This book argues that developing insight into the ordinary is a major part of education. Each of the five chapters contains ideas and activities designed to help students and teachers sharpen their perception of their day-to-day physical and social environment. "Survival Skills in a Consumer Society" examines the way people are persuaded to consume. The emphasis is on analyzing the language of advertising and on corporate control of the marketplace. "Nonverbal Communication" examines the uses of body language and gestures (kinesics), the arrangement and use of space (proxemics), and the message of the immediate physical environment. "A Primer in Mind Management" focuses on media deception and the messages presented by entertainment programming, news as propaganda, and pseudo-events. "Creativity Training" discusses the educational obsession with logic and explores non-logical ways to approach problems, with an emphasis on creative writing. "Visual Awareness" explores the assumption that seeing is a natural habit learned early in life that needs no conscious development. (TS)