General Education

I just read, today, that the great Canadian pianist, Glenn Gould, did not complete high school. This is only the last in a series of stories about various—quite intelligent—historical figures who, for one reason or another, either struggled with, or gave up on, education.  Einstein is said to have struggled with simple mathematics.  Many important artists and musicians gave up school.  Actors have abandoned school, but have in some cases, gone back to school to try and complete their education. 

What are we to make of this?  Education is the imparting of certain skills from a knowledgeable person, to a (usually) younger person.  In modern times, the recipients are usually a group (a class), who are all taught together. 

I worry that this failure of the educational process could encourage young people in their belief that the education process is seriously flawed.  Well, we've all known that the educational process is flawed to some degree.  It does not take into account the great variation in the mental equipment of the members of a class; their different degrees of predisposition to learn; their psychological resistance to being taught; their emotional incompatibility with the instructor.  It's quite easy for a student to reject his or her teacher; "It's just not working out."

In case anyone thinks that all those future celebrities who bailed on school were incapable of completing school, I'd say that many of them had a firm grasp of most subjects in the curriculum; certainly Glenn Gould did, and probably Einstein.

What prevents modern schools from customizing the curriculum yet more than it is now, to match the preferences of the students (and parents) perfectly, is the cost.  In many ways, College accommodates this desire to have a more varied curriculum.