Master of the universe
Friday, November 19, 2004
Education has some intrinsic values. Aside from the multibillion dollar industry it supports, it has some intangible benefits. The main one that I can think of is the generation of original thought.
As a Software Engineer/Developer, I rely in the knowledge and experience I gain from everything I do. In the later years of my
professional career, I've concentrated my efforts to become and market myself as a Java developer. Hence, I must rely on education (of any type) to keep up to date with the myriads of Java technologies and architectures.
In other words, without education (of any type), I would stagnate as a person and as Java developer. So, it seems comical that in the 21st century we have some detached members of society who can still say/write things like this:
What is wrong with everyone nowadays? Why do they all seem to think they are qualified to do things far beyond their technical capabilities?
This is to do with the learning culture in schools as a consequence of a child-centered system that admits no failure. People think they can all be pop stars, high court judges, brilliant TV personalities or infinitely more competent heads of state, without ever putting in the necessary work or having natural ability.
This is the result of social utopianism which believes humanity can be genetically and socially engineered to contradict the lessons of history.
--
Charles Philip Arthur George Windsor
Perhaps the comments come from the other side of a reality that 99.99999999999% of the world's population is subjected to. Perhaps this is the true sentiment of one person. However, I can't waste too much thought about such statements, since, while such comical statement are being written for whatever reason (or context), I'm busy studying and learning what's new in the next stage of my life. I.e. Challenging myself to learn something new, which I didn't know and maybe didn't have the genetics for it.
Without growth, we have death and without the educational systems of our time (For better of for worst), some of us wouldn't have found that, which makes us get up in the morning without thinking too much of the overlords in the white tower of a kingdom from far, far away.
Charles, said/wrote one thing that I agree with: "a child centered system, that accepts no failure" is wrong. However, not gravitating in the same circles of society as Charles, I believe, that an educational system does not exist to generate productive workers for current economical systems. I believe, that an education system should do what it is supposed to do: educate. Educate the individual to become a freethinking being and to become a finder of new truths. The economical advantages to a society are, nothing, but side effect of the growth of the individual.
As an epilogue to this entry, I leave you with these two points of view on technical education (Appropriate for a Software Engineer):
1.
Philip Greenspan. He is a professor of Software Engineering at MIT.
2.
Rick Cattell. He is a Sun Engineer who, in an interview, discusses a little bit about what he wished he had learnt in Engineering School.
P.S. Does (old world == old thinking)?
P.S2. I have to say, that maybe what Charles said is being taken out of context and perhaps it's unfair to publish it for the entire world to scrutinize, if it is not meant to be viewed by more than one or two people. But, Ironically enough, due to those who wouldn't stop learning and inventing things (I.e. Internet), even I can comment of what he said on this mundane cyber corner. I cannot help to think that his sentiment comes from a subconscious form of fear - Fear of the winds of change. We will just never know, as I don't think it to be very royally to accept one is wrong at anything.
Comments:
If you want people to innovate , people have to make mistakes and learn from them. "This is to do with the learning culture in schools as a consequence of a child-centered system that admits no failure." Ofcourse this wont help students to accept failure in what they do. A predictible society is not what we want ! we want improvements... and a educational cultuure which supports that.
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If I learnt anything in my education it was simply that I can learn anything I want to. And that is true for anybody. All it takes is belief in self and perseverance. Nothing else counts.