Degree Justification
I have helped my fiancee study for school on numerous occasions, and I keep coming across the same theme. It seems that writers of anthropology, human rights, and history articles are desperately trying to justify their expensive degrees with the language they use. As an example, in an article she was reading in preparation for tomorrow's midterm, the following sentence was found:
"Precisely because secular Time was its presupposition, logically speaking, or its signified, in semiotic parlance, the new discourse had (with exceptions to be mentioned later) no need to thematize Time."
Are you kidding me? I like the philosophy that a master of a particular subject can explain complex ideas with simple words and language that even a child could understand. In other words, you are probably not an expert at anything unless you can get somebody with no experience in the subject to understand it very quickly.
I am certainly no wizard of words, no Ernest Hemingway. However, these types of papers are ridiculous. If the purpose of a class or an article is to introduce new ideas to somebody, teach a student a new concept, then it is the most inefficient method I have ever seen. With this type of language, no wonder the cost of education is increasing. An entire class on "big words" is necessary before you even begin to approach the ultimate subject matter.
I am trying to find other reasons for why this is so common. Beyond justifying their degrees...maybe the authors truly do not have a grasp of the subject matter they discuss? Maybe it is not their fault? They simply are passing on the information that they were taught, so the only way they understand it is via the complex language originally presented to them?
This began as a rant, but now I am curious. I would like to explore this further...maybe it is a representation of larger issues?
posted by Wash0088 @ 3:03 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
If we look at older styles of writing compared to the style you see most often today, we can see that there has been a gradual degradation of our vocabulary. You can quickly see this by watching a clip from a live show from the 50's and compare it to a live show today. In today's life proper grammar has been thrown out the window. Hell, I'm sure I have made countless mistakes in this comment.
Now, consider the fact that the knowledge and experience of the experts in psychology, philosophy, and other scientific fields has been passed down from teacher to student over centuries. When these experts began as students, they were reading older styles of writing filled with more "proper" and overall larger words that gave us the ability to be extremely descriptive when teaching a subject. Over time those students became practitioners or researchers and eventually were able to publish their own works. However, in order to be published, their works needed to be approved by their previous teachers or by other masters of the field. This means that those students would be writing in a style and format that would most impress leaders and communities in the field which means the high level writing structure is maintained over the ages. Not only that but I think most importantly the writers are people who spend their entire life thinking and writing about the very subject they are studying. While you and I may study reports, look at data, communicate with clients and look for trends the writers of philosophy must publish their works as their own. This means they must be able to write their papers using precise description so that it can be considered a unique idea or thought. Think of a patent or other legal documents. Much of the grammar is also advanced due to the same 2 reasons that it is advanced in the fields of science.
So my feelings on it are that:
1. The authors have written the books based on both writing habit and the need to impress and compete with others in their field.
2. When a piece is chosen to be published it is compared to other publications which means the cycle of "exclusivity" continues.
3. Because of the "exclusivity" of the grammar it makes it so much more difficult for the larger population to engage and master the subject.
4. A major fault comes back to us for allowing our own common grammar usage to degrade so far. (look at how text messages have pushed this to an all new low).
5. This can be circumvented by keeping in mind that the professors are the ones who select the materials for the class and by looking into a sample of the book that will be used before taking a class you can get a heads up on whether or not it will be a challenge for you to understand the material.
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