Rhubarb Dreams
Aug. 25th, 2002 07:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
khaosworksThe following takes place between 1:00 AM and 7:00 AM on a day when I really should be still asleep beyond 7:00 AM. Events happen in dream time.
(Why, yes, I did get the Season 1 boxed DVD set of "24" in the mail. How did you guess?)
I was arguing, for some reason, before a bunch of university policy makers, about the merits of teaching subjects that had "no practical application", as opposed to stuff that the students would be able to use to earn money and boost the economy. They wanted to remove subjects like literature, philosophy, and pure research, and areas that would lead to "dead ends".
I ranted at them, "The point of research and experimentation is to find dead ends, because they tell us where not to go! And all subjects are practical, even the impractical ones! Without philosophy, we would not have logic - without logic, we would not have rational discourse - without literature, we would not have creativity..."
"Then what should people study?" one of them shot back.
"Everything and anything they are interested in! Anything they find interesting!"
"But why should they study useless things?"
We were walking along a dock, now, and the person who had asked me what people should study was dressed in American Revolution era clothing, looking suspiciously like Ben Franklin, and it was not clear whether it was Ben who was telling this to me, or I telling it to Ben (and by the end of the speech I had woken myself up because I was saying it out loud in my sleep):
"Nothing is useless! If I, in later years, suddenly get the urge to cook a rhubarb, I could still go to a library and pick out a book on the cultivation of rhubarbs and the ways to cook them, and this would only be possible in a world where someone, somewhere, despite the best efforts of people who believed that rhubarb farming and cooking was useless, was interested in the subject! And that is why you should allow people to do what they are interested in, because someday, somehow, someone may get the urge to cook a rhubarb!"
(Why, yes, I did get the Season 1 boxed DVD set of "24" in the mail. How did you guess?)
I was arguing, for some reason, before a bunch of university policy makers, about the merits of teaching subjects that had "no practical application", as opposed to stuff that the students would be able to use to earn money and boost the economy. They wanted to remove subjects like literature, philosophy, and pure research, and areas that would lead to "dead ends".
I ranted at them, "The point of research and experimentation is to find dead ends, because they tell us where not to go! And all subjects are practical, even the impractical ones! Without philosophy, we would not have logic - without logic, we would not have rational discourse - without literature, we would not have creativity..."
"Then what should people study?" one of them shot back.
"Everything and anything they are interested in! Anything they find interesting!"
"But why should they study useless things?"
We were walking along a dock, now, and the person who had asked me what people should study was dressed in American Revolution era clothing, looking suspiciously like Ben Franklin, and it was not clear whether it was Ben who was telling this to me, or I telling it to Ben (and by the end of the speech I had woken myself up because I was saying it out loud in my sleep):
"Nothing is useless! If I, in later years, suddenly get the urge to cook a rhubarb, I could still go to a library and pick out a book on the cultivation of rhubarbs and the ways to cook them, and this would only be possible in a world where someone, somewhere, despite the best efforts of people who believed that rhubarb farming and cooking was useless, was interested in the subject! And that is why you should allow people to do what they are interested in, because someday, somehow, someone may get the urge to cook a rhubarb!"
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no subject
Date: 2002-08-24 06:46 pm (UTC)Well who am I to talk? Last night I dreamt that I dumped Yandi (who's already married) at the altar, which happened to be CHIJ Primary. It was one of those group weddings with other couples and halfway through I slipped off after whispering to him "I can't marry you. I don't love you like that." Then I got lost while trying to sneak out which sounds a lot like what would happen in real life.
no subject
Date: 2002-08-24 08:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-08-25 05:02 am (UTC)Dislike proves commitment to principle
Date: 2002-08-25 04:50 pm (UTC)Wouldn't that be a good part of the argument? That you're arguing for something you don't personally like. It's a demonstration of your strong belief in the principle itself, with no opening for a charge that you're wrapping yourself in the principle to cover an argument being made for self-interest.
It's like the whole "free speech" thing. Really free speech implies the freedom to express unpopular opinions, without fear of censorship, prosecution, or persecution. (The floor is completely open for rebuttals, of course.)
Special-interest 'free speech' (in some circles, mockingly called "frea speach") is pleading for the freedom to express some particular set of opinions while saying nothing about the freedom to express opinions in general, or even actively calling for the suppression of contrary opinions. In any case, it's not a sincere call for genuinely free speech, to argue in favour only of things personally approved of.
There is a risk of being accused of special pleading if you argue for things that you personally like. However, there is little similar risk if you argue for something you don't like. (Anyone who does make an accusation of special pleading would look foolish and give the impression of having a weak case, that they have to resort to such specious claims.) Furthermore, it's an overt demonstration of your commitment to the principle itself, so it's a powerful technique in itself.
So if you really don't like rhubarb, good. Keep it as the example in your argument. It makes it stronger. On the other hand, if it turns out that you like rhubarb after all (you did express uncertainty), then maybe replace it with something else that you do actually dislike.
no subject
Date: 2002-08-24 08:46 pm (UTC)For the majority of us, I think that much of what we learn in University is used in the working world. I was trained as an engineer, now look at me, I work in a brokerage.
Even for practicing engineers, I think that two or three years out, they're using stuff that they picked up on the job.
I think that a University education should teache you HOW to learn. Learning never stops. So, rather than forcing oneself to study something that is practical (but which is never used anyway), one should study what one likes with enough courses of the practical stuff to give you a running start in the working world.
A well motivated English Lit major with a couple of courses of Econ and Accounting and Corp Fin under his belt is just as likely to do well as a research analyst as a hardcore biz ed student (Henry Blodget was an English major if I'm not mistaken.)
I'm an advocate of the US system of University education (you choose the courses you want to study and design your own degree) rather than the British style, which I feel is more rigid.
no subject
Date: 2002-08-25 12:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-08-25 08:18 am (UTC)And that is homemade rhubarb pie
Serve it up, nice and hot
Maybe things aren't as bad as you thought
"Well Momma's little baby loves rhubarb, rhubarb
BeBop 'n' Rebop Rhubarb Pie
Momma's little baby loves rhubarb, rhubarb
BeBop 'n' Rebop Rhubarb Pie
BeBop 'n' Rebop Rhubarb Pie"
--- A Prairie Home Companion