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> If I could have saved just _one_ of
> them by watering down the course slightly and, instead of asking them to
> think, asked them to memorize, I'd have been _far_ ahead of the game.
> Of course the counter-argument is that by watering down the course, one
I think there is yet another counter-argument. Based on Bill Gavin's
recommendation (and I second it) I bumped "Zen and the Art of
Motorcycle Maintenance" way up on my reading list. Chapters
16 and 17 (for those without the stamina or the time) make up
the main thrust of the books argument about what education should
be. As Bill asked, "how many students would take a class if there
were no c-card (assuming no c-cards were ever required for anything)"?
Only the students who were TRULY interested in the information. Who
wanted to LEARN and THINK. He also talks about "reductio ad absurbdum"
which (lacking a proper philosophy background) as taking an argument
to the extreme (absurb) and if it falls apart, then even leaving it where
it was(non extreme), it has problems.
Now I grant this is all ideal, it isn't real-world, etc, but take
the idea of watering things down to the "extreme". You water
it down so much that NO thinking is required. Its all memorization.
Is that what we would want? Even if it meant no loss of life?
("we'll keep you alive for 100 years, but you can't think during it").
Think about how much we complain about the watering down in the
OW courses and now in the "tech" courses.
I guess at some point it turns into a cold bean-counters game.
"How many lives are at risk if we set the standard at X....."
Sure this is cold, but I find the alternative (no thinking)
even more chilling, and really it warms up a good bit if
people realize that this whole diving thing is a big bell curve (or
some such shape) and that (many, most) standards are set
to get you on some "safe enough" place, but the only
way to be "safe" is to stay above water.
I suppose (from a more practical viewpoint) I don't have as
much of a problem with a standard as the fact that too often
they turn into "dogma". Its ok to have a standard (well I'd
still prefer there be thinking involved) that you (the sutdent)
don't understand as long as you realize you don't understand it
and why it is what it is. Too often people think a "standard"
is somehow come down from "on high". "My instructor said it was
so, he must be right, there can be NO other way".
Sorry to zero in on this one statement. I certainly did not mean
to try to take it out of context, hope the reality matches that goal.
Not trying to be an ass, perhaps trying to be a bit antagonistic
(not much), but only in the hopes of stirring debate.
Anyway, "Zen" is a pretty good book so far (I'm almost done). Thanks
to Bill Gavin for bringing it up.
Mike (donning his asbestos Depends undergarments)
--
Mike Zimmerman < zimmmt@au*.al*.co* > Alcatel Network Sytems, Ral, NC
*My opinions, not Alcatel's* [\] NC Diving: http://www.vnet.com/scuba/
A is A. Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt man doing it.
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