> > In terms of hard practical skills and learning that I may have acquired
> > during my four years in university... well, I'm hard-pressed to
> > recall much of lasting value.
>
> My university years were the best possible use I could have made
> of my time and the (considerable amount of) money. They taught
> me to do research, to write and speak correct English, to organize
> and make usable documents of all kinds, from research papers to
> web sites. They gave me social skills, the ability to speak
> persuasively to individuals and groups, and to organize my time
> and energy. Contacts I made as an undergraduate have been useful
> for several decades since, from the White House to the Kremlin.
> Finally, having that big Brown class ring has been nice when
> sitting around a table with USMA and MIT grads flashing their
> big class rings.
Sounds like you were incredibly lucky! Thanks for sharing your
message of hope.
My English teacher complained that I over-analyzed things. Didn't
want me to go beyond quoting the story's text answering the questions.
(Penalized me for it too!)
Dear old Dad, having read about Princeton, Brown, and having the
guidance counsellor insist that I apply for MIT, and a few others, decided
that since he had paid good tax money to the state, I was going to go to
the state university. (This was the same state that had "The Hicks School
of Agriculture". And that is the REAL name of the school of agriculture,
as it appeared in gold letters on one of the buildings!)
My experience in physics lab just about sums up my university
experience: When I could not get the required results from some force
experiments, my physics instructor gave me an F and ridiculed me. When I
proved that the equipment could not give me the results that the theories
say they should, the Indian professor upgraded my lab grade to a C, and
just shrugged it off despite my commenting that everyone else must be
fudging their results because none of the equipment worked right. What are
we supposed to learn, I asked, how to fake things, or do real experiments?
His response was that no one else complains! My counter that many of them
used copies of previous year's labs from the frat houses didn't go over
well.
Now, I have nothing against Indians or other foreign nationals, but
there is some greater tendency for people who depend upon a system for
their salvation from poverty, to overlook reality in favor of politics,
and thus ignore the real purpose of what they are supposed to be doing.
"Just go along", a lot of third worlder's say.
Education must, as a fundamental, address REALITY over politics and
theory. Apparently the accreditation boards thought so, for some two
years after that engineering school had been near the top for quality, it
almost lost accreditation. The physical building spree they had gone on
didn't do anything for the QUALITY of the professors or the laboratory
equipment! Too late...
I ended up leaving about the time I could not understand the Chinese
physics professor we were given. And the administration REFUSED to replace
him or let us leave his classes without penalty! REFUSED! He may have
been brilliant in his field, but he COULD NOT BE UNDERSTOOD by his entire
class, half of which dropped out by the sixth week!!!
In another course, some of the students had to go out and buy their
own oil immersion microscopes, because there just weren't enough. (I had
wanted to be a biochemist, and was fascinated by biology, taking after
my granduncle the botany professor.)
It is indeed sad that poor gullible students, such as my then-self,
are exposed to this crap before they have the backbone and self confidence
to kick ass via letters to anyone who will listen regarding the quality of
education they are receiving for their parents money. And of course, we
students, we didn't understand the value of that money, the education, or
how to intelligently persuade our parents as to what is really going on.
One thing I should have demanded of my father is: "Dad, how much are you
paying for this education? You come down here and spend a day sitting in
my classes with me, then YOU tell me what you think we have to do about
it."... "Don't believe me, It is YOUR money! See it for YOURSELF!" When a
few dozen such parents would descend upon Administration, parents old
enough to stand up to the burro-c-rats, we might have had a chance.
Instead, the acting dean of engineering tried to persuade me and several
others who complained, to leave the University of Connecticut School of
Engineering.
Easy to look back and say what we should have done; but I, for one,
had no real confidence in myself. In the end, I dropped out, and soon took
a job programming for more than the average graduate was being offered.
But I believe I paid for that "education" for the rest of my life, as well
as for my dear old dad's advice "concentrate on the books, don't bother
making social contacts," which he called cheating. (Not that uncommon
among immigrants, from what I hear; though some go in the opposite
direction with similar intensity.)
You need to know your stuff. But you need to know who needs your
stuff, and how to get it across that you have that stuff, and why they
need it. Something I still don't do very well, and feel very
uncomfortable trying to do; because it just all seems like bragging to
my anodized aluminum encased engineering mentality. (Lucky them, who's
mentality is only hide bound!)
Would I have done better at MIT? Hard to say, not knowing if the
same health crises would have beset me. But I was rather lucky I veered
out of biochemistry, as we now know that my low body temperature impedes
the detoxification systems of my body.
Along the way, I'd met some kids who were fooling with computer
systems, picked up a few things, decided to take a course in it, and when
the books were weeks late, taught myself how to program in two weeks. It
was simply logical... something I took to naturally. And as you stacked
the logic, it became philosophical, something else I seemed to have a
knack for. I was noticed by the assistant director of the computer
center, taught programming workshops in about a year. Ended up screwing
around the computer center, building some project the assistant director /
cs prof lamented he could not give me credit for because of the political
pressure to force me out. Great fun! (Stuff I invented then is now called
an applications generator.) I had found something I was good at, and
loved to do!
And then...Miracle of Miracles! You could buy and build computers of
your own!!! I just about hit the right age to be born. Sad society never
really offered me a good place where I could return a lot to it, though.
Partly my fault, partly the low body temperature package, and part just
plain stupidity, not all of it my own.
Also learned a lot from Amway, even though I was pretty much a
failure at selling anything, even after taking the Dale Carnegie Sales
course. That too, seems about par for low body temperature.
Luck, I think, is having a life to live, and living it to the end.
Living is an art. Some of us just tend to drip more paint than others.
Sometimes we find good coaches, sometimes we marry good partners; and
sometimes, we just tend to wander around alone at night till we fall down
some abandoned mining shaft.
Very glad to hear you were lucky. Suggests I might have better luck
in my next life. But I kind of think there is still a lot of life for me
to get through before then.
Teach your kids to think, AND WHY they have to maintain that
Christmas card list.
Get your kids into a good college, not just because of the quality of
the education, but also because of the quality of the PEOPLE.
When you get a job, the quality of the PEOPLE is more important than
the quality of the company, as good people will go elsewhere, and invite
you to follow.
Teach your kids to stand up for what is right, regardless of
immediate personal cost. Part of the reward, is being remembered by
others, and invited to join other endeavors because of your CHARACTER.
I think it is important to be Memorable, as well as good, someone
people want in their corner.
Low body temperature is a health and socio-economic risk factor. Get
it treated before the brain grows into requiring it. But... I think it
important to address it from the attitude approach rather than the thyroid
approach first, for much of it is a feedback loop, as mentioned in
http://www.mall-net.com/mcs/coldbody.html
-J- ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --------------------------www.mall-net.com/javilk
One slightly used ex-husband, good condition, likes thinking, walking ---
Sitting forlornly in Hecate's Used Husband Lot, The Moonlight Zone. -----
E-mail me for info on how to preview this Fine Classical Merchandise. ---
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Try <a href="http://www.mall-net.com/javilk/swm.html"> Javilk - SWM </a>
____________________________________________________________________
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Join The Web Consultants Association : Register on our web site Now
Web Consultants Web Site : http://just4u.com/webconsultants
If you lose the instructions All subscription/unsubscribing can be done
directly from our website for all our lists.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
