Wednesday March 26, 2008
Feeling left out
Having just spent three weeks in Edmonton, I have returned home with a new appreciation for the difficulties of adult education.
We arrived in Edmonton in early March. Massive piles of snow flanked every driveway, and fresh snow every morning added to them.
Spring seemed far away indeed.
But then the weather finally warmed up. The piles of snow started melting. Flattened brown lawns began to appear again.
And so did a lot of things that had been covered up by layer upon layer of snow. Half-eaten slices of pizza. Soggy cardboard containers of French fries. Tim Horton\’s coffee cups with the rrrrrrims rrrrrolled up. Plastic water bottles. Drink boxes. Beer cans. Styrofoam doggy-packs of unfinished Chinese dinners.
Our dog thought she had died and gone to heaven. She\’s supposed to be a Chesapeake Bay Retriever, but I see her as a cross between a hyena and a vacuum cleaner. She snarfed up everything remotely edible. And if it was too disgusting for even her taste buds, she rolled in it.
Feeling inadequate
All this debris was less attractive to adult humans. It reminded us of our failings. The cleanups we hadn\’t done. The stuff we had forgotten. The things we hadn\’t even realized were there.
Which is – finally I get to the point! – exactly what happens when most adults venture into education programs.
Some people gobble study programs right into their later years. They love learning almost anything, for its own sake.
But most people take courses only when they discover that they no longer know how to cope. High school typing doesn\’t help them handle the so-called intuitive commands of computers. Amateur mechanics find cars don\’t have carburetors any more. A tattered exercise book no longer qualifies for keeping a community organization\’s financial records.
So people attend a class already feeling inadequate.
Then they quickly discover how much more they have forgotten. Or never learned at all.
In high school, they learned that cause and effect were predictable. Now there\’s something called Heisenberg\’s Uncertainty Principle. Not to mention Chaos Theory. And the decay of radioactive atoms somehow determines whether a cat owned by Mr. Schrödinger will live or die.
So sub-atomic particles called quarks can spin six different ways at the same time until someone observes them? Any two-year-old can do that…
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If you want to order my books, you can call 1-800-663-2775 in Canada, 1-800-328-0200 in the U.S., or order them on-line at the Wood Lake Books website.
For a lighter look at ethics, faith, and life, I recommend Ralph Milton\’s weekly e-newsletter Rumors. You can subscribe to it at the Wood Lake Books home page in Ralph Milton\’s Site, or by sending a note directly to ralphmilton@woodlake.com.
It\’s also worth pursuing Charlene Fairchild\’s United Online site. Another site worth visiting is David Keating\’s \”SeemslikeGod\” page.
This sudden discovery of incompetence particularly afflicts adults who tackle religious studies.
Most adults grew up believing that the gospels were written by Jesus\’ disciples. Now scholars say that none of them were. Matthew and Luke – whoever they were –plagiarized Mark and some German named Quelle. Paul didn\’t write all his letters. The early church had more infighting than a political convention. And a lot of what Jesus said, he probably didn\’t – later believers added what they thought he ought to have said…
Bewildered, these adults ask, “When did all this happen? Why didn\’t anyone tell me before?”
Little wonder that only about ten per cent of churchgoers, and even fewer non-church-goers, ever bother upgrading their religious knowledge.
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Copyright © 2007 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups permitted; all other rights reserved.
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