In the late 70’s
When I was going to school at Purdue, there was a rash of students dropping out and moving out into the marketplace.
One of my teachers, an english teacher named Charlie Tinkham had asked the class this question, more or less:
“Why would you, say, buy a lamp, and then not take delivery of it? if you spent the money, why would you not come get the lamp?”
Referring of course to the students who had paid for that education and didn’t go to school and get it. I didn’t have a good answer for Professor Tinkham then, but i do now.
The lamp, Proffesor, s overpriced. It is not the lamp we need, nor does it illuminate what we want it to illuminate. It’s kind of ugly, too, and while people expect us to have a lamp, they understand it’s worthlessness.
At the time, my drafting teacher was a pakistani guy who loved if you used a lot of weld symbols no matter how inappropriate they were (I once got an A on a paper which had “Weld all around, 3/16″ bead” symbols on each of 200 10-24 screws.
if, on the other hand, your title block wasn’t machine-perfect, you got an F, no matter how well the drawing was drawn. We also had a CompSci teacher who was an actual clown- Partner had him for a couple classes too, and they goaded him into coming to school dressed as a clown one day. He looked like Captain Spaulding. Nobody was surprised. Anyway, his idea of teaching us was to type shit on the main computer while we copied it down. In other words, if you could type, you passed. Very educational.
Oh, I had an architect who taught statics, from whom I learned a great deal, and an electrician who taught basic circuit theory, who helped a lot as well, but most of the teachers thought their jobs were to yap, and the students mere interruptions of their yapping.
So I, like a lot of students disillusioned with the system, I dropped out.
the end of that answer, Professor Tinkham, is that I have learned to make lamps myself. They illuminate what I want them to illuminate. They are elegant and useful, and they suit me fine. And now other people respect the light I shed as well.
12 comments Og | Uncategorized
Pretty much why I bailed on college. Buncha Existentialist crap in drag, dressed up to look like Literature or English comp or History.
You may want to add:
You bought the lamp on lay-away and haven’t finished paying for it. While you were making payments, it became obsolete and you would rather spend the remaining money on a lamp that has the newest features. Also, when you decided to buy the first lamp, you were a chump and while you were waiting for delivery, you grew up and got smart and decided that the slick lamp salesmen at your high school didn’t know what they were talking about.
Prof Hale: You got it. In spades.
Would you buy a lamp that took up half the freaking room, but only lights-up one quarter the space – and what it does light-up always looks ugly and worse than what a less-expensive and more portable lamp shows to be true?
Would you buy a lamp that only works when you wear a welding mask with blinders?
Or the lamp was never what you needed in the first place. As Prof Hale aludes to above, the slick lamp salesmen (in High School) only sold one line of lamps, and usually only one model.
“You have a right to this lamp!” Also implied, “You have a moral obligation to yourself, your future family, and society, to get this lamp. Any other lighting device is beneath your station, and or your talent(s).”
For those who we feel are not really smart enough or talented in the arts/sports…we have “special lamps” for them…industrial arts/vo-tech colleges…or in worst cases, “gasp”…the military. (I graduated HS back at the end of Vietnam, so you know where my “gui-dunce” counselors were coming from.)
If you are smart enough, you don’t need the lamp. That being said, if you buy the lamp you are let into the fraternity that did buy the lamp and are proud of the fact is still does not light the room.
Nonetheless, lamps can be useful. You must plug the lamp into an appropriate socket and change the bulb when needed, though. Also, if you want to use the illumination, you must sit under the lamp, or near it at least.
It’s not good enough just to say that you have a lamp, you must use it and maintain it. Remember, too, that, having a lamp doesn’t guarantee that you will see amd
…and it certainly doesn’t mean that you are the only one who CAN see. (Hit the Submit button too soon)
I think a more appropriate analogy would have been, “Why would you buy a movie ticket, or a book, and not use it?”
If the movie or book is a piece of crap, I’ll exercise my right to get up and leave, or put the book down.
That doesn’t mean I get a refund…
only that I haven’t wasted any more of the one commodity the ass-clowns that run higher education can’t sell, alter or create – TIME.
I “suffered” through many indoctrination sessions in the course of that education. At least they allow you to drop classes.
Waste of Money? YES – overpriced then, outrageous now.
Waste of Time? a little
Regrets? none – I matured a lot and developed some critical thinking and writing skills that public education neglected to impart.
But is it for Everyone? Definitely not. Kudos to all who find a niche and develop skills and a career without the expense of the degree.
BA University of Cincinnati 1987
Og, can you drop me a line? Someone wants to send you something. I’ve lost your email. I’m at the typical gmail address based on “joa”. Thanks.
Such conversations always remind me of the plumber I knew, with the masters in history; he discovered plumbing paid better than teaching(worked his way through school with a plumbing company), so did that.
Along with good regular money, he invented a gadget to work with the new flexible piping, as I recall he was getting $13-15k per year in royalties on that.
Speaking of teachers who yap and those who dont:
Back in the day when a disk drive was the size of a filing cabinet, I attended a one week course on maintaining them. For the first 3 hours of the first day, the instructor talked and used a chalk board to tell us what a disk drive was and the basics of what was happening that allowed and caused it to work.
He then split us into groups and assigned each group a disk drive and a tool kit. We spent the rest of the first day taking the drives apart. “To the floor,” he said.
We spent the rest of the week putting those drives back together and making them work again. The instructor walked around, helping whomever needed it and answering questions as they came up.
I learned more in that week than in any other month of any school I’ve ever attended.