

How to Get a Real Education - ajhai
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052748704101604576247143383496656-lMyQjAxMTAxMDIwMDEyNDAyWj.html

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splat
Previous discussion: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2426459>

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strlen
Some false premises:

That a B student shouldn't learn physics, mathematics and can't be an engineer
(whether software or even electrical or mechanical engineering).

That it isn't worth it for a B student to study the classics.

That entrepreneurship is easier than hard sciences or engineering: from what
I've seen, the skill-sets involved are orthogonal, and such a blanket
statement can't be made.

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pronoiac
Re-reading this after his sockpuppet outing, it reads even more smug, self-
congratulatory & non-ethical.

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nitrogen
The argument for teaching physics (or any subject) to everyone is that with a
basic understanding of the subject, one can make better decisions regarding
things like global warming, standing on a spinning chair with wheels to change
a light bulb, being deathly afraid of nuclear power, etc.

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HockeyBiasDotCo
A bit smug. Is there no use for a renaissance man any more?

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presidentender
I think there's a place for a Renaissance man; I fancy myself a fledgling. But
the Renaissance man of yore was independently wealthy, or engaged in a
profitable enterprise not accessible to the mundanes: the combination of
useful breadth and interesting depth requires resources both temporal and
monetary.

So to focus on a largely dull, specialized and marketable education in one's
youth is no sin. It allows the development of that depth later on.

There is room for abstract math and creative writing and painting and essay
writing, but they should be a side dish to the main course of "Getting Shit
Done."

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hugh3
I've always said that becoming a generalist is a two-step process:

1\. Become a specialist

2\. Become a generalist

Step one is important because it gives you a useful and marketable skill to
support yourself while you're working on step two, but also because it means
you understand what it _really_ means to be an expert on something. This gives
you some humility and perspective when you start attacking all the other
domains of human knowledge.

