Dr. Brands, I wholeheartedly concur with you on telling stories. I teach grades 7-12 as well as adjunct and although different populations, they all say that they love the stories I tell in all my American history classes. A lot of that inspiration comes from your work so I thank you for that.
An essay timely for you and other educators, given the recent beginning of this academic year; untimely, or at least inconvenient for me, given I am scheduled to have my annual physical. I will explain.
When I go in for my physical, I will be handed a form to complete to evaluate my present mental health. I am given this form, because some “protocol” says that they should do it and the clinic can charge an insurer or Medicare $35.00, for which the clinic may only be “reimbursed” $3.50, because some other computer says that is all they should be paid for a “claim” presented electronically to that computer over some digital network.
There may be 10 or so “yes/no” questions, answered by checking a box so that, without human eyes, it can be machine-read, and without medical minds evaluating the answer, by a computer program that will then use it to write a “medical record” making up some medically sounding text in response to an affirmative answer to comply with a “diagnostic” coding manual, now also electronically interacting with the clinic’s computer system, that then goes into my permanent medical file, digitally stored who knows where, for who knows how long, and accessible by who knows whom.
The last question is always a version of “have you considered suicide recently?”
Now that I have read your essay tonight and not wanting to answer untruthfully, because that questionnaire might be considered a “government record” since payment for administering it may be reimbursed through some governmental agency, thereby giving some overly zealous prosecutor an excuse for a criminal prosecution, under some broad and ambiguous law, or, in the case of a federal agency, perhaps a regulation that Congress had no hand in crafting, if the answer is not truthful, I will leave the answer blank.
If the doctor had asked the question of me directly, I would have answered “yes, but not my own. You see, last night I was reading Prof. Brand’s splendid essay on ‘Information, knowledge, wisdom.’ It started off with a photograph of French painter Jacques-Louis David’s 1787 painting ‘La Mort de Socrates’, which in turn spurred my neurons to recall the trial of Socrates of which I had read in Plato’s Socratic dialogues including ‘the Socratic Apology.’ There Socrates was tried by an overly zealous prosecutor for ‘moral corruption of Athenian youth’ and ‘impiety’ through his teachings at his academy. Convicted by an Athenian jury of 501 men, the prosecutor recommended the death penalty, which he was given. Although encouraged by his friends, followers and students to flee Athens, ever faithful to his teaching of civic obedience to the law, Socrates executed his own death sentence by drinking hemlock, as he was condemned to do at his trial.”
Well, that explanation would have never ended up in my medical records (perhaps because it is too long for a doctor to write down), and I would perhaps also be spared of a criminal accusation that I had lied on what might be considered a government record.
[Before a reader might consider me under some sort of paranoia for its telling, I offer this story as only a feeble attempt to come up with a weak example of information, knowledge and wisdom.]
Thanks for taking the time to talk about your continuing efforts as you refect on teaching the young people today. Although it seems efforts to reward teaching is now more prominent than years ago, so often higher education did not give near the attention and prepare instructors to improve their teaching styles they should have.
Converting information into knowledge also involves providing context, which you do. Don't disregard that aspect.
A good example of this lack of context is presented frequently online in political discussions when some Republican says "It was the Democrats that protected slavery and were KKK" and uses that argument in a modern situation where it has no actual relevance. Missing is the context of the Union occupation of the south under Republican administrations (until 1876) and the migration of politicians across political lines in the wake of the Civil Rights legislation.
Dr. Brands, I wholeheartedly concur with you on telling stories. I teach grades 7-12 as well as adjunct and although different populations, they all say that they love the stories I tell in all my American history classes. A lot of that inspiration comes from your work so I thank you for that.
An essay timely for you and other educators, given the recent beginning of this academic year; untimely, or at least inconvenient for me, given I am scheduled to have my annual physical. I will explain.
When I go in for my physical, I will be handed a form to complete to evaluate my present mental health. I am given this form, because some “protocol” says that they should do it and the clinic can charge an insurer or Medicare $35.00, for which the clinic may only be “reimbursed” $3.50, because some other computer says that is all they should be paid for a “claim” presented electronically to that computer over some digital network.
There may be 10 or so “yes/no” questions, answered by checking a box so that, without human eyes, it can be machine-read, and without medical minds evaluating the answer, by a computer program that will then use it to write a “medical record” making up some medically sounding text in response to an affirmative answer to comply with a “diagnostic” coding manual, now also electronically interacting with the clinic’s computer system, that then goes into my permanent medical file, digitally stored who knows where, for who knows how long, and accessible by who knows whom.
The last question is always a version of “have you considered suicide recently?”
Now that I have read your essay tonight and not wanting to answer untruthfully, because that questionnaire might be considered a “government record” since payment for administering it may be reimbursed through some governmental agency, thereby giving some overly zealous prosecutor an excuse for a criminal prosecution, under some broad and ambiguous law, or, in the case of a federal agency, perhaps a regulation that Congress had no hand in crafting, if the answer is not truthful, I will leave the answer blank.
If the doctor had asked the question of me directly, I would have answered “yes, but not my own. You see, last night I was reading Prof. Brand’s splendid essay on ‘Information, knowledge, wisdom.’ It started off with a photograph of French painter Jacques-Louis David’s 1787 painting ‘La Mort de Socrates’, which in turn spurred my neurons to recall the trial of Socrates of which I had read in Plato’s Socratic dialogues including ‘the Socratic Apology.’ There Socrates was tried by an overly zealous prosecutor for ‘moral corruption of Athenian youth’ and ‘impiety’ through his teachings at his academy. Convicted by an Athenian jury of 501 men, the prosecutor recommended the death penalty, which he was given. Although encouraged by his friends, followers and students to flee Athens, ever faithful to his teaching of civic obedience to the law, Socrates executed his own death sentence by drinking hemlock, as he was condemned to do at his trial.”
Well, that explanation would have never ended up in my medical records (perhaps because it is too long for a doctor to write down), and I would perhaps also be spared of a criminal accusation that I had lied on what might be considered a government record.
[Before a reader might consider me under some sort of paranoia for its telling, I offer this story as only a feeble attempt to come up with a weak example of information, knowledge and wisdom.]
Thanks for taking the time to talk about your continuing efforts as you refect on teaching the young people today. Although it seems efforts to reward teaching is now more prominent than years ago, so often higher education did not give near the attention and prepare instructors to improve their teaching styles they should have.
Looking forward to new book on America First.
Converting information into knowledge also involves providing context, which you do. Don't disregard that aspect.
A good example of this lack of context is presented frequently online in political discussions when some Republican says "It was the Democrats that protected slavery and were KKK" and uses that argument in a modern situation where it has no actual relevance. Missing is the context of the Union occupation of the south under Republican administrations (until 1876) and the migration of politicians across political lines in the wake of the Civil Rights legislation.
Thanks for adding context!