tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2065164884737080821.post2326281350763265667..comments2023-10-17T14:31:52.102-04:00Comments on Est Quod Est: Information Flow and the "Transcendence Deficit"Paulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17506171638613025839noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2065164884737080821.post-44260512320129489622009-06-09T16:58:44.444-04:002009-06-09T16:58:44.444-04:00That was an interesting exchange on the Welborn bl...That was an interesting exchange on the Welborn blog. even more interesting that she deleted it...<br /><br />well, i did well on the SATs without particularly meaning to -- so of course i think they are the sine qua non of intelligence tests. ;). i didn't do as well at college though, because i was dumb enough to take actual substantive courses like japanese and chemistry, instead of political kool aid gut courses like women's studies and sociology. (I wised up by junior year and took some lit crit)<br /><br />while it's nice to do well on the SATs, academic achievement in general rarely translates into success in the real world (at least as the real world exists now). but i'm one of those foolish people who think Antonin Scalia is objectively, demonstrably more brilliant than almost any lawyer in the country, up to and especially including his colleagues on the USSC. and i know a lot of idiots who got great grades at prestigious universities.<br /><br />i'm not really going anywhere with this post, am i. oh well, at least y'all know i did well on the sats.kathleenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09760546833628880462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2065164884737080821.post-78590524044532248112009-06-09T06:24:21.175-04:002009-06-09T06:24:21.175-04:00oops, that would be "transcendence" -- m...oops, that would be "transcendence" -- man, typos make me feel dumb. ;-)Dianehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15528066705030924413noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2065164884737080821.post-4008897103010756872009-06-09T06:22:56.548-04:002009-06-09T06:22:56.548-04:00Wow, what a fantastic post. And for me, so timely....Wow, what a fantastic post. And for me, so timely. Number One son took the SAT this past Saturday. We think he did well -- he's been taking practice tests for eight months and doing well. But, in large part, the SAT is a test of how well one takes tests. It doesn't measure things like my son's quirky creativity, his penchant for making up surprisingly melodic little tunes, his preoccupation with demographics and political statistics.<br /><br />A colleague who's fairly obsessed with her kids' academic achievements expressed surprise when I told her that we were thinking in terms of Belmont Abbey, Christendom, and Steubenville, not an Ivy or Duke or even Chapel Hill. Her only comment: "Well, he'll probably get a good scholarship at one of those places." My thought: "He'll probably get a good *education* at one of those places." Minus the transendence deficit!Dianehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15528066705030924413noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2065164884737080821.post-33959939491779376322009-06-08T12:48:52.779-04:002009-06-08T12:48:52.779-04:00Of course, religion has classically provided the a...<i>Of course, religion has classically provided the answers to transcendent and ultimate questions of life.</i><br /><br />For that matter, universities have classically provided the answers to transcendent and ultimate questions of life via religion and theology.<br /><br />Maybe part of the problem is that universities have long since ceased being universities, and no one has much noticed.<br /><br />"Religious doctrine is knowledge, in as full a sense as Newton's doctrine is knowledge. University Teaching without Theology is simply unphilosophical. Theology has at least as good a right to claim a place there as Astronomy." -- Ven. J. H. Newman, <i>Idea of a University</i>, <a href="http://www.newmanreader.org/works/idea/discourse2.html" rel="nofollow">Discouse 2</a>Tomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14850575419673561383noreply@blogger.com