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Apr 09, 2008

Blog for a Cloudy Thursday

Before there were the PhD Comics, there was Aristophanes’ “The Clouds”. Over twenty-four hundred years old, the play is surprisingly timely, capturing in brief the prototypical elements of graduate study that any modern student could identify. I’ll let the comedic master speak for himself (or rather, through a translation by Arrowsmith, Lattimore, and Parker):

——————————————————————————————-

STREPSIADES: …Throw open the Thinkery! Unbolt the door and let me see this wizard Socrates in person. Open up! I’m MAD for education!

The ekkyklema is wheeled about to show the whole interior court of Socrates’ Thinkery. High overhead the crane supports Socrates in his basket busily scanning the heavens. Hanging on the walls of the Thinkery are various charts, maps, instruments, etc. In the center of the courtyard stand a number of utterly pale, emaciated students deeply engaged in a rapt contemplation of the ground.

Great Herakles, what kind of zoo is this?

STUDENT: What’s so strange about it? What do you take them for?

STREPSIADES: Spartan prisoners from Pylos. But why are they all staring at the ground?

STUDENT: They’re engaged in geological research: a survey of the earth’s strata.

STREPSIADES: Of course. Looking for truffles.

To one of the students.

–You there, don’t strain yourself looking. I know where they grow big and beautiful.

Pointing to other students who are bent completely double.

Hey, and look there: what are those fellows doing bent over like that?

STUDENT: Those are graduate students doing research on Hades.

STREPSIADES: On Hades? Then why are their asses scanning the skies?

STUDENT: Taking a minor in Astronomy.

To the students.

–Quick, inside with you. Hurry, before the Master catches you.

STREPSIADES: No, wait. Let them stay a little longer. I want to speak to them on a private matter.

STUDENT: Impossible. The statutes clearly forbid overexposure to fresh air.

——————————————————————————————-

While Socrates did not operate such a formal school, his most famous student, Plato, did – the Academy. Anyway, the moral is: it can’t be said that no one warned us….

One statement from the real Socrates which may cheer you up a bit:

“Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.”

The author has filed this entry under the "Musings on Grad. Life" category.

2 Responses To This Entry:

    Absolutely agree with the master on kindling the flame. Somebody should tell Bush and his “No Child Left Behind” testing scheme. I bet Socrates himself would fail the current multiple choice test.

    Posted by: Sara on April 12th, 2008 at 9:00 am

    good quote!

    Posted by: Laura on May 19th, 2008 at 8:55 pm

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