It's in chapter 2 of the Unsettling of America. There's a whole passage, too much to replicate here, but here's a snippet: “...The beneficiary of this regime of specialists ought to be the happiest of mortals—or so we are expected to believe. All of his vital concerns are in the hands of certified experts. He is a certified expert himself and as such he earns more money in a year than all his great-grandparents put together. Between stints at his job he has nothing to do but mow his lawn with a sit-down lawn mower, or watch other certified experts on television. At suppertime he may eat a tray of ready-prepared food, which he and his wife (also a certified expert) procure at the cost only of money, transportation, and the pushing of a button. For a few minutes between supper and sleep he may catch a glimpse of his children, who since breakfast have been in the care of education experts, basketball or marching-band experts, or perhaps legal experts...”
Thank you for sharing! I had to refrain from adding another of my favorite quotes about specialization, this one from the Dune series:
"Above all else, the mentat must be a generalist, not a specialist. It is wise to have decisions of great moment monitored by generalists. Experts and specialists lead you quickly into chaos. The mentat-generalist, on the other hand, should bring to decision-making a healthy common sense. He must not cut himself off from the broad sweep of what is happening in his universe. He must remain capable of saying: 'There's no real mystery about this at the moment. This is what we want now. It may prove wrong later, but we'll correct that when we come to it.' The mentat-generalist must understand that anything which we can identify as our universe is merely a part of larger phenomena. But the expert looks backward; he looks into the narrow standards of his own specialty. The generalist looks outward; he looks for living principles, knowing full well that such principles change, that they develop. It is to the characteristics of change itself that the mentat-generalist must look. There can be no permanent catalogue of such change, no handbook or manual. You must look at it with as few preconceptions as possible, asking yourself: 'Now what is this thing doing?'"
I wish the college had leaned into how rigorous and demanding a Hampshire education was. More than anything, Hampshire College was about pushing yourself to your absolute academic limits, and seeing what you could achieve.
I was always a little perversely proud of our super high attrition rate. Of course a lot of people leave Hampshire — it is *not* for everyone. The school treated it as a concern to be address. But I wish they had used it as a flex: some schools have weed out classes; we have weed out years.
Sometimes, at the Standard Schools, it is a weed-out major. At Case Institute of Technology, about 120 of us were Physics majors at the start of Sophomore year. 60 of them were left as Juniors. And about 30 was what remained of the Senior class. I graduated 19th of 20 Physics majors but the combination of science and philosophy that a rigorous Physics curriculum stood me in good stead.
While I like the idea of "generalists", I also think the word is not... dynamic enough. This conversation got me thinking about Buckminster Fuller — I believe discovering his ideas in high school pointed me towards applying for Hampshire.
On being a "verb" instead of a noun:
"I live on Earth at present, and I don’t know what I am. I know that I am not a category. I am not a thing — a noun. I seem to be a verb, an evolutionary process – an integral function of the universe.”
On being a "comprehensive comprehender":
"One of humanity’s prime drives is to understand and be understood. All other living creatures are designed for highly specialized tasks. Man seems unique as the comprehensive comprehender and co-ordinator of local universe affairs.”
While I do think Deep Springs has a better model (you just can't measure up to the students hiring faculty, running the school, and so forth), I am relatively impressed by Hampshire and interested in it. I am going to college next year, and would have been interested in a place like Hampshire, as I was generally interested in non-standard models. I'm almost certain I wouldn't have gone, even had it been stable, but I would have been interested.
That's great to hear! I might start collecting pledges and expressions of interest from students who would consider Hampshire if it remains open, which could be convincing to funders. If Hampshire adopted some of the Deep Springs model, would you give it stronger consideration? If so, what parts?
Yeah, I'd be happy to sign anything of that sort. I don't think Hampshire *can* adopt any of the DS model--- you need to have very selective and very time-consuming admissions (DS was 1% acceptance rate last year, and requires a week-long visit where every applicant who makes it to that round (there are multiple rounds) works on the college doing the same labor as the students) to be able to trust the students to, say, pass the budget or similar, or to be trusted to kick out students, hire faculty... and these students will not attend unless the school is well known and reputable, and these well-known and reputable schools need time and money to do become so... I think that some of the best elements could be worked in with time + effort, but it isn't something you can jump at--- some schools have attempted to adopt some of the elements of the model by starting new schools in the same vein, but it hasn't worked that well. Also, DS is free for everyone, which is very important to ethos and feel of the place, but not financially sustainable without more money / student than any other school in the country.
I think that some elements of how it is taught and the expectations put on students could be carried over to some degree, but they would need to be adjusted-- DS is a brutal, full-time sort of place, where students typically work like 70 to 100 hours every week on work + governance + academics. You really do not have time for extracurriculars as a consuming thing, and this also doesn't work at most schools.
I don't think I could have ended up at Hampshire as it is now, even with more stability, for two reasons: a), I am an immature child, and would struggle to crush the need for academic validation that taking an offer at a top school would give me (I am going to Duke this year, mostly because it was my cheapest options, but also because it fit this requirement...), and b) my social groups are sort of lopsidedly present at top schools, and would be worried about finding a group of people I enjoy as much as I could at other places.
I don't think these problems are necessarily widespread, though. I think the model is attractive to a lot of people, if they know about it and hear about it represented well, and I think you have a good chance if you can get funding. Good luck :)
Well, a) is pretty common. Also, ignore spelling mistakes if you will-- typed very quickly as I was walking between rooms with my laptop carried by my other hand, lol
I wonder if instead of "generalists" it could be: "become a capable person, no matter what life throws your way".
The Heinlein quote is a favorite of mine. Wendell Berry also has a great one, let me see if I can find it...
It's in chapter 2 of the Unsettling of America. There's a whole passage, too much to replicate here, but here's a snippet: “...The beneficiary of this regime of specialists ought to be the happiest of mortals—or so we are expected to believe. All of his vital concerns are in the hands of certified experts. He is a certified expert himself and as such he earns more money in a year than all his great-grandparents put together. Between stints at his job he has nothing to do but mow his lawn with a sit-down lawn mower, or watch other certified experts on television. At suppertime he may eat a tray of ready-prepared food, which he and his wife (also a certified expert) procure at the cost only of money, transportation, and the pushing of a button. For a few minutes between supper and sleep he may catch a glimpse of his children, who since breakfast have been in the care of education experts, basketball or marching-band experts, or perhaps legal experts...”
Thank you for sharing! I had to refrain from adding another of my favorite quotes about specialization, this one from the Dune series:
"Above all else, the mentat must be a generalist, not a specialist. It is wise to have decisions of great moment monitored by generalists. Experts and specialists lead you quickly into chaos. The mentat-generalist, on the other hand, should bring to decision-making a healthy common sense. He must not cut himself off from the broad sweep of what is happening in his universe. He must remain capable of saying: 'There's no real mystery about this at the moment. This is what we want now. It may prove wrong later, but we'll correct that when we come to it.' The mentat-generalist must understand that anything which we can identify as our universe is merely a part of larger phenomena. But the expert looks backward; he looks into the narrow standards of his own specialty. The generalist looks outward; he looks for living principles, knowing full well that such principles change, that they develop. It is to the characteristics of change itself that the mentat-generalist must look. There can be no permanent catalogue of such change, no handbook or manual. You must look at it with as few preconceptions as possible, asking yourself: 'Now what is this thing doing?'"
In Taoism, this attitude is referred to as "The uncarved block"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pu_(Taoism)
I wish the college had leaned into how rigorous and demanding a Hampshire education was. More than anything, Hampshire College was about pushing yourself to your absolute academic limits, and seeing what you could achieve.
I was always a little perversely proud of our super high attrition rate. Of course a lot of people leave Hampshire — it is *not* for everyone. The school treated it as a concern to be address. But I wish they had used it as a flex: some schools have weed out classes; we have weed out years.
Sometimes, at the Standard Schools, it is a weed-out major. At Case Institute of Technology, about 120 of us were Physics majors at the start of Sophomore year. 60 of them were left as Juniors. And about 30 was what remained of the Senior class. I graduated 19th of 20 Physics majors but the combination of science and philosophy that a rigorous Physics curriculum stood me in good stead.
While I like the idea of "generalists", I also think the word is not... dynamic enough. This conversation got me thinking about Buckminster Fuller — I believe discovering his ideas in high school pointed me towards applying for Hampshire.
On being a "verb" instead of a noun:
"I live on Earth at present, and I don’t know what I am. I know that I am not a category. I am not a thing — a noun. I seem to be a verb, an evolutionary process – an integral function of the universe.”
On being a "comprehensive comprehender":
"One of humanity’s prime drives is to understand and be understood. All other living creatures are designed for highly specialized tasks. Man seems unique as the comprehensive comprehender and co-ordinator of local universe affairs.”
While I do think Deep Springs has a better model (you just can't measure up to the students hiring faculty, running the school, and so forth), I am relatively impressed by Hampshire and interested in it. I am going to college next year, and would have been interested in a place like Hampshire, as I was generally interested in non-standard models. I'm almost certain I wouldn't have gone, even had it been stable, but I would have been interested.
That's great to hear! I might start collecting pledges and expressions of interest from students who would consider Hampshire if it remains open, which could be convincing to funders. If Hampshire adopted some of the Deep Springs model, would you give it stronger consideration? If so, what parts?
Yeah, I'd be happy to sign anything of that sort. I don't think Hampshire *can* adopt any of the DS model--- you need to have very selective and very time-consuming admissions (DS was 1% acceptance rate last year, and requires a week-long visit where every applicant who makes it to that round (there are multiple rounds) works on the college doing the same labor as the students) to be able to trust the students to, say, pass the budget or similar, or to be trusted to kick out students, hire faculty... and these students will not attend unless the school is well known and reputable, and these well-known and reputable schools need time and money to do become so... I think that some of the best elements could be worked in with time + effort, but it isn't something you can jump at--- some schools have attempted to adopt some of the elements of the model by starting new schools in the same vein, but it hasn't worked that well. Also, DS is free for everyone, which is very important to ethos and feel of the place, but not financially sustainable without more money / student than any other school in the country.
I think that some elements of how it is taught and the expectations put on students could be carried over to some degree, but they would need to be adjusted-- DS is a brutal, full-time sort of place, where students typically work like 70 to 100 hours every week on work + governance + academics. You really do not have time for extracurriculars as a consuming thing, and this also doesn't work at most schools.
I don't think I could have ended up at Hampshire as it is now, even with more stability, for two reasons: a), I am an immature child, and would struggle to crush the need for academic validation that taking an offer at a top school would give me (I am going to Duke this year, mostly because it was my cheapest options, but also because it fit this requirement...), and b) my social groups are sort of lopsidedly present at top schools, and would be worried about finding a group of people I enjoy as much as I could at other places.
I don't think these problems are necessarily widespread, though. I think the model is attractive to a lot of people, if they know about it and hear about it represented well, and I think you have a good chance if you can get funding. Good luck :)
Well, a) is pretty common. Also, ignore spelling mistakes if you will-- typed very quickly as I was walking between rooms with my laptop carried by my other hand, lol
(DS waitlisted me--- 23 schools applied to, 22 Acceptances... DS, you are my heart and you are also evil weevils)
"The problem you care about doesn’t care whether it’s philosophy or neuroscience, and neither should you."
My quote of the day. Thanks.
https://www.thoughtlab.com/blog/the-creativity-of-constraint-why-limits-spark-inno/
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/bob-black-the-abolition-of-work