Foolishness of the Week IV (Yes, it's back again!)

In a certain (unnamed) magazine, a certain (unnamed) journalist used David Hume's quote concerning the rules for science and sophistry as a punchline against the credibility of religion in general.

Now old Dave Hume was a notable skeptic, and he never really liked the metaphysics of religion a lot, so one of his tirades against it, he wrote:

"If a theory cannot be observed by any of the 5 senses, or be verified by the laws of mathematics, then it is pure sophistry and should be consigned to the flames."

Promptly, however, on further thought, he went on to write something else. Upon reading the note, I called him honest and an intelligent man indeed.

In Your Head, Or On Your Head? - Reflections II

I spent a lot of time drawing in choir lately...when other sections were being grilled, and when it came to my section, I did my best to play a role in causing us to be dismissed from the grilling faster.

But I reflected that in some ways, the fine arts are very similar: The detail works must be intelligently drilled, not drilled in mindlessly. They had to be in the head, not on the head.

By in the head I refer to the fact that concepts at all costs must be memorized and understood fully, and then drilled out. You can't drill and hope people will understand. That is like dumping books on their head, and saying: "do them", and ignoring the question "why?"

Instead, it should be done by letting them understand fully what it is about, and what for it is there, and have them memorize it and record it just in case. Then and only then do you begin to drill them. Then they will have the ideas in their heads, and can get it right.

If they don't understand the concepts, drilling them will just let them know that you want them to do something, they will forget once in a while. Worse, they won't be able to extrapolate it, because they don't understand how it works.

But if they do know how it works, then not only will they be able to be drilled more easily, you will also find it easier to extrapolate the idea.

You can study very hard for a test, but still fail it because you don't understand the concepts and fail to extrapolate the ideas. But if you understand the concepts, it makes your life so much easier!

The Best is Yet to Be - Reflections I

SYF time rolls along again, and as per normal, the onus is on RV to bring the gold, as much as it is laid on every other CCA participating.

But are we just gonna go out there and get some GwH? Or is there something else?

A Gold is nothing really. It's just a reflection of your standard as far as everyone else is concerned. It may, or may not, reflect your standard as far as you are concerned.

The similarity? That it is not easy to get either one done well. The difference? That the first one is secondary, and the second one is primary. It's not only the gold we should be looking for, it is to attempt to realize our fullest potential at the stage we are at.

Some do their best, but only get a Silver. That "best" is their reward, more than the silver ever will be. Some slack off, but still get a Gold. But do they have that intrinsic reward, or the maturity to realize whether they even have it? Perhaps not.

Let us then, be CCAs in RI who can walk off proudly from the stage, satisfied, and still get our GwH for the bragging rights back at school. Now that's the perfect combo.