How it works

  We are told independent thought is the best that there is. Then we spend years and thousands of dollars learning what is already known, calling that an education. We provide the proof of that in the form of degrees issued by institutions. Then you are held in high regard as learned. I believe that is so simply because all the others that did the same agree with you. You have been taught the correct answers and repeated them dutifully. Perhaps you have even expanded upon those ideas to further validate them. Independent thought isn't welcomed in those circles, but no one will admit to that. No, it is only the educated that are truly progressive and enlightened. The smart folks, by their own admission. 

  There is no debate about the value of a good education. We do need to be taught how to read, write and do arithmetic. Those skills are the cornerstones to learning. They also have nothing to do with thought. They are simply the means to express your thinking. I wonder what knowledge was lost and had to be relearned because of that. What I mean is, no one could write it down. We all know word of mouth isn't really very effective for that purpose. Like playing a game of post office the story/meaning will change with each telling. I took a leadership course while in the Navy. The exercise was to tell others how to build a "house" using index cards. It had to be exactly the same with the lines going the correct direction. It sounds simple enough until you attempt to do it. I could write it all down and that was effective, or draw a picture, then it wasn't so difficult. That wasn't allowed. Explaining the thought is very difficult indeed. 

  I've said it many times, and still believe it to be a true statement, there is little that can be said that hasn't been said before. There are very few original ideas. The ones that figure out how to transfer an idea into an object will get the credit. It doesn't matter if it is an actual physical object or words on a paper. What matters is expressing that idea in a way no one has heard it before. That's the original thought, independent of any "education" you may have received. That's why we say you receive an education, it is something given to you, it isn't something you get on your own. That sort of "education" will not be accepted or acknowledged unless it benefits someone else. The purpose of education is to teach you how something works. That's how I think of that. Whether it is a trade or a profession isn't important, the purpose is understanding how it works. 

  I have always found it amusing that having a trade isn't viewed as highly as being a professional. What's the difference between the two? Simply put a professional has a college degree and a tradesman does not. We all hear about the cost of getting an education and in some "professions" the years of training and apprenticeship required before becoming that professional. Well, the same is true of becoming an expert in a trade, just without the cost of paying someone to teach you that stuff from a book. I don't have any papers to prove it, but I have had plenty of education over the years. I'm glad I didn't have to pay for it. The major advantage being I only learned what I needed to know, saving space for more useful knowledge. I really don't need to know Greek mythology or the meaning behind Beyonce songs. I'm thinking gender studies is another course that has no real useful function. Will there be a demand for those "professionals" ten years from now? I doubt that but we are going to need a plumber, or a carpenter, depending on the state of civilization we are in. Some things never change.

  The one thing we are all trying to learn is, how the world works. We call that philosophy. It's an attempt to explain a thought. But beyond that, convince others that that thought is the correct answer to the question. We all want our answer to be the correct one, no one wants to be wrong. Some will go to the university and colleges to obtain the proof. See, I have a degree so I must be right, I provided the correct answers to obtain this degree. Today we can obtain that degree online, although I'm thinking those won't be viewed in quite the same light. Remember when we used to ask, were did you get your license, Sears and Roebuck? I got my degree with Pheonix on line! 

 Well, okay then. Is that how that works. Yes, it does work that way. It's the big unspoken secret. You have to purchase your credentials to be a member of the club. To become a "professional" you have to pay. For the rest of us an honorary degree is about as good as it gets. The professionals rule the world and the rest of us simply work for a living. That's how it works. " when a man tells you he got rich through hard work: ask him, whose?" (Don Marquis)