I really need to get out and get more exercise. I’ve been sitting in this chair all semester and my rear is starting to flatten out a bit. If I go get some exercise and start a regular program, which I really do need to do!!! … the benefits of it will last a good long while even if I stop! But still.. if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it!
That’s pretty conventional wisdom, right? Seems spot on!
I also need to practice my piano more. I’ve been working at it for 5 years and am in Suzuki Book III. I’m teaching myself alongside my daughter’s lessons and see it as sort of a last chance to master piano before I croak, being that I’m…. you know… pushing down the hill now at 45 and all. Ugh. I know that if I don’t practice every day that I won’t EVER get good, and I know that it’s going to take me 5 more years to get proficient. But piano is cool! It’s like riding a bike – if you lose it you won’t completely lose it!
That’s pretty accepted common knowledge too, mmm?
Well what about this?
“I know that I really HATE math and I do not like school in general. I’m in the 11th grade and am a baseball superstar. I know I’m going to get out of high school and go pro – I already have a scholarship to play baseball for UT! Why do I need to sit here and study old dead writers, poets who never made a dime, and learn all this USELESS trig s&*^*&$?”
Answer: Because you have…. you know… a brain? And if you don’t use it, you won’t have a good one. And it’s growing right now, and now is the time to make it a good brain! You’ll never get another one, after all. You’ll also never get another chance to grow it like you have right now. And what you do with it during these last years will largely determine how good it is… *** FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE ***.
(Though aptitude is slightly plastic all through life, recent studies are revealing)
That needs to be common knowledge too. It, in my view, is the most important reason why we need to be studying lots of different “traditional” subjects.
Tags: education