Educational Mercenaries and Socrates

"If we're seniors, why should we learn anything if we're not taking the final exam?" asks JB in class today.  All teachers get this question  (or versions of it: "Will this be on the test?"; "Should I write this down?"; "Why do we need to know this?"; "When will I ever use this?").  Since seniors leave early, we don't give them a final in science.

Feeling feisty today, I launch right into my "You're just an educational mercenary" speech.

Learning is not the goal of an educational mercenary - their theory of education is "High school grades get me into college" then "college gets me a good job"  then "A good job earns me good money" and finally "Money lets me buy things and services that can make me happy".  Just in it for the money.  A mercenary.

I went into my "true searching for understanding leads to a richer, more satisfying life - the other path just has you going through the motions and trappings of life".  As a friend put it recently:  occasionally, rats trapped in a maze may find a piece of cheese and experience happiness, but it's so much better to simply get out of the maze!

I had a good rhythm going and felt pretty full of myself (imagine that!) and some of the other students were nodding and enjoying my tirade.  Then, when I was done, JB and his friends looked up and said "Wait - you didn't answer his question - why do we have to learn it if there's no final exam for us?"

I was so happy with myself at this point, I didn't even get depressed.

"The Unexamined Life is not worth living" - Socrates

(pics from clog.dailycal.org (graduation)and www.poligazette.com (mercenaries))