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The Religeon of Study
18 years ago
General
In many extremely annoying ways, intensive study is similar to a the dogmas of the christian religeon. That I have recently come to realise.
For you see, in christianity, you have, Heaven and hell, which is essensially the carrot and the cane trick; a bribe And a threat. Well comming from a rather conservative asian background I am frequently given similar treatment, but in the place of spiritual salvation and eternal damnation, I am offered a life of 'garenteed' success and a life of a minimum wage labourer.
(believe this or not, these threats have been made to me by my parents, and frankly, I feel very tempted to let loose my atheist side on their philosophy)
And then you have the rather obvious similarity between study and prayer/spiritual purity or whatever they call it, something that every student in their student life, (roughly 12 years) must constantly do and god help you if you refuse to participate in this activity.
Just like the idea of the christian afterlife, there is no middleground when it comes to Tertiary education, it's either something decent, or nothing at all. Saying that I can go to TAFE or a low requirement course, is practically blaspemy to my parents.
Oh yes, and don't forget how much the final few weeks of this 12 years of study reminds me of the rapture, First, we get the goody two shoes, holier than thou supernerds going straight to the best Universities, then the rest of the student population battle it out in some Armageddon like series of exams designed and hyped to specifically make everyone think it's the end of the world. Just so the select few on top whom have deemed themselves worth through theur rigourous 'Prayer' get to have a good life in Tertiary education, while the rest are cast into the lake of minimum wage slavery fire.
And people wonder why I'm a bitter SOB.
For you see, in christianity, you have, Heaven and hell, which is essensially the carrot and the cane trick; a bribe And a threat. Well comming from a rather conservative asian background I am frequently given similar treatment, but in the place of spiritual salvation and eternal damnation, I am offered a life of 'garenteed' success and a life of a minimum wage labourer.
(believe this or not, these threats have been made to me by my parents, and frankly, I feel very tempted to let loose my atheist side on their philosophy)
And then you have the rather obvious similarity between study and prayer/spiritual purity or whatever they call it, something that every student in their student life, (roughly 12 years) must constantly do and god help you if you refuse to participate in this activity.
Just like the idea of the christian afterlife, there is no middleground when it comes to Tertiary education, it's either something decent, or nothing at all. Saying that I can go to TAFE or a low requirement course, is practically blaspemy to my parents.
Oh yes, and don't forget how much the final few weeks of this 12 years of study reminds me of the rapture, First, we get the goody two shoes, holier than thou supernerds going straight to the best Universities, then the rest of the student population battle it out in some Armageddon like series of exams designed and hyped to specifically make everyone think it's the end of the world. Just so the select few on top whom have deemed themselves worth through theur rigourous 'Prayer' get to have a good life in Tertiary education, while the rest are cast into the lake of minimum wage slavery fire.
And people wonder why I'm a bitter SOB.
Intitutionalized learning is like institutionalized art class - it does best when all it does is provide the basics of the subject, and give the student the tools to learn on their own.
What's most important is that the student themselves must have the desire to learn. Then they must be given the tools, and finally the environment in which learning can be done at an individual pace.
I personally have learned more via television programs like 'National Geographic', 'The Learning Channel', resources like 'Wikipedia', and of course, various books.
D.O.P.R