08-05-2009, 05:36 PM
Hi,
Yes, many more might aspire to those ranks. But they don't count -- they end up being the shoe salesmen and cab drivers, or some other useful profession. It's not as if banning sports, movies, and rock and roll would cause the people that would have tried for those fields to become scientists and engineers. There is the question of aptitude, of interest. The fields you demonize are not drawing the intelligent people away from more useful careers.
Again, the problem is much more complex. It has to do with familiarity -- people don't desire what they don't know. It has to do with respect -- kids don't want to become 'eggheads' (I had a male nurse tell me that part of the reason there are so few male nurses is that not many guys want to be in a profession whose name also means 'breast feeding'). It has to do with our scientists, most of whom have cut themselves off from the general population. It has to do with our teachers, most of whom have next to no background in math and science.
And, of course, it has to do with the fact that a brand new MBA can make a lot more than a PhD engineer with twenty years.
--Pete
Quote:Or am I being too negative here?Not so much negative as overly focused. While it is true that a small number of people get paid huge amounts for doing trivial (in the sense of useful, not of difficult) things, the overall effect on the nation is nearly nothing. There are, maybe, a few thousand actors and actresses, a few hundred big name rock stars, and maybe a hundred thousand professional athletes world wide. And those are generous estimates. In a world population of six billion, they are insignificant.
Yes, many more might aspire to those ranks. But they don't count -- they end up being the shoe salesmen and cab drivers, or some other useful profession. It's not as if banning sports, movies, and rock and roll would cause the people that would have tried for those fields to become scientists and engineers. There is the question of aptitude, of interest. The fields you demonize are not drawing the intelligent people away from more useful careers.
Again, the problem is much more complex. It has to do with familiarity -- people don't desire what they don't know. It has to do with respect -- kids don't want to become 'eggheads' (I had a male nurse tell me that part of the reason there are so few male nurses is that not many guys want to be in a profession whose name also means 'breast feeding'). It has to do with our scientists, most of whom have cut themselves off from the general population. It has to do with our teachers, most of whom have next to no background in math and science.
And, of course, it has to do with the fact that a brand new MBA can make a lot more than a PhD engineer with twenty years.
--Pete
How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?