Fixing Holes in Your Education
Chad Orzel confesses his ignorance of art and music. He then turns the tables and lambastes his fellow liberal arts professors for routinely excusing their ignorance of math and science.
Intellectuals and academics are just assumed to have some background knowledge of the arts, and not knowing those things can count against you. Ignorance of math and science is no obstacle, though. I have seen tenured professors of the humanities say – in public faculty discussions, no less – “I’m just no good at math,” without a trace of shame. There is absolutely no expectation that Intellectuals know even basic math.
The liberal arts, those subjects formerly deemed essential to the education of free men, include both music and math. Orzel justifiably points out that people need basic math skills. That some otherwise intelligent people lack mathematical aptitude doesn’t make math irrelevant. His fundamental complaint is that his deficiency, artistic ignorance, is frowned upon while theirs is tolerated. So he suggests heaping opprobrium on them until they squirm:
Sadly, I don’t know what other solution there is. It simply should not be acceptable for people who are ignorant of math and science to consider themselves Intellectuals. Somehow, we need to move away from where we are and toward a place where confusing
For Orzel, there just isn’t enough intellectual stigma to go around. He suffers ridicule at parties, so it’s only fair that others suffer, too. Such are the solutions that life in academia fosters!
Perhaps those of us who live outside the Envy-Covered Halls can come up with a better solution for Prof. Orzel. First on the list would be this:
Stop whining about the ignorance of others and fix your own problem. Go to concerts and museums; read a book about music; take an online course in art history; listen to Professor Carol’s podcasts.
Then, when Prof. Orzel says “I don’t even like classical music,” we can at least give him credit for knowing what it is he doesn’t like. And then when he calls us ignorant for not knowing enough math, he’ll have a point.
