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From: laura@hoptoad.uucp (Laura Creighton)
Newsgroups: net.singles,net.cse
Subject: Happy People
Message-ID: <582@hoptoad.uucp>
Date: Tue, 4-Mar-86 03:18:46 EST
Article-I.D.: hoptoad.582
Posted: Tue Mar  4 03:18:46 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 7-Mar-86 03:54:01 EST
References: <653@moscom.UUCP> <6470@cca.UUCP>
Reply-To: laura@hoptoad.UUCP (Laura Creighton)
Organization: Nebula Consultants in San Francisco
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Xref: watmath net.singles:10680 net.cse:674

In article <6470@cca.UUCP> g-rh@cca.UUCP (Richard Harter) writes:
>Laura, what you say makes a great deal of sense, but I think you are
>making a fundamental mistake.  The universities have always, from the
>founding of the first universities in the middle ages onward, served
>a dual function.  One function is to serve a temple of wisdom -- a
>place where learning for the sake of learning is encouraged and
>supported.  The other function is to prepare the young for their
>place in society.  Let me expand on the latter thought for a bit.

I think I had better cut in here first.  As far as I know the ``other
function'' got into the game very late.  From everything that I have
read it seems that universities were founded to be centres of wisdom.
The ``places in society'' bit came later.  But I haven't looked into
this per se' --- do you have any references?

>Most people who
>go to college do so in preparation for becoming members of the
>officer class of society.  That is the principal function of the
>universities, from the viewpoint of society as a whole, and the
>reason that they are supported.

I find this curious, for two reasons.  How many people who go to university 
go there with this explicitly in mind?  Are those who do not have this in
mind being ``taken'' by the system in some way?  The other reason is that
it is an old saw that peacetime members of the armed forces make lousy
officers and solidiers when the war comes around.  If what universities
are supposed to do really should be compared to the making of an officer,
then are their efforts doomed?  I, for one, have seen an awful lot of
theses in the social sciences which seem founded on beliefs about the
way the world is which just don't wash.  As serious research into the
questions, I can handle them just fine -- but if they are going to go
out there and lead society right down the tubes, then they begin  to
grate.  

>These are general principles; they apply to CSE as well.  You
>seem to feel that people ought not to take up CS because it
>is a good paying field.  

I believe that this is a slight misrepresentation here.  I would like to
see more people happy.  I can conceive of situations where people might
be happy doing work that they do not like (to pay for many trips to
the opera).  Over  all, though, I think that people should find 
something they enjoy doing and do that -- simply because doing it will
be a source of joy in their lives.

And somewhere along the line, I think universities have been shafted --
perhaps because they now are expected to turn out the officers of
society?  Learning for its own sake is a source of joy as well -- but
I am not all that sanguine that it can coexist with other functions.
Universities may end up serving both of the functions you mention -- and
doing badly at both of them.
-- 
Laura Creighton		
ihnp4!hoptoad!laura  utzoo!hoptoad!laura  sun!hoptoad!laura
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