Our words often suggest that some people have a "feel" for certain things while others may not. You know, like when a sportscaster says that a coach has "a feel for the game".
But we seem to forget all of that when we are talking about the hard sciences, mathematics, engineering, etc.
Nonetheless, I believe it was yesterday when it occurred to me that I really do not have a feel for much of the thinking in the hard sciences and mathematics. For example, I never have really understood the difference between convection, conduction and radiation even though it has been taught to me several different times through formal instruction in physics in various disciplines. I memorized it and regurgitated it back onto a test--I have a really good memory--but I have never really understood it. On the other hand, teach me the difference between, say, hunter-gatherer society and civilization and I understand it enough to be critical of the theoretical underpinnings that come with such thinking, imagine paradigms that could be alternatives to such thinking, imagine research projects that could verify or falsify such thinking, etc. In other words, I have a feel for the idea and its disciplinary context, its implications, etc.
It seems that some people would have us all believe that those who perform in mediocrity in the hard sciences and mathematics do so by choice. Things like laziness and instant gratification are often given as reasons why people make that choice.
It would be easy for me to say the same thing about those who do not perform well in the social sciences and the humanities. They could come up with the best theory to date to explain crime if they made the effort, but they are more interested in the money and social status of the hard sciences, I might say.
Has it ever occurred to anybody that not everybody's brain works the same way? You know, maybe not all of us have the aptitude to produce ideas in physics, mathematics, etc.
Has it ever occurred to anybody that some--if not the majority of--people do not have much to contribute to certain disciplines and plan their academic and work careers accordingly? I don't know of much in me that I could contribute to the hard sciences or mathematics.
More importantly, has it ever occurred to anybody that people know that they have much to contribute to certain disciplines and can't resist the urge to make that contribution? I know that I have a lot to contribute to the social sciences if I could just come up with the money to pay for the opportunity to do so. It literally makes me sick thinking about how that potential is being wasted and seeing windows of opportunity look like they are shrinking as I get older and poorer.
Maybe I am wrong. But something tells me that at some level we all know that not everybody is meant to be a physicist or engineer--even that some people, gasp, are meant to be, say, social workers. Alas, there is no political advantage in recognizing and valuing what anybody has to contribute outside of the hard sciences and mathematics. Why applaud somebody for recognizing and acting on his potential as an ethnologist when you will get far more support by telling others not to be so lazy like him in their math studies?
Just some things to think about.
But we seem to forget all of that when we are talking about the hard sciences, mathematics, engineering, etc.
Nonetheless, I believe it was yesterday when it occurred to me that I really do not have a feel for much of the thinking in the hard sciences and mathematics. For example, I never have really understood the difference between convection, conduction and radiation even though it has been taught to me several different times through formal instruction in physics in various disciplines. I memorized it and regurgitated it back onto a test--I have a really good memory--but I have never really understood it. On the other hand, teach me the difference between, say, hunter-gatherer society and civilization and I understand it enough to be critical of the theoretical underpinnings that come with such thinking, imagine paradigms that could be alternatives to such thinking, imagine research projects that could verify or falsify such thinking, etc. In other words, I have a feel for the idea and its disciplinary context, its implications, etc.
It seems that some people would have us all believe that those who perform in mediocrity in the hard sciences and mathematics do so by choice. Things like laziness and instant gratification are often given as reasons why people make that choice.
It would be easy for me to say the same thing about those who do not perform well in the social sciences and the humanities. They could come up with the best theory to date to explain crime if they made the effort, but they are more interested in the money and social status of the hard sciences, I might say.
Has it ever occurred to anybody that not everybody's brain works the same way? You know, maybe not all of us have the aptitude to produce ideas in physics, mathematics, etc.
Has it ever occurred to anybody that some--if not the majority of--people do not have much to contribute to certain disciplines and plan their academic and work careers accordingly? I don't know of much in me that I could contribute to the hard sciences or mathematics.
More importantly, has it ever occurred to anybody that people know that they have much to contribute to certain disciplines and can't resist the urge to make that contribution? I know that I have a lot to contribute to the social sciences if I could just come up with the money to pay for the opportunity to do so. It literally makes me sick thinking about how that potential is being wasted and seeing windows of opportunity look like they are shrinking as I get older and poorer.
Maybe I am wrong. But something tells me that at some level we all know that not everybody is meant to be a physicist or engineer--even that some people, gasp, are meant to be, say, social workers. Alas, there is no political advantage in recognizing and valuing what anybody has to contribute outside of the hard sciences and mathematics. Why applaud somebody for recognizing and acting on his potential as an ethnologist when you will get far more support by telling others not to be so lazy like him in their math studies?
Just some things to think about.
