At university in Crommelin on Mars, Kinna Ronay will study biotechnics because her community needs it and literature and history because she is interested. She is also aware of:
"...the social interplay, another kind of education, another reason to bring students bodily together in the same buildings. They would also be together in the sports halls and parks and taverns..." (p. 92)
Regular Poul Anderson readers remember the Ranger's Roost in Starfall on Hermes.
As I understand it, a university is a "universal" place of education. Thus, part of the education comprises traveling to another place and meeting people who have also traveled from other places. The University of Nova Roma on Aeneas in the Technic History attracts Ythrian students. Earlier in that history, Adzel traveled from Woden to Earth to study planetology, converted to Mahayana Buddhism and contributed to the celebration of two aspects of Terrestrial culture.
20 comments:
Bards/Skalds travelled a lot in the old days too. Note that Norse sagas -- including the very oldest -- are full of people and incidents taking place centuries earlier and very far away.
Eg., the Volsungasaga shares Ermannaric of the Goths and the wars with the Huns in the fourth-fifth centuries and the breaking of the Burgundian kingdom with the Nibelungenlied. These examples indicate that as late as the fifth or sixth centuries, song-tales travelled from one end of the Germanic language sphere to the other, all the way across Europe.
Likewise the "Burnt Finnburg Saga" -- unfortunately preserved only in fragments -- deals with the early adventures, in Europe, of the brothers Hengist and Hrosa, the founders of the kingdom of Kent in what was to become England.
Warriors like Hengist travelled too; he was a retainer of a lord in what's now the northern Netherlands when the events of "Burnt Finnsburg" took place, but he was a Jute originally -- from what's now Denmark.
Skalds moved around, and shared stories and music with their equivalents or stay-at-homes along the way.
Kaor, Paul!
And your comments here reminded me of the increasing anger, even fury, many Americans now have against the left wing dominated public school establishment in the US. Using covid as an excuse for closing schools or imposing draconian and arbitrary "mandates" has been less than popular. And "educating from a distance" via computers ended up with parents finding out exactly what their children were being "taught," such as indoctrination in nonsense like so called "Critical Race Theory." The anger this has been causing has fueled a backlash against "Josip," the Democrats, and the teachers unions dominating them in recent elections in Virginia and New Jersey.
"Educating from a distance," more broadly, is simply not working precisely because of the lack of that kind of personal contact with other students and faculty.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
An infection sounds like a sound reason for closing schools to me. Do the authorities have some other reason, using covid as an "excuse"?
Does Critical Race Theory say anything other than that black people were first enslaved, then later segregated, discriminated against, lynched etc?
US society seems to be very polarized with words like "anger" and "fury" used instead of, e.g., "disagreement."
Paul.
OK. I have googled CRT. It recognizes past oppression and discusses later cultural, legal etc consequences of that oppression. I can see that there is much there to discuss and to agree or disagree with but anger and fury sound like overreactions.
Kaor, Paul!
Not true. CRT is a vicious form of racism, preaching hatred of white people and stirring up racial divisions. And it's not just white people who are protesting this, but also many blacks. So, yes, anger and even fury is justified!
Ad astra! Sean
Kaor, Paul!
It's a near scientific certainty that covid affects children, on average, far less drastically than adults. So, what REAL excuse is there for closing schools for a year or more, esp. if the "teachers" got one of the covid vaccines? After all, most adults recover from covid, unless they have a co-morbidity like heart disease, obesity, or advancing age. Again, I have no sympathy for these corrupt teachers unions and their Democrat puppets.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
But why then do they want to close schools?
I have read just a little about CRT. It seems to be a body of theory, not a preaching of hatred. One statement I read was that CRT scholars believe that race and white supremacy are a social construct that advances the interests of white people as against the interests of other races. I disagree with this belief. White people are not a single group with a set of common interests. Society, both white and black, is divided and weakened by any kind of racism or supremacism. However, I would argue such a point with CRT scholars rather than denouncing them as vicious.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Cowardice and laziness are two convincing reasons why some so called "teachers" want schools closed!
And your disagreement with so called CRT "scholars" is why so many parents are protesting against the nonsense of CRT. For the simple fact, as you stated, that "white" people do not make up a monolithic bloc. And I do say CRT is vicious.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
The trouble is that the CRT people are addressing a real problem, continued racism and discrimination, so it is necessary to engage with them about the best way to address the problem.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Except I am not in the least convinced the CRT people, given their inflamatory views, even want to engage in such efforts. Rather, it's one of the means being used by the hard left in the US to sow chaos and grab at power.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Could you give me a link to some of the inflamatory views?
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Done.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Not arrived yet but I will get it later.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
That seems odd, you should have gotten the link right away.
Ad astra! Sean
Sent by email?
Kaor, Paul!
Yes, I sent a link to you by email, from NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE, as I've done before. Now I'm getting puzzled, apparently you have not gotten that email.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Still not received.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I tried again, using PAULSHACKLEY2017@GMAIL.COM.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Got it. Will read shortly.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Good. I was wondering what was causing the trouble you had getting it.
Ad astra! Sean
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