(no subject)
Lately I've been considering learning. By this I don't mean to say that I'm thinking of going back to school... (although it is something I am considering) but rather that I've been thinking about the act of learning and inevitably, how it reflects on my own situation. I've had a strong appetite for knowledge throughout my life. I find it difficult to tell whether this appetite has increased or decreased. Theories concerning the mechanics of brain plasticity and facultative adaptation would imply that it does.
In my early schoolin' years I was an A student--top notch. But over time my performance dropped considerably. Over time I've come up with two ways to explain this phenomenon; 1) that benefits of performing well increase at a greater rate the better one performs, and 2) that over time one's horizons broaden, and what one might want to learn diverges from what the school wants to teach. It is likely that both these explanations (and perhaps others I have neglected) serve as factors for my own perceived decrease in performance.
The copious metaphor equating learning to eating is perhaps very fitting. We consume knowledge like we consume hamburgers. The intenet has become the McDonalds of the information world. Inherent in this evaluation, though, is the notion that some knowledge is more valuable (more "nutritious") than others. While this may be quite evident in some instances (e.g. My knowing the capital of Burkina Faso is probably a lot less important than me knowing my way around Walpole) in other cases the evaluation is more difficult (e.g. Is a mechanic's knowledge less important than an actor's?). This raises a few questions. Because I'm writing this as I'm thinking about it, I'm going to switch now to a dialogue with the Garden Gnome from Landry's car and a moldy wedge of cheese.
Me: Are school curricula really teaching students the most valuable knowledge?
Gnome: Well, perhaps not. But mebbe that's not the purpose of schools.
Cheese: You mean school isn't supposed to prepare us for the world?
Gnome: It is important to note that an institution's purpose is separate from it's function(s). Like any form of imposed education, a curriculum is essentially designed as propaganda. What is important to understand is that a curricula is not the only source of knowledge and that it is perhaps the least important.
Cheese: Oh Noes! You mean to say they're screwing with our heads?!
Gnome: Well, that's one way to put it. You might also say that they're enculturing you and socializing you so that you function well within the society. They've only good intentions for you. It's almost impossible to succeed in this society if you're illiterate or can't add. Even in college chances are you're not going to learn anything you'll actually need at the job you get. It's all just one big forced experience to link you to an entire social class of other individuals who have shared your similar experiences and will subsequently be more predisposed to think like you.
Cheese: Gosh, I'm a fool. I always thought the function of a school was to imbue people with knowledge and empower them to succeed.
Gnome: Correct! That is one of the functions of eduational institutions. But its from the perspective of an individual within the system. If we try and describe the entire system you might understand this a little better...
...schools are (for the most part) created by individuals who have already been educated and as such have little direct use for the services a school provides. These schools still, however provide an indirect service to these folks by helping to raise their children in a capacity that they are perhaps unable to. This "educated" class uses the educational institutions to maintain their power within society by controlling the system by which knowledge is attributed value. The system of meritocracy in the US is underpinned by societal value assessments on different behaviors that are perhaps so heavily engrained in our subconcious that we are incapable of breaking it open. Merit is achieved through success. Success is achieved by playing by the (often unknown) rules of a system. Merit in a meritocracy is not about doing what is right, it's about doing what those around you think is right.
...but from below the system looks a lot different. To those without the agency to change their system, knowledge is a tool they can use to gain the ability to do so. They see the same structures, but view them with their own concerns in mind.
Both functions are equally valid. And I am really tired of talking about this...
Me: Well, I was gonna ask why do we idolize actors, but not our mechanics, but I have to go pee.