04 December, 2002

On The Relevance Of Minutiae

Ugh -- I hate my theology class. 

I mean, my professor, Father Harmless, is a wonderful teacher. I have learned quite a bit in his class (though not all that I've learned is the same as what he intended as the most important to be taught). And I really don't mind the idea of learning the history of the Christian church; unlike P, I find such histories interesting and relevant to know, even if only for the purpose of arguing with religious zealots for the fun of it. But must we go into such detail? 

I can understand having to know who Martin Luther was and what he did. But why should I have to know his date of death so precisely? Isn't knowing that he lived in the early to mid-sixteenth century enough? Why do I have memorize that he died in 1546 CE? Really, of what relevance is such precision when I have no interest in becoming a religious scholar? 

In chemistry class, my professor glosses over such very interesting details in quantum mechanics for the sake of not drowning the other students in loads of material that they have no use for. After class, he sometimes talks with me and teaches me much that I didn't previously know on the subject, simply because I'm interested, but notice that he does not force the same on his class. Why? Simply because it's not relevant for the other students to know such detail, no matter how fascinating I personally find that attention to detail to be. 

Still, I must say that I respect Father Harmless. He is an excellent teacher in his own right. Plus, his intentions are completely righteous if you take an objective perspective. After all, all teachers teach their classes as though every student were majoring in that particular subject, even when in actuality no students are. That's just how it works in institutions such as colleges. 

... 

I recently received an IM asking me why I don't fix my grammatical/spelling mistakes in my diary entries. She also asked why I don't delete completely retarded notes that are left on my diary.
My answer was simple: I don't believe in changing the text I wrote, even if it was horribly mangled, nor do I believe in eliminating others' opinions, no matter how irrelevant they may be. 

It may be that I do so as a game for others... It is interesting to see when someone notices a mistake such major mistakes as when my subjects and verbs have different tenses, et al. It shows an attention to detail that I do not share -- I've just never been good at noticing everything in my surroundings. ::sigh:: 'Tis one of my many faults. 

... 

Okay, now I'm just stalling. I was studying for my theology final exam -- really, I was -- but now I've gotten onto a tangent and have begun to ramble on, avoiding studying such uninteresting texts as Cyril's Mystagogical Catecheses... 

Oh, well. It's time to get back to my cram session, I guess.

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