[lit-ideas] Cameras and British Students
- From: "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Lit-Ideas" <Lit-Ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 4 Dec 2010 06:53:28 -0800
I signed up to receive discussion notes from an Olympus camera discussion
group in hopes of gleaning some photographic wisdom. But I may not
actually join this group; which would give me the right to post notes. Here
is a comment I pulled almost at random:
"Really? Now what, exactly, did I say that justifies you calling me a
dickhead? For having the temerity to point out that dismissing test results
simply because they don't conform with your subjective experience as
'meaningless' is not exactly the most mature thing to do?"
Alas, if all I needed was for someone to call me a dickhead, I could have
debated Omar on Totalitarianism. I'm sure he would have accommodated me.
But on a more positive note, I ran into a strange fellow on a skateboard
outside Stater Bros last night. He had a tiny minpin and a $5,000 camera on
a tripod. Naturally I had to question him. He is a young fellow who
intends to devote his life to photography. He is working his way through
college by taking photos of patrons at nightclubs -- and doing weddings. I
suspect he had his camera sitting out there because he was lonely and wanted
someone to talk to about photography, and sure enough someone stopped to
talk. He had some instructive things to tell me about manual focusing.
Now in regard to the British students, the ones rioting and burning things
like Islamic terrorists because the state intends to raise tuition from
7,000 pounds to 9,000, my second reaction (my first was to be appalled) was
that this might not be an entitlement that Britain ought to put first on the
chopping block. In long terms does Britain need more highly educated people
to run a technological sophisticated set of industries? Or does it need
more poorly educated people to do the menial stuff and perhaps reduce the
need for immigrants who aren't working out all that well anyway?
American students pay even higher tuitions, but we do have an entitlement of
sorts. Young people who have served a hitch in the military are entitled to
receive help with their tuition. We have been doing this a long time. I
wouldn't have been able to afford to go to college without the G.I. Bill. I
might have ended up following in my father's footsteps as Lumber Carrier
Driver. I couldn't have followed in my stepfather's footsteps as a truck
driver because I have a terrible sense of direction.
I don't know how many of our military people are taking advantage of the
educational benefit, but if the number is large we might see an increase in
former military people in all fields requiring higher education, perhaps
even University Professors. And if military people tend to be conservative
(my impression is that former military people are, but I haven't formed that
impression from any evidence) that might have an interesting impact on the
political stance of our Universities. There might come a day twenty or
thirty years from now when Liberals complain about the Universities which
have become "far too conservative." That would be nice. :-)
Lawrence
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