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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lazarus_Long who wrote (229829)	5/5/2007 10:33:19 AM
From: Rambi	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

BTW, you failed to address a single point. Yes, I didn;t fail, though, I chose not to and I told you why, and of course, it's just my opinion. And this has nothing to do with the past. It's what I was seeing at the time. Hostility is unpleasant and unproductive in this venue. It;s different from righteous anger in real life, which can hopefully effect change. I don't equate anything said on SI as world-changing; it's a place to express views and read others, and let's face it, it's a place to hear ourselves talk, which is usually fun- at least for the talker. Certainly it isn't going to alter the world- it rarely changes even one opinion. So I prefer to just enjoy the exchanges, not get personal or fight. Other people seem to enjoy the fight. I have always hated it, and always will. Not even with "The goal of education should be at least partly to produce an informed citizenry fit to run a democracy." My point about the engineering at Rice being a glorified tradeschool goes to that. The course is so intensive, that even though the degree requires a few other courses in other areas with the goal of rounding out the student, it doesn't provide anything close to the old traditional liberal arts education. Many of these kids are very bright and had already tested out of courses like English and History in high school. CW finished a BS in three and a half years, which isn't done often. In fact, while they award a lot of BAs in CS, there are not many BS's because it is harder. So he probably took the absolute minimum in outside courses. He is a smart young man, doing very well, but I would say he is fairly limited in his knowledge of government and philosophy at this time. So studying physics and math, which engineering students do in spades, doesn't add to their ability to being informed about running a democracy. It makes them excellent engineers. Just as a degree in trumpet makes you a great hornplayer. And that's what I meant about tradeschool. The courses are harder, but the education is still narrow. Usually they expand on their own, because by their nature they are curious, eager learners. BErtrand Russell, by the way, also studied philosophy, and Einstein was- well- Einstein, way before he went to university. He had an interesting educational path. Speaking of which- I read a strange little book called Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America with Einstein's Brain. (I think that was the full title). It's a fun read with some interesting facts about Albert.