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= F.U.C.K. - Fucked Up College Kids - Born Jan. 24th, 1993 - F.U.C.K. =
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The Mind as a Muscle
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I'm not a Fucked Up College Kid, I am a Fucked Up College Professor
(FUCP). I am amazed, bewildered and outraged at the complete lack of
experience my students, and the populace from which they come, have in
the area of critical thinking.
Here are two sample test questions from a recent exam:
How fast is a memory chip labeled MB-81256-10?
What would you plug into a high-density DB-15 connector on the back of a
PC?
The answers are, respectively, 100 nanoseconds and a VGA monitor. One of
my students answered "motherboard" to the first question and "yes" to
the second. Not only did this student not know the answer to the
question, he did not even attempt to answer the question using correct
english syntax. A "How fast..." query obviously can not be answered
with "motherboard." A "What would..." query is obviously not going to
be satisfied with a "yes" answer.
I was at a friend's house some time ago and his (adult) sister called
him on the telephone to ask him what 1 and 1/3 cups minus 2/3 cups was.
Was this beyond her mental capabilities? No, she is a person of at
least average intelligence. The simple fact is that she is out of
practice in the art of thinking. She is suffering from nothing other
than laziness.
I edit the alt.2600 FAQ on Usenet and frequent that newsgroup regularly.
I constantly answer questions that could be answered by either a minor
dose of common sense or a few moments of experimentation. People
constantly ask for pointers to files they could find themselves in less
than 10 minutes of searching. Freqently, people ask for help using
programs described in the Unix online manual pages. Occasionally, I
will quote man pages directly in response. These people are not
"challenged" in any way, they are simply avoiding the process of
thoughtful research.
Have you ever gone out to dinner with someone who is unable to determine
how much to tip the waitperson? Is determining 15% of the bill an
incredible feat of mathematics? No, it is simply that many (if not
most) people are too lazy to force themselves to think the problem
through. Drop the rightmost digit of the bill (convert 46.42 to 4.64)and
add half of that number to itself (add 2.32 and 4.64). Your sum, and
your tip, is 6.96. Round up to $7.00 and continue on with your life.
All of these instances reflect one fact: The mind is a muscle. If you
use it regularly, it will be strong and healthy. If you let it atrophy,
it will shrivel up into uselessness. Even the dumbest of college athletes
realizes that if he does not work out and excercise his body, it will
not perform for him when he needs it to. And yet we restrict our minds
to a life of idleness, separated from the mental exercise which would
make them strong.
Next time you find yourself sitting back on your couch, watching Beavis
& Butthead and eating Twinkies(tm), consider getting your lazy ass up
and finding some constructive excercise for your body and your mind.
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