Just a random thought

[madscriptor]

 
Just recently, I heard someone make a very strange comment about the nature of education.  In so many words, they said you go to school to become “smart”.  But smart in relation to what?  For example, if someone takes courses in physics, but you gave them an advanced essay test in history, they would fail it.  Does that mean they are less

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Random thoughts back atcha

[fintach]

"when I walk out of a particularly intense class, I usually feel like a colossal idiot"

I don't. What I usually feel is something closer to amazed, intrigued or catalyzed: the new information excites me and pushes me to learn more. Finding out -- or rather being reminded -- of how much I don't know doesn't make me feel stupid, it makes me happy because I enjoy figuring things out, making connections and discoveries and flinging my mind down new paths.

Do I walk out of school feeling smart? To me, it's the wrong question. It's not about whether or not I'm "smart," but whether or not I learned something. I enjoy the end of a semester because I can stop and think about a) how much I've learned and b) how much more there is to learn that I'd had no idea about.

As for those who think "smart" is some kind of goal, well, that strikes me as showing limited imagination.

Re: Random thoughts back atcha

[peddler_creates]

I am somewhere in between. But it's true -- the more I learn, the more I realize I don't know, and the hungrier for information I become