The Misplaced Halo
This morning before church I told Hiromi about a group of people we both know, "I think they have a real contempt for any kind of knowledge acquired outside an official educational program."
In retrospect, I think I categorized these people a bit unfairly. What I think the real offense is is an entirely unwarranted reverence for all things official and conventional.
In my view, a self-educated person wears a much brighter halo than the person who has persevered through the longest period of classroom instruction. I say this from the perspective of having endured enough classroom hours to earn a bachelor's degree. The skills I carried away from that experience have to do mostly with acquiring and communicating information.
Ironically though, so far, the subjects I've actually taught in conventional classrooms since college days are in subject areas in which I acquired knowledge and skills almost entirely outside of school. Nutrition and sewing, landscaping and interior decorating are all things I'm passionate about and have taught classes on, but I never had a college class in any of these subject areas. I took typing in high school but never took an accounting class anywhere. Yet I've been called on to teach these classes a number of times. This coming year I'll be teaching Anabaptist History, Child Development, and Composition. Of these, Composition is the only subject area in which I've actually taken post high school classes. Teaching these classes is possible only because I've learned something about how to learn and where to find information. I also have a super-sized dose of curiosity.
I grow flowers and arrange them to sell at a farmer's market. I learned flower arranging by studying books from the library and then doing lots of practicing. The details of growing my own plants from seed I've learned from reference books and seed catalogs.
Health care is a field I'm not even remotely interested in as a personal career choice, but I seldom pass up any information I come across in the media related to this subject. I regularly read publications by Mayo Clinic, as well as magazines and newsletters by various for-profit publishers and organizations.
All this is to say that I can't imagine having missed out on any of the things I've learned outside of school. If these things were suddenly all gone from my experience and memory, the hole left behind would be so much larger than the void would be if my college education were suddenly blanked out that I can't quantify the difference.
I have a deep and abiding respect for all those I know who are truly educated. Only a few of them have acquired their education in school. Because of what I've learned from life and from them, I won't be bowing anytime soon in the direction of the nearest institution of higher learning. And I will pointedly ignore your foolishness if I see you bowing.
In retrospect, I think I categorized these people a bit unfairly. What I think the real offense is is an entirely unwarranted reverence for all things official and conventional.
In my view, a self-educated person wears a much brighter halo than the person who has persevered through the longest period of classroom instruction. I say this from the perspective of having endured enough classroom hours to earn a bachelor's degree. The skills I carried away from that experience have to do mostly with acquiring and communicating information.
Ironically though, so far, the subjects I've actually taught in conventional classrooms since college days are in subject areas in which I acquired knowledge and skills almost entirely outside of school. Nutrition and sewing, landscaping and interior decorating are all things I'm passionate about and have taught classes on, but I never had a college class in any of these subject areas. I took typing in high school but never took an accounting class anywhere. Yet I've been called on to teach these classes a number of times. This coming year I'll be teaching Anabaptist History, Child Development, and Composition. Of these, Composition is the only subject area in which I've actually taken post high school classes. Teaching these classes is possible only because I've learned something about how to learn and where to find information. I also have a super-sized dose of curiosity.
I grow flowers and arrange them to sell at a farmer's market. I learned flower arranging by studying books from the library and then doing lots of practicing. The details of growing my own plants from seed I've learned from reference books and seed catalogs.
Health care is a field I'm not even remotely interested in as a personal career choice, but I seldom pass up any information I come across in the media related to this subject. I regularly read publications by Mayo Clinic, as well as magazines and newsletters by various for-profit publishers and organizations.
All this is to say that I can't imagine having missed out on any of the things I've learned outside of school. If these things were suddenly all gone from my experience and memory, the hole left behind would be so much larger than the void would be if my college education were suddenly blanked out that I can't quantify the difference.
I have a deep and abiding respect for all those I know who are truly educated. Only a few of them have acquired their education in school. Because of what I've learned from life and from them, I won't be bowing anytime soon in the direction of the nearest institution of higher learning. And I will pointedly ignore your foolishness if I see you bowing.
posted by Mrs. I at
8:14 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home