Too much or too little culture?

[princealbertofb]

Try finding out if they know anything about Eisenhower.

They might know a little more about Eisenhower, since it was the 70th anniversary of D-Day only a few days ago, and it was on the news. American history is closer to home, I guess.

[Wolfpack]

And there you go. I have no idea what WOW or GOT are... Can you enlighten me?

World of Warcraft and Game of thrones, I think are what she means prince

[princealbertofb]

I do know who was Mao Tze Tung, but unluckily I think is very normal don't know him (or someone else).

This society is anti-cultural. Even Universities are preparing very-specialized people, but who doesn't know anything outside their own environment.
I do not believe in contemporary School-University system, I had problem to deal with that cause honestly I found very ignorant teachers. And with ignorant teachers which kind of students you could have???
I do have some friends who are "super - professional - master - degree- engineer" but who are also ignorant.

I don't have a strong memory, but I always been a curious person, I'm always learning new things, cause I think knowledge and culture are fundamental. For everything.
I'm into Art since I was a kid, I've studied Art etc, and in this period I'm reading for my personal interest some books about the wrong perception of the Art, the wrong use of the Art did by contemporary governments, and I think this is the same problem with culture in general.
Actually I think Art is one of the main important basis of the Culture-Knowledge in general cause one of It's main purposes is to open the mind of the people to stimulate curiosity at every level.

Sometimes I envy people like my grandma who did only the primary school, but I'm sure she's wiser than more or less all of my Uni teacher together. And about knowledge, mine is far vaster than hers. But she's really able to use everything she knows. Not like a renowed but vain engineer, sometimes not like me. :-(
Wisdom was the fruit of Culture and Knowledge, when the Uni, Sciences and Philosophy were created hundreds and thousands of years ago.

I read books to be able to answer a single question, so I'm not happy when someone replies to me with a random-television-completely ignorant answer.
I know I can do nothing, cause the system is wrong. About many things I talk less, with less people.

Sorry for the rant but Culture is something I really care about... And I always fighting, on my own, for that.

Wow! That's some condemnation, Sillyboy, lol. I don't think I belong to that category of teachers, but it might be because I too was always curious. It doesn't mean that I know everything. Far from it, but a good coating of cultural veneer, that I have. And if I don't know, I bloody well look it up. (I sometimes even have to check things I know, or think I know, lol).
OK, Sillyboy, what shall we talk about next?

[princealbertofb]

World of Warcraft and Game of thrones, I think are what she means prince

Of course, well, in that case I think I know what we're talking about... Haven't really dealt with World of Warcraft, but, unsurprisingly, I don't think it's my 'thing'. Have got Game Of Thrones, however. Not completely at a loss, then?...

[Wolfpack]

Of course, well, in that case I think I know what we're talking about... Haven't really dealt with World of Warcraft, but, unsurprisingly, I don't think it's my 'thing'. Have got Game Of Thrones, however. Not completely at a loss, then?...

Nope some hope left for you yet , hehe :p

[East]

Trust an antiques person to be thinking of (the) furniture, lol.

LOL...yeah...I was admiring meninlove's Chinese Chair photos above.....

Though I never gave it any thought prior to this thread...I DO think it is odd that they aren't familiar with him as his role in relatively recent history is significant. I wonder why that is?

[NayNay]

I honestly have no idea what your talking about, and you know what, that's ok? I consider myself cultured an interested in the world. The fact is that there is so much history and knowledge to be known that one cannot possibly imagine to know everything about the history of the earth let alone the history of it's people.

I know this is a bad example, but my favorite artist (Melanie C) aka sporty spice, has had a marginally successful solo career and continues to make music. Should I expect everyone to know her music and what she has done for a segment of the GLBT community ? no. because it's not of everyone's interest.

We all know different knowledge base on our likes and dislikes. It's not to say it's a good or a bad thing. There should be no nee to judge others. If anything, take this as an opportunity to spread your knowledge to others, and thus that is how our society can grow as a culture that becomes more aware.

My 2 cents.

[princealbertofb]

Chairman Mao - never heard this word too. And I don't consider myself stupid.

I think that it's just that every person has their own circle of interest, especially teens. I would probably be shocked if someone didn't know famous music legends like Kurt Cobain, the Beatles or Bob Marley.

As well you might be, Edward... However, I'd like to point out that Mao Zedong was the leader of Communist China for a while and was one of the most important leaders on the planet since China is such a vast and populous country.
I'd say he, along with Stalin, Lenin, Kennedy, Queen Elizabeth, Gandhi, should be as famous as the musicians you are mentioning here.

[princealbertofb]

I honestly have no idea what you're talking about, and you know what, that's ok? I consider myself cultured and interested in the world. The fact is that there is so much history and knowledge to be known that one cannot possibly imagine to know everything about the history of the earth let alone the history of it's people.

I know this is a bad example, but my favorite artist (Melanie C) aka Sporty Spice, has had a marginally successful solo career and continues to make music. Should I expect everyone to know her music and what she has done for a segment of the GLBT community ? No. because it's not of everyone's interest.

We all know different knowledge based on our likes and dislikes. It's not to say it's a good or a bad thing. There should be no need to judge others. If anything, take this as an opportunity to spread your knowledge to others, and thus that is how our society can grow as a culture that becomes more aware.

My 2 cents.

I think it's probably more a question of what common culture can be expected to be shared by one given group of individuals.

No, I don't expect my students to know who Steven Harper is (is it Stephen?) but they are probably not taught anything about Canadian culture very much, unless we do it in English class. It's not part of the syllabus, whereas the great revolutions and political systems will have been studied in history and geography.

I guess they might know who Melanie C is (I do) if they are not too young to have even heard of the Spice Girls. But it's not comparable. For some, she's yesterday's news. I'm pretty sure they know who the Beatles, Bob Marley and Kurt Cobain are, because they have some interests in music, and to be honest, their pictures are still pretty much flaunted everywhere. Mao Zedong (Tse Tung), I'll admit, has been less in favour lately, like many communist leaders.

Nevertheless, we are talking about really important political leaders here, like Gandhi, like Che Guevara (they know who he is) like Fidel Castro (who, being still alive, still rings a bell), like Stalin, Lenin, like Hitler, like Kennedy who was never even president for very long. I would expect a French student to have at least heard of Mao, the way they will have heard of Victor Hugo or Napoleon. I'm not ranting, just really really surprised. I guess I'm just getting old... er. :biggrin:

As an addition, it's not a personal culture we are talking about here -- that is for everyone to cultivate their own according to their sensitivities and tastes, as you said earlier, thanks NayNay -- it's a mass of knowledge that we expect our kids to learn in school because it's on the syllabus. What we would call "un socle de culture générale", a bedrock, a platform of common culture, the same culture that we'd have expected anyone of us coming out of school to have had and studied. Melanie C doesn't come into the picture. Mozart, Beethoven, maybe, if you're studying music.

Even though Marilyn Monroe was contemporary with Mao, they'll know (of) her, but will not have seen any of her films, and yet they are acquainted with her image and what she embodied... So that's what we're talking about. Is mass marketing to blame?

[princealbertofb]

Nope some hope left for you yet , hehe :p

Phew!

*wipes sweat off brow*

You had me worried.