[HPforGrownups] O-T thoughts on education

[Amanda Lewanski]

No: HPFGUIDX 5115

Scott wrote:

> I'm starting to look at colleges and this is one questioning point
> for me.  I have been looking at  colleges in the UK and so I was
> rather confused by the US system.  (why waste time learning things
> that don't really apply?)

Actually (and I do apologize beforehand, this is *exactly* the sort of thing
that sounded meaningless and stupid to me when I was younger), as you get
older you realize you never learn *anything* that doesn't apply. It quite
likely doesn't apply the way you thought it might, or when, but eventually
the little factoids and observations come into play, and the more you have,
in the broadest, most separated fields, the better things seem to come
together. I rediscover this, in fact, more and more every year.

That, I think, is what makes an education rather than a trade. Sort of the
difference between the training of a dog for obedience versus the training
of a dog to be a guide for the blind. One method teaches the dog what to do.
The other teaches the dog how to think, to react intelligently and make
decisions where necessary. Both are valid and useful in their respective
arenas, but they *are* different.

If that makes sense. To the other fossils on the list.

--Amanda