Posted on 03/12/2023 8:44:13 AM PDT by karpov
I taught advanced math in a Christian School and I had an answer, which I got to use one time:
“When are we ever gonna need this???”
“Oh,” sez I, “This is not for you. I have to put something in the course so my smart ones can really shine. It’s for them. I can see how you are not ever gonna be in a situation where you will need this, but they will.”
(Shocked silence. Then my mischievous smile. Their eyes rolled, and I went on with the lesson.)
Never heard that from anyone else ever again.
I was able to give them a way to succeed at it. When they could do it well, they knew that they had accomplished something truly meaningful, and the students who could do it did not need to know if or how they would need it.
Very true.
Memorization is quite underrated by many as regards its salutary effect on the brain in more ways than one.
Combine, as you point out, a good library of memorized practical and effective wisdom with critical thinking abilities and there is little a man can’t achieve.
“My professor was being funny at the time.”
Sad part is that this is coming from a college physics instructor who by his own admission had a very boring existence with what he professed to know. Maybe it was his approach.
He might consider the capacity of people like Jill St. John who’s main competition was Sharon Tate. St. John had an IQ of 162. Sharon Tate had a basically normal IQ of 109. But I don’t honestly think any person wishing to take either one of them home had an intent of conversation unless it was pillow. We’re back to corralling the animals. There doesn’t always have to be dialog.
wy69
“A well rounded individual cultivates a better self and then makes a better society.”
Has the NEA come up with a “complete” definition of this? Maybe this is why they can’t discuss the drop out rate and that the whole sports department attending their own classes is off limits. That was how they came up with a jury to judge O.J. as the jury was made up of 12 former professors at USC. They never saw him.
wy69
I rather reserved and don’t spout off at parties, but there was this one time back in 2008. Rather hilarious, and friends still bring it up.
I was just back from another tour in the Iraqi sandbox, my 25th year in the Army at that point. Flying H-60’s.
Went to a party with the Mrs. About 60-70 people, knew about 1/4 of them. A few military. Wife had designated driver duty and I was a few drinks in. Got a “Welcome back” from some good friends. .
Was immediately confronted by an unknown libtard couple about the war and Bush and our involvement, etc.
Listened to their rhetoric, some of it rather nasty.
Realized immediately they were just CNN/MSNBC mouthpieces.
I said,
“Sounds like you know quite a bit about the war and Iraq. Can you name all the countries that border Iraq?”.
They got 3/6 on guesses after.. some... thought.
Asked other questions on geography, ethnic-religious groups, geo-political relationships, etc. Would’ve been simple answers such as Tigris, Euphrates, Syria, Turkey, Iran, Shia, Sunni, Kurds....
But they didn’t have a clue.
So me and my fine bourbon sidekick said,
“You’re not smart enough to debate the war in Iraq with me”.
Dude was miffed and said he had a grad degree in whatever...
The bourbon immediately connected synapses to Sam Cooke and What a Wonderful World.
I said/sang, “Don’t know much about geography, don’t know much about the war in Iraq.”
Hilarity from my friends closeby and the couple left soon thereafter.
The Mrs. was only slightly amused, but I did go home with her!
They started it.
Haven’t run into them since.
My close Army buddy brought it up a few weeks ago.
Thumbs up!
I disagree what’s your position regarding history, literature and art being “essential” to leadership.
Some of the most successful leaders I know or know of couldn’t tell you one line from a Shakespeare play or what The Battle of Thermopylae was all about. They do have a deep understanding of what motivates humans to get up everyday and go back into battle with life(face it that’s what life is to most people, the battle). They do not lecture or pontificate; they teach, motivate and inspire.
The NEA doesn’t count for much in my book. The Founders of this Nation had a very broad and deep education. Uneducated rabble could not have formed this Nation.
Good job! I would have liked to have seen that.
It is amazing how much you think you can deduce about sophisticated individuals from one simple account. I'd guess you are one of those snots that judges everyone but himself.
For the same reason watching movies will make you a better bad banker.
“Uneducated rabble could not have formed this Nation.”
I think they did. It has been the opinion of too many educated people, like politicians, that are of the opinion that they made the wheel turn. They are limited to their own curse.
It’s not the brain that picks up the dime...it’s the fingers. When you consider our original efforts to get away from England, it was George Washington that led the armies before we had a government. George Washington never attended college or received a formal education.
Thomas Jefferson studied under the Reverend James Maury from 1758 to 1760 near Gordonsville, Virginia. While boarding with Maury’s family, he studied history, science and the classics. In 1760, Jefferson entered The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg at the age of 16; he studied there for two years, only.
And as for our leaders since, these presidents had no degrees:
George Washington-prementioned
James Monroe (attended the College of William and Mary, but dropped out to fight in the Revolutionary War)
Andrew Jackson
Martin Van Buren
William Henry Harrison (attended Hampden Sydney College for three years but did not graduate and then attended University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine but never received a degree)
Zachary Taylor
Millard Fillmore
Abraham Lincoln (had only about a year of formal schooling of any kind)
Andrew Johnson (no formal schooling of any kind)
Grover Cleveland
William McKinley (attended Allegheny College, but did not graduate; also attended Albany Law School, but also did not graduate)
Harry S. Truman (went to business college and law school, but did not graduate)
And then there were others that were important to the creation of the Constitution:
Ben Franklyn: his formal education ended at age 10
Alexander Hamilton: he received a “basic education” and became an apprentice clerk in a mercantile establishment
These are just a few of the founders and people that were important to the origin of the country and its growth. I don’t feel it is the end of the story but the beginning. The journey is not ended at the first step but the last. And I’m sure you can see the disparity of the transformation from the basics in 1789 to today’s product and it’s failures of prosperity and growth not only based upon the founders not having a crystal ball, but also upon those that allowed themselves to be neutered and spade to the will of those that claim intelligence.
I don’t think anyone is an expert in anything. The definition of an expert is anyone on any topic more than 200 miles from home. And it never fails that the most used name in invention is “accident.” Only God knows the future. But it would help if the people knew the past better than they are told by those that need it to prosper. God doesn’t care about the persons’ millions. That’s a tool. And it can be used right and wrong. The choice there is for your soul, not your earthly bobbles.
wy69
“I’d guess you are one of those snots that judges everyone but himself.”
It wasn’t me that said that success at parties was not going to exist with the discussion of what he seems to be educated in.
I thought this was going to be an adult discussion on the over rating of education according to the point by your friend. I can see I was in error. Maybe I can clarify this.
By my identifying a boring person because he described himself with failures based upon his knowledge, doesn’t make me a snot (whatever that is). It makes me observant because that’s all that was identified by you. And based upon that knowledge, he’s calling himself a bore.
It’s impossible to judge anyone with limited information. And you are judging me based upon what I supplied to the topic he created and called himself. I make it a habit that when discussions get into personal name calling without information to walk away from. This is one of those. And I’m not going to call you a name on the way out. It serves no purpose.
wy69
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