From: choy@dvinci.USask.Ca (Henry Choy)
Newsgroups: sci.edu
Subject: Re: Growing up to be a truck driver (was: RE: Branding Kids)
Date: 26 Jan 1993 03:16:29 GMT
Organization: University of Saskatchewan
NNTP-Posting-Host: dvinci.usask.ca
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Lili Velez (lv08+@andrew.cmu.edu) wrote:
: I teach.  I want all of my students to become critical thinkers, to be
: creative in the fields they pursue and the lives they lead outside of their
: work.  But there's been something that's bothered me about this "Branding
: Kids" thread, and the last message from MIT (forgive me; I can't see the
: message I'm responding to, but I remember it was an athena address) crystal-
: lized it for me.
: 
: Is there something inherently _wrong_ about being a truck driver?  Must we
: be disappointed in someone who _wants_ to be a beautician, a cook, a
: mechanic?

Would you be disappointed if all a person wanted to do is to be a
paperweight?

: Yes, I completely understand being distressed when someone believes that one
: career or another is the "only job they could ever be suited for, so
: why try...?".

But why do they believe that? Why can't they believe that they are
suited only to test Her Majesty's new thoroughbread racers? I can't
explain it. Some people are afraid to lose, are afraid of hard work.
Some people just don't want to. Who knows? Perhaps they will try if
they are called on to do something that no one else is doing. It shows
them that they have the attention of others (though they don't get
Scott free). No matter what people think they're suited for, they
have to try. No one is anything without trying.

: Abandoned or misguided potential is a tremendous loss, to
: both the person and the society which has to trundle on without their
: contributions -- but it seems to me that we can brand careers ('vocations'?)
: as unworthy or `below us' just as easily as we can brand children.
: 
: Come to think of it, I have an an example of this in my own family.  I'm
: finishing my PhD.  I've always loved academics (give or take some horrible
: moments in my mathematics education, but I'm about ready to repair that
: damage).  My brother has managed with his academics, but his goal was never
: a college career, it was to be a police officer (local or state trooper).
: My parents wanted him to go to college (particularly my mother, who was much
: more open than my father about saying that "Erik, you could be so much
: _more_ than just a police officer!").  The local police officers tried
: steering him away from the idea, telling him he could really do a lot
: better than a career in law enforcement.  What's going on here?

If criminals get smarter, cops will have to get smarter. People have
to be willing to extend themselves. Well, someone is willing and may
step on you if you are not.

: Someone has to drive the trucks and repair the wiring which makes our
: pleasant academic discussions possible.  I know that this bboard is for
: discussions of science and education, but there are sociological aspects
:  to how and why people become 'educated' --- would it be easier to convince
: the ordinary majority of citizens to support educational initiatives to
: improve education in the sciences if we demonstrated that we respected who
: they are and what they do with their lives?

Or would the opposite work? What is the prize behind door A? B? C?
Step right up. Today could be your lucky day.

--

Henry Choy
choy@cs.usask.ca

What rolls down stairs alone or in pairs            This has been brought to 
Rolls over your neighbor's dog?                     you by the numbers 4
What's great for a snack and fits on your back?     and 9 and the letter P.
It's Log, Log, Log!  -- "The Log Song", from            -- Big Bird
                         Ren & Stimpy

Math is tough!       -- Barbie