Intellectual Indolence

“Intellectual indolence.”

That’s my rant for the day.

When was the last time you had a conversation with your donkey?  You don’t have a donkey?  And if you did you wouldn’t be caught in the barn having a chat with him?

No? 

Did you have any messages on your inbox this morning?  Did that infernal voice when you logged onto your computer say “You’ve got messages”?  Was one of them a misspelled announcement that you just won the India lottery and all you have to do is send them all your banking information?  You didn’t give it to them did you?

There’s an ancient story of an actual account of a dude and a donkey having a debate.  It’s funny.  What’s especially hilarious is that the donkey wins!  When the donkey complains about being beaten, the rider complains right back.  Whereupon the donkey raises a valid objection and the guy, who’s supposed to be more intelligent, pauses for a moment and say’s ‘you’ve got a point there.’ 

Score. 

You know what’s even more frustrating than the embarrassment of losing a verbal argument with a donkey?  It’s trying to debate anything of substance with most anybody at all!  For example, how much time over an entire week do you think people give to matters of political importance?  Seven minutes.  Yep.  That’s it.  And so for those of us who believe that such mundane things like research, and reflection, and remonstrating with our readers actually matters, well it doesn’t.  And so we’re supposed to dumb-it-down for the sake of the intellectually indolent.

Now, I’m going to get off my soapbox and turn the microphone over to our guest speakers Sydney and Mortimer, especially in light of the wonderful development and honor that . has been certified as an International Baccalaureate World School, a recognition of its academic emphasis.

“You have to drill through mud and water to get oil, you have to sift through sand and silt to get gold, and you have to chop and hack through stone to get diamonds – so why do so many people feel that the treasure of ideas should come to them with little or no effort?  We recognize that in the physical world you get nothing for nothing, no labor, no fruits; no sawing, no wood pile.  Yet in the world of ideas, we expect it all to be laid out on a platter, cut up, pre-chewed, and even pre-digested if that were possible.

“The common notion, particularly in our country, that education ought to be painless, does not apply to any other area.  The athlete sweats and strains, exercises and conditions himself, to obtain mastery over his chosen field; the auto mechanic goes back to technical school to acquaint himself with the new electronic gadgetry.  Whatever else educating ourselves may be, it cannot be easy.  It cannot be painless.  It cannot be spoon-fed.  But it can be a delight, as any difficult challenge can be if we look upon it as an adventure.  Why is education the only activity we are willing to spend so much on, and resigned to getting so little in return?  No farmer would be stupid enough to make such a bad bargain.”[i] 

“If you expect high standards and hold to them, children will do better.  If you let off on them, they’ll do worse.  ‘Too much emphasis is placed on getting the marginal student through school as painlessly as possible.’  There is some question whether most parents want their children educated so much as they want them ‘turned out’.  How many parents of today share the educational experience with their children?  How many enforce homework discipline?  How many visit the schools regularly, talk to the teachers, and know more about how their children do in class than what the report tells them?”[ii]

[i] “Learning Cannot Come Easy”, article by Sydney Harris, Field Newspaper Syndicate, December 31, 1980

[ii] “Schools, parents must get tougher”, Tacoma News Tribune editorial, October 8, 1982;  quoting Mortimer Adler, Ed. Philosopher