order to be considered valid and thus establish a norm.
The dictionary defines "State of the Art" in this way: the level of development (as of a device, procedure, process, technique, or science) reached at any particular time usually as a result of modern methods.
So why am I interested in "State of the Art"? Well, when young, I had exposure to what was going on in various disciplines in the world through formal education. Back then, I had ample time to pursue overexpanded curiosities, but as age moved me through time, my formal education finished. I lost an organized informer updating my curiosities and the responsibilities of middle age robbed me of time to explore my mental interests as they augmented. I created this page to give these curiosities rebirth. These hyperlinks are pathways to places where I can view new information about old subjects. . . and new subjects as well.
My favorite place to go in my grandmother's house was to her book shelf that held a medical dictionary with overlay pictures of the body's physical systems. Whether it was the appeal of the overlays or the pictures of the systems, I do not know, but the book captured my imagination. I became familiar with the shapes of all the body's veins, arteries, bones, muscles, and internal organs before I learned to read. I have continued to have a fascination for medical advances as well as language, power, and movement. I desire to have at my fingertips a pathway to mysteries being unveiled in my generation--where old knowledge is being encompassed by new expanded knowledge. I want to understand the changes as they happen. I want to grow with my world. I need to understand more about languages and people to understand more about the world as the changes occur. I need a source for this--a "State of the Art" page.
Interntional students are particularly appreciative of a teacher who will help them understand the new culture. Many times the second culture native thinks the language is the only problem, never considering the impact the cultural traditions have on the language. Being "Communicatively Competent" means applying culture with the linguistics. I often ask my International students who express Communicative Competency differences in writing to give permission to share the writing with others who may not be aware that such little things can cause such interesting problems. While the International student may have been amused by the incident or have felt frustration when it happened, such statements can cause problems with test taking. Very few teachers check their tests for cultural differences. I have always been aware of this in my testing or dealings with others. Inter-culture Communicative Competency is an important part of our world's future.