Oh, yes!
Scholarship
by Band on the Run 12 Replies latest social relationships
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problemaddict
Lois lane makes an interesting point. I felt pretty smart at one time. The vast majority of people are not interested in "scholarship" and tend to kind of just want the redux. I am not sure many people here look down on scholarship. However, refferencing yourself as a scholar hardly makes you smarter than a bag of hammers. Many people digest information and turn it into viewpoints and believing things for good reasons. Many others swallow information whole, don't digest it, and just parakeet it back to others with little challenge because they are speaking ona level most people don't relate to.
I can understand in any community that going against the status quo can be a loosing battle before the objections or information are even heard. It can be a "closed community" where an actual line of reasoning has little to do with the subject, but how many learned people share the same viewpoint. I don't care for that very much. I prefer each arguement or thought stand on its own, and those interested can come to their own conclusions. To decide what they believe and do not believe based on good reasons.
I am not sure what the New Yorker and Vanity Fair have to do with scholarship. :)
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Band on the Run
They are well established as Eastern establishment periodicals. I don't believe that academic study gives you any superior moral character. On the other hand, it does not make one evil. I travel in different worlds. In one world, people find my vocabularly funny b/c I used words they do not know. Well, I did not learn the vocabulary at home. I read voraciously and studied vocabulary words for hours. Within a few hours, I am sitting among people who assume everyone has just as good a vocabulary as they do. I am not superlative in this crowd.
I view academia/critical thinking as one way of approaching matters. It is a tool. Gut feelings and inate creativity are also tools. A person can have multiple tools. One example is the Socratic method taught in law schools. It works very well for what the practice of law demands. There are other methods, though, that may be more useful in other fields.
There is a strong set of people here who rejected scholarship and sophistication. I have no idea how large this group is.
I would guess that the largest group here are people who realize what they lost by being with the Witnesses. It may just be that my heart leaps when I read of their quest for education. So many times members announce they are starting school at a later age than the norm. I expect that if we were present in one physical location, they would receive a standing ovation.
In my normal life I never have to justify education or scholarship. It is accepted as one good thing. Perhaps b/c the grass is always greener on the other side, my regular crowd treasures creative people of all sorts. I am a New Yorker. People come from all over the globe to be part of a clear culture in NY. One of my prized possessions is a poster of a NYer cartoon from decades ago that spoofs our myopia.
As much as I might try for personal reasons, the assertion that God ordered anything is hard for me to believe. There is a big difference between being informed and flying solo. I believe it is the extraordinary class mixing here. Within my regular cirlce, I prob. value education more than anyone else b/c I grew up with so little. The world was ridiculed. A KH brother announced that we had to ditch the songbook b/c tunes from Beet - ho -ven (as in beet, the vegetable) were present. Most Americans know who Beethoven is, even if they have never heard Beethoven music.
I would love to write a fleshed out essay on the cultural differences. For example, I see nothing wrong with attending an elite school. One can debate whether such private schools should dominate as they do. Sometimes I believe it more of a historical accident than absolute superiority. The point is one can be a good person in terms of character, regardless of where you attend school. Graduating from the Ivy League or comps confers many advantages and some disadvantages. Being a bad person is not a disadvantage.
I fear cults or people that claim secret knowledge. The world has been transformed with access to knowledge. Any prof I ever had would be appalled if we accepted his/her lectures at face value. I love the discussions and debates among colleagues. For some reason, we are very different religions and yet we respectfully listen to the differences in our culture. Indeed, it often seems to be an opiate when we discuss it. My legal field is very civil. You do best for your client, play a role in court, and then go out for cocktails with your pal/adversary.
This forum exposed me to a certain segment that I tried so hard to escape. Within my field, I do well but I am not spectacular. Questions are more valued than answers. I don't know anyone in normal life who would even care what people outside their circle think. The draw for me has been the personal interaction. It was not my goal.
Others have other values. I can respect that. Family members that I adored stayed in the Witnesses and the tension was ever present. Once I was so focused on securing the rights of others that I forgot my rights. I have a right to value scholarship and sophistication and advocate for it. It may not make me correct in any abstract sense. Precisely b/c it is so valuable to me, I want to share it. Scholarship is not evil or bad. Perhaps more than scholarship, however, has been having very close friends who are Confucianist, Buddhists, Hindus, and Jews. What are the chances that a small fraction of the world has absolute knowledge and truth. Any Star Trek fan knows this.