"Useless Knowledge"

“Now I sometimes wonder,” he wrote, “whether there would be sufficient opportunity for a full life if the world were emptied of some of the useless things that give it spiritual significance; in other words, whether our conception of what is useful may not have become too narrow to be adequate to the roaming and capricious possibilities of the human spirit.”

This is from an article I just read in the New York Times (which I like to read in the morning before I start my day -- it often has thought provoking ideas that I can mull over for days after I read the article -- like, for instance, an article I read at the beginning of the holidays that said that, since a turn away from learning history in schools, a large percentage of British students were under the impression that Winston Churchill was a fictional character and that Sherlock Holmes was real!).  The quote is from an article ("The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge") by Abraham Flexner, who was an educational reformer.  He makes the point that many things that we originally thought were "useless" did, in fact, turn into ideas that were useful in everyone's way of seeing the world (like the discovery of the double helix or Newton's third law of motion) but beyond all of that, I think it is abundantly true that human beings are curious creatures and to suggest that the pursuit of wonder is frivolous flies in the face of everything I know about how we can be happy.

I would say that I am a relatively happy person (and that's as good as it gets, I think).  Of course, I have faced lots of trouble in my life (as we all do) but my fall back position is that I have a wonderful life and should "count my blessings" (as my mother always taught me).  One thing that has sustained me (and this is thanks to my mother, who I have mentioned here a lot) is that I have quite a bit of enthusiasm for lots of things.  I love to read fiction because it helps me see the world through another person's eyes and gives me insight into how they feel.  I love plays because they do the same thing.  I love to watch the birds at my bird feeder and imagine that somehow I'm part of their world.  I am interested in politics and the environment and I like to do puzzles and argue with people and I think the more things you have in your life that can get you out of your own head, the better.  If your view of happiness involves a lot of acquisitions, I'm afraid you won't be as happy as someone who relishes the world at large.  Because the birds will always be there (I hope -- at the rate we're going perhaps, if we're not careful, we will eliminate the birds), but maybe you won't have enough money to buy that new iphone, or the people you think you want to hang out with won't have time for you, or you might get sick or any of those things.

It seems like we are under the impression that it is better to study "business" than art, that studying business is more practical than art.  I just finished reading a book called Winners Take All by Anand Giridharadas which is about how the rich want to use their wealth to "help" those less fortunate than they, but without any sacrifice to their own acquisitions (so they want to donate to charities that they control rather than pay more taxes).  I know lots of you think of taxes as a terrible thing, but if you understand how taxation is supposed to work, it is a way of spreading the wealth around, by supporting things like public education (which helps people who might not be rich still have opportunities) and public healthcare (which ensures that people don't lose everything just because they get sick) and public transportation and roads and law enforcement (which we all benefit from).  So taxes pay for us to have an orderly society -- who wouldn't want that?  Giridharadas suggests that we have lost sight of the value of government and collective action in our increasingly individual-focused world view.  That's why theatre can be such a shot in the arm.  It explores the human condition and helps us see the world through someone else's eyes and is also a collective endeavour -- you're only as good as the weakest link, so you all have to band together to bring everyone along!  I don't imagine many people think about the value of that kind of study when they're thinking about what we should learn at school.  

I like the idea of school opening doors for people's minds, that studying and wondering and being curious and trying different ways of thinking is of value itself.  I want school to be a place where you can take intellectual and creative risks and be honoured for that.  Maybe one of my resolutions will be to try to make my classroom a place of wonder and curiosity!  (I wonder how you measure that!)