Re: [OT] Re: shuttle disaster

[Craig Dickson <crdic@pacbell.net>]

Daniel Barclay wrote:

> Kenward Vaughan wrote:
> > 
> > ...
> > In a completely rational society, the best of us would aspire to be
> > _teachers_ and the rest of us would have to settle for something less,
> > because passing civilization along from one generation to the next
> > ought to be the highest honor and the highest responsibility anyone
> > could have.     - Lee Iacocca
> 
> Wouldn't that be society resting on its laurels?  And stagnating?
> (With no one creating additional civilization.)

I had the same reaction. It would be interesting to see the context of
that Iacocca quote. If he was suggesting that the most noble thing in
the world is to be a schoolteacher, that's sort of inane, as it implies
that it's more important to pass on knowledge than to generate new
knowledge. Both are important.

I suppose the need to both generate and pass on knowledge is probably
the basis for the fact that at the university level, professors must
both teach and conduct research.

There are some very good teachers out there, but I've found that some of
the world's emptiest heads belong to schoolteachers who just teach
what's in their textbooks without ever really thinking about anything.
The notion that these people are the noblest of beings, or indeed that
there is anything the least bit noble about them, is so idiotic it's not
even funny.

Craig