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May 17, 2005
On Being Superfluous
Yes, it's Nock week at the ol' One Sixteenth. Chew on this one:
So when it comes to all, I doubt that a study of translations has enough carrying-power to encourage much hope of a "return to the classics." I do not find this altogether lamentable, however, because I am by no means sure that a return to the classics, even if it were practicable, would be desirable. I am not sure that the post-revolutionary frame of mind is so awry, not sure that any more should be done with education, properly so called, than is being done; or that the final end and aim of education, --the ability to see things as they are,-- should any longer be taken into account. The question at issue, obviously, is whether the educable person can any longer be regarded as a social asset; or, indeed, whether in time past his value as a social asset has not been overestimated. ... In a society essentially neolithic, as ours unquestionably is at the moment, --whatever one may hold its evolutionary possibilities to be,-- there can be no place found for an educable person but such as a trainable person could fill quite as well or even better; he becomes a superfluous man; and the more thoroughly his ability to see things as they are is cultivated, the more his superfluity is enhanced.
Certainly, in most social circles being highly educated is not necessarily an asset. I think he's wrong, though, about the educated person being superfluous in our society. If society is neolithic and largely uneducable, and only the educable/educated ones will be able to "see things as they are," aren't those people the ones who will be the leaders? The changers? Isn't that, to a large degree, how it's always been?
Earlier in the book Nock makes the distinction between education and training. He feels that his education was purely formative, and those with a formative education are able to turn their hands to anything. Someone who is instead trained can fulfill certain roles in society and industry, but cannot necessarily step outside of those roles. Well then, won't a classical, formative education, an education that prepares the student to "see things as they are," be a safeguard against becoming superfluous? I can understand how and why he would feel so. In actuality, though, such a person would be essential, desperately needed.
Posted by lynx at May 17, 2005 8:31 AM
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Comments
I think I get it...
While the educated are desperately needed, their ability to see things as they are in this increasingly corporately structured world, allows them the insight to see that they are in reality superfluous.
There may still be a few thinkers among government heads that serve as leaders, but primarily they are self-serving businessmen.
Posted by: Lynne at May 18, 2005 9:56 AM