Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Studying History

It has been said that those who fail to study history are doomed to repeat it. It has also been said that the "problem" with a classical, liberal arts education is that it doesn't prepare students for modern careers. I give you this quote (lifted from here):



“We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up in teams we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing. And a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress whilst producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralization.”



The author? Gaius Petronius in 66 AD. You decide

2 comments:

Austin Bob said...

George: Mr. Petronius was not available for comment at the time of publication, but I speculate that he was talking about the American tendency to see everything as being about America.

gileskirk said...

Hmmm. Typical Italian!