Heinlein says I'm not a competent human?

[cellio]

I got this from filkerdave:

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. --Robert Heinlein

Let's see:

Change a diaper: I possess the theoretical knowledge. It would have to be really, really important before you'd get proof, though.

Plan an invasion: Sure, though I don't know how good the plan would be. But all that gaming experience has to be good for something, right? :-)

Butcher a hog: Nope, and not looking to change that.

Conn a ship: Nope.

Design a building: At what level of detail? I've helped specify one but didn't draw up the engineering diagrams, nor would I have had the right clues for materials requirements.

Write a sonnet: Not without a rules refresher. Maybe not even then. Now music, on the other hand...

Balance accounts: Yup.

Build a wall: For a suitably basic wall, yeah.

Set a bone: No one's ever asked me to and my first-aid card has expired, so I'll call that a "no".

Comfort the dying: I think so, though I'm pretty uncomfortable with it. (Aren't we all?) Ask again after the first session of the para-rabbinic program in a few weeks.

Take orders: Absolutely, but I have to believe the order-giver is in a position to do so.

Give orders: Yup, when necessary. The hardest part is establishing authority.

Cooperate: I like to think so.

Act alone: Frequently and I've been praised for the results, so yes.

Solve equations: Sure. I was doing that long before I was "supposed" to be. Mind, my knowledge of higher math (differential equations etc) is weak, but you didn't specify the domain. I grok algebra, basic calculus, and just plain logic.

Analyze a new problem: Don't we all? But yeah, I think I'm better than average at this.

Pitch manure: Um, I gather this involves more than applying first vertical and then lateral and then vertical motion to a shovel? Then I guess not. :-)

Program a computer: Yup.

Cook a tasty meal: Past guests have said so.

Fight efficiently: Probably. Martial arts and the real thing are pretty different, so I can't say for sure. And note that he said "efficiently", not necessarily "well". :-)

Die gallantly: If I say "no", does that get me off the hook for proving it? :-)

Comments

Re: MIT

[siderea]

I am a musician who MIT and found the music classes excellent.

That does not mean I appreciated being required to take them, or being required to go through the whole HASS-D "pick one from column A or B" hokey pokey. That does not mean I did not resent the academic and schedule burden, not to mention the high-handedness of presuming to dictate that I must "broaden" myself.

I don't think I'm the only one to make this distinction.

And the fact that I, or anyone else, enjoyed a class does not (1) justify its being required -- presumably degree requirements should have educational bases and (2) does not mean anyone else would enjoy the class. Presumably there are people at MIT who enjoy studying French; does that mean all MIT undergrads should be required to take French to graduate?

Re: MIT

[gregbo.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised by your response. I checked the HASS pages, and the requirements for distribution and concentration aren't much different from when I was a student (class of 1984). There's a lottery now, which I imagine must give some students grief, especially if they waited until their senior year to fulfill requirements. There also seems to be a class size limit, but I suppose this is to prevent some subjects from being overenrolled. Except for 9.00 (intro to psychology), my humanities classes were generally small. I concentrated in creative writing, and there were usually no more than ten people in my classes.

What do you think are appropriate humanities requirements?