From: kpearce@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (BULLDAWG)
Subject: Re: The Marching Morons (was Re: Cindy the Disco Queen)
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 21:44:48 GMT

In article <BzF2GB.ArF@news.cso.uiuc.edu> zlg1409@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Zhenhai Li ) writes:
>juola@bruno.cs.colorado.edu (Patrick Juola) writes:
>
>>Okay, I'll play devil's advocate for a bit.  Why should any of these be
>>the case?  Reductio ad absurdum -- does this mean that if a person is
>>only educated through 11th grade, then he's worthless?  If so, what's
>>magical about the senior year.  If not, repeat question inductively until
>>he's never attended school at all....
>
>hey, we had to do it. Why shouldn't he suffer? :-)

I, for one, did not finish 10th grade. I am now in a PhD program in Physical
Chemistry  }:)  tttthhhhupppth!

I don't think that I should have to suffer because of my lack of a high-school
education.

>
>>Why is universal education important?  And *particularly*, why should everyone
>>be required to follow *my* opinion of what constitutes a good education? 

Well, we have to start *somewhere*.  People,in particular Americans, are
really bad about not doing something until someone is _standing_ over them...

>>Should people be required to study a second language?

I hated German, and doubt it has done me much good...

>>How about calculus?

Yummy!!!  }:)

>>How about Asian-American literature?

I would personally perfer that all "isms" as course material be eliminated
from all the PC brains in the world *growl*.
>> And why should someone with no talent
>>for or interest in calculus be required to be exposed to it

Because, quite frankly: 1) you don't know until you try, 2) you might just
learn something useful (calculus has applications everywhere...).

>>, when there are
>>all these other more interesting and relevant (to that person) fields to
>>learn?

Ah, relevance...  Sometimes it is important to not be a boring old sot (i.e.
read well-rounded is a better person... sometimes)

>
>Hmmm, I've also thought about this quite a bit. Why should everyone be
>educated? 

Actually, I have thought that the idea of an oppressed, uneducated class
taking out my garbage inspiring.  Anyone exposed to the real world will
tell you that it is closer to that than you think  };)

>So that those that are smart realize their potential and can
>go further. So (Hopefully) the average citizen can tell the truth from
>B.S. So everone knows how to read. So people understand how our country
>works and how to fix it. (I wish I took an automotive class.) Hopefully,
>to keep the masses from being ignorant. (HArd to imagine, but then, I'm
>on internet.) however, I still think that 8th grade math, 10th grade eng,
>and a bit of history and science is the level that the average american
>uses. we REALLY need to define what kind of education is needed for what.
>(College deg to be a desk clerk? come on.) That a college degree is nice,
>but if you take a kid out of H.S. give him a job in an engineering firm
>for four years. Would you want him working for you or a guy who majored in
>it? 

Ah well, to make things better you have to get money from being the tail
that wags the education dog.

We have an entire culture that is ingrained to look at education as a means
of getting a good job but learning "hard" stuff as being too scary to mess
with.  Which makes me wonder where the two seperated... or were they ever the
same???

Ken Pearce
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.science