| Angst, often confused with anxiety, is a transcendent emotion in that it combines the unbearable anguish of life with the hopes of overcoming this seemingly impossible situation. Without the important element of hope, then the emotion is anxiety, not angst. Angst denotes the constant struggle one has with the burdens of life that weighs on the dispossessed and not knowing when the salvation will appear. | ||
Can anyone say DRAMATIC? I thought I was dramatic, but that fellow definitely takes the cake.
A thought dawned on me just yesterday as I was moseying about: the past 16 1/2 years of my life have been nothing but school, one educational pursuit after another, one singular goal of progressing myself towards some sort of academic enlightenment. And as I sit here, drinking a Pepsi, letting the brilliant Vegas sunshine filter through the chinks in the blinds, I think...NO WONDER I'M IN SUCH A STATE OF ANGST! I am slowly closing the door on the culture of academia, and entering a world where my theories may be challenged by irrefutable empirical evidence, speaking volumes of their faultiness, their inability to explain the real world.
Education can save and change lives, but can education also be a crutch? Can it limit our vision to merely textbooks and readings, theories and postulates? Should education be a reflection of the real world? Should a reflection of the real world even be the purpose of education? Am I going to pursue these questions further and give you any substantive answers?
Nope, not tonight.
Heh, heh.
6 comments:
i want answers. now! :(
You are going to be working with children, so that will change the way you view education forever. You really can't teach them "by the books", and you will need to use your own common sense, spirituality, and your overall good judgment when it comes to them.
I'm not in the same field of study as you (although I almost pursued it, but dropped it), it is best to keep things simple. If you go off an look too deeply into things, you often fall into it and get absorbed only by that, and can't see the things outside of it.
Why did I write all that? Hahaha.
i think the real world should value trivial knowledge... since i am king at those kinds of things!
Q: Can education also be a crutch? Can it limit our vision to merely textbooks and readings, theories and postulates?
A: Any ideas to which we cleave with no regards to reality will definitely limit our ability to continually learn.
Education is more than just facts. It is a time tested methodology of thought that can help you to organize your own ideas and discoveries within the larger context of what has already been discovered. It saves you time so that you don't end up reinventing the wheel again and again. It allows you to understand the rules so that you will be aware that you are breaking those rules when you choose to. i.e. I might want to be creative and splash paint on a piece of wood and call it art. I can consider it creative. But within the larger context of art history, I have to understand that art is more than just an impetus to do something different, it has to express something that others can relate to. I have to understand and appreciate all the other styles of art to really understand how mine is different and new. Otherwise my art can be special in my own eyes, but not unique nor creative within that which has already been done.
Although time tested and applicable to most – at least as a starting point, the standard thought process will need to be tailored to the individual needs of each person. This tailoring process needs to be done largely by the individual because of the scarcity of resources and educators.
Q: Should education be a reflection of the real world? Should a reflection of the real world even be the purpose of education?
A: Education is the intellectual analysis of the world. Before we can hope to manipulate the world in a meaningful way, we must first try our best to describe it and understand it. In doing this, we can work with purpose rather than just doing a shot gun approach of guess and check. Those who came before us and recorded their findings have done the empirical work needed to build a foundation upon which we ourselves can contribute – but we must first understand the foundation. But we must not be afraid to reevaluate the assumptions of the past and relook at data that has been ignored or unexplained – and perhaps we may come to different conclusions than that which is commonly accepted, whether right or wrong . This does not discredit education in anyway, because it is the education that made us aware of the assumptions to which we are now trying to refute. Education is merely the first step to an enlightened mind.
As Sir Isaac Newton in reference to his discovery of gravity and planetary motion he said, “If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
i.e. My 4 years at BYU has given me about 2000 years worth of physics, 300 years of Chemistry, 4000 years worth of math and a brief snapshot of all the other subjects ranging from history to engineering and from music to art. If I had depended on self learning and self discovery, not in a thousand lifetimes would I have come up with all this knowledge.
From BYU’s AIM
The short version
“Thus a BYU diploma is a beginning, not an end, pointing the way to a habit of constant learning”
“BYU degree should educate students in how to learn, teach them that there is much still to learn, and implant in them a love of learning”
education schmeducation. I'm going to chill out at my trailer. Anyone want to join?!
The best education is being taught to think for yourself.
I think I need to get me some more education, cause I don't even know what half those words mean! You're a brilliant writer (that's a big word, eh?).
Post a Comment