But I don't even know Swahili!

[redbird]

Someone over on alt.poly is calling various people who have been disagreeing with her and asking her to share the responsibility for writing understandably (rather than demanding that we read her mind instead of her words) "over-educated". I can't possibly be over-educated: I don't understand quantum mechanics, know almost no African history, and don't know Swahili or Chinese or any of the language of Papua New Guinea. I've never read Proust or Milton, and I don't know the infield-fly rule or how to knit a sweater.

How can anyone since Gutenberg be over-educated, when there's so much to know and so little time to learn it all?

Edit: I strongly recommend the discussion in wild_irises' journal that grew out of this: http://www.livejournal.com/users/wild_irises/3407.html?view=19791#t19791

Comments

[aliza250.livejournal.com]

redbird: Don't make the mistake of equating knowledge with education.

[redbird]

I'm not sure what you're getting at here. Yes, education is a process, and it doesn't just produce lists of facts.