mercury@ut-ngp.UUCP (Larry E. Baker) (10/20/86)
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I posted something a few days back in soc.college and recently
stumbled across the following note in IDEAS AND OPINIONS, by Albert
Einstein (Crown Books, Copyright (C) 1982, 1954 by Crown Publishers,
ISBN 0-517-55601-4, reproduced without permission or modification).
It says what I was, in my own clumsy way, trying to say;
I include it here hoping to provide a clean ending point for this
discussion. After all the talk on Computer Science Education,
What, Why and Why Not, I'm ready to move to other horizons.
EDUCATION FOR INDEPENDENT THOUGHT
From THE NEW YORK TIMES, October 5, 1952.
It is not enought to teach a man a specialty. Through it he may
become a kind of useful machine but not a harmoniously developed
personality. It is essential that the student acquire an understanding of
and a lively feeling for values. He must acquire a vivid sense of the
beautiful and of the morally good. Otherwise he -- with his specialized
knowledge -- more closely resembles a well-trained dog than a harmoniously
developed person. He must learn to understand the motives of human
beings, their illusions and their sufferings in order to acquire a proper
relationship to indivieual fellow-men and to the community.
These precious things are conveyed to the younger generation throught
personal contact with those who teach, not -- or at least not in the
main -- through text books. It is this that primarily constitutes and
preserves culture. This is what I have in mind when I recommend the
`humanities' as important, not just dry specialized knowledge in the
fields of history and philosophy.
Overemphasis on the competitive system and premature specialization
on the ground of immediate usefulness kill the spirit on which all
cultural life depends, specialized knowledge included.
It is also vital to a valuable education that independent critical
thinking be developed in the young human being, a development that is
greatly jeopardized by overburdening him with too much and with too varied
subjects (point system). Overburdening necessarily leads to
superficiality. Teaching should be such that what is offered is perceived
as a valuable gift and not as hard duty.
(End of posting)
--
Larry Baker Net/UUCP: mercury@ut-ngp.{ARPA, UUCP, UTEXAS.EDU}
UT Austin ihnp4!seismo!ut-sally!ut-ngp!mercury
Computer Science Local: baker@walt.utexas.edustefan@wheaton (Stefan Brandle) (10/25/86)
Thanks for the Posting on good old Albert E. He said it very well. I also agree that maybe it's time to move on in discussion topics. -- --------- Stefan Brandle UUCP: ihnp4!wheaton!stefan I never claimed to be sane.