Academics

You know, the one who scores As all the time, who manages to just memorise everything there is in the textbook including indexes and glossaries, knows what "A+B x (AB+CD-DE) / ACD+ABE(CDB) = ABCD" is supposed to mean, who cries just because he gets more than 5 points in the 'O' Levels exams or because he gets 1 B in his otherwise all As 'A' level exams or because he gets GPA 4.9 instead of 5.

An academic is logical, is smart, can memorise stuff, knows how to solve the longest equations in the world, knows all the formulas there are to understanding speed, chemical reactions and how to make a new planet from dust.

I am not an academic. I get crappy grades, I can't solve any form of equations and I do not know a single formula. But I think. I love to think. I love to think about why I do the things I do. I love to think about possibilities, about things that just simply cannot be placed under the umbrella of logic but still exists. Because logic isn't all there is to this world. Logic will simply burn itself out.

You put an academic scholar to do road planning, which of course they will do because they all get government scholarships and is therefore the best people to decide for us mortals.

From point A to B, build a road.

"He will tell you to build a straight road."

"But why build a straight road? Why can't we build a road that goes around a park or a forest or some scenery?"

"Because the straight road is the fastest way from point A to B."

"But why must it be the fastest way?"

"To save time of course, dumbass."

"But who said we needed to save time?"

"Because that's the only logical thing to do!"

"Why are we building a road anyway?"

"Because we are told to do so! What an idiot!"

Yes, I am idiot because I question too much. That's why I can't do Maths. Because I simply cannot figure out how it works. Because I simply cannot take it that people dish out a formula to me and I just have to accept it that things work this way.

"A + B = C"

"But why? Who said A + B must = C?"

"There is no why. A + B = C because A + B = C."

It may be ironic how I am writing this in a university. But I did not come to the university to be educated. I come to the university to experience education.

Its easy to think outside the box. But things don't just come in one box. They come in multiple boxes. You get out of one and you will find that you are in another.

We have to keep questioning. Why are things the way they are? Could it have been any different? Is there anything we can do about it?

But of course, I am against mindless opposition. You cannot just doubt. You cannot just be cynical for the sake of being cynical. You have to know why you are questioning, have a cause, a purpose. I might contradict myself, but you have to have a reason. And then you do something about it.

Don't get me wrong though. I am just doing a generalization of academics to put my point across. I know I am generalizing if I just say academics are all just mindless robots who download information into their brains and then upload them into paper. There are of course those who engage in critical thinking as well.

What I want to say is simply the fact that we need to be careful so that we do not lose the edge in our minds. We have to keep sharpening it, using it, putting it to its limits, and not end up substituting the metal sword of thought with the wooden sword of spoon-fed knowledge.