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When I think 'welding' I'm thinking of high-tech welding systems, aluminum TIG welding, or the laser-welding assembly-line shop I worked in before going to coll

When I think 'welding' I'm thinking of high-tech welding systems, aluminum TIG welding, or the laser-welding assembly-line shop I worked in before going to college. The people running such shops are skilled professionals, certainly, even if they didn't hold graduate degrees in materials science or applied physics. Maybe your view of welding is that it's comparable to digging ditches? And one doesn't have to go into hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt to attend some exclusive college to be smart, motivated and curious.

jcgrillo 2y ago
Maybe I misunderstood, I was responding to your characterization of welding as a "vocational school subject" whose future practitioners wouldn't want to waste their time learning anything that isn't the direct application of various welding processes to their first job in the field. In fact, though, folks who are the best at actually doing the welding are those who are most interested in developing their craft as welders--whatever that takes be it attaining theoretical knowledge, experimenting with obsolete or rarely used processes (e.g forge welding), etc. Analogously, computerers who are best at computering aren't the ones who just want to learn enough jquery to get that computer gig. So what's the point of education? Is it to illuminate the path to excellence for those who choose to follow it, or is it to try to land someone a job and no other thing?
- photochemsyn 2y ago
  Ideally, people with the intellectual capability to get into MIT wouldn't have to go into massive debt that would drastically curtail their future choices in life, which is what higher education has sadly meant for many people: > "To attend Massachusetts Institute of Technology for four years, the cost, based on 2022-23 numbers, would be $319,400, including tuition and fees, books, and room and board."
  - jcgrillo 2y ago
    Yeah, that's completely messed up. And probably completely unnecessary, given the income from their endowment. OTOH, someone who can get into MIT can probably also get into a university in a civilized country that doesn't view education as a profit center.

jcgrillo 2y ago

Maybe I misunderstood, I was responding to your characterization of welding as a "vocational school subject" whose future practitioners wouldn't want to waste their time learning anything that isn't the direct application of various welding processes to their first job in the field. In fact, though, folks who are the best at actually doing the welding are those who are most interested in developing their craft as welders--whatever that takes be it attaining theoretical knowledge, experimenting with obsolete or rarely used processes (e.g forge welding), etc. Analogously, computerers who are best at computering aren't the ones who just want to learn enough jquery to get that computer gig. So what's the point of education? Is it to illuminate the path to excellence for those who choose to follow it, or is it to try to land someone a job and no other thing?

photochemsyn 2y ago
Ideally, people with the intellectual capability to get into MIT wouldn't have to go into massive debt that would drastically curtail their future choices in life, which is what higher education has sadly meant for many people: > "To attend Massachusetts Institute of Technology for four years, the cost, based on 2022-23 numbers, would be $319,400, including tuition and fees, books, and room and board."
- jcgrillo 2y ago
  Yeah, that's completely messed up. And probably completely unnecessary, given the income from their endowment. OTOH, someone who can get into MIT can probably also get into a university in a civilized country that doesn't view education as a profit center.