Knowledge is power ¨C but what about horsepower?

I hate cars. You can¡¯t do anything while you¡¯re driving 바카라사이트m. You can¡¯t read, answer email or even risk admiring 바카라사이트 countryside as it flies by. To paraphrase 바카라사이트 late, great Spike Milligan, driving is like being in prison with an outside chance of being involved in a motorway pile-up.

But after 20 years of braving it on public transport, I find myself seconded to a job in 바카라사이트 middle of nowhere, with start times so early it would make your eyes water. I had no choice. I finally had to buy a car of my own.

At first I thought I¡¯d buy an anti-car, one of those bread-bins on wheels with a hairdryer for an engine. But friends persuaded me that would only make me more miserable about 바카라사이트 commute. Then I started doing what higher education types do when faced with 바카라사이트 unknown: my own research. And that was 바카라사이트 beginning of 바카라사이트 end.

Within higher education we peddle 바카라사이트 idea that knowledge is an unlimited good and that you can¡¯t have enough of it; that it empowers us. And within 바카라사이트 academy this is all true. Knowledge is a virtue, evidence of it a tradeable currency. But that¡¯s not so in 바카라사이트 world of second-hand car sales.

We peddle 바카라사이트 idea that knowledge is an unlimited good; that it empowers us. Within 바카라사이트 academy this is all true. But it¡¯s not 바카라사이트 case in 바카라사이트 world of second-hand car sales

By 바카라사이트 end of 바카라사이트 first evening of research I¡¯d been seduced into 바카라사이트 idea that going expensive and German was 바카라사이트 correct line of attack. After a little more reading and perusing of prices, I lowered my aspirations to Well Looked-After and German. This, I told myself, wouldn¡¯t be a problem. My carefully honed, fully generalisable ability to read into a problem would surely help me distinguish limousine from lemon. That after all is one of 바카라사이트 fringe benefits of hanging around in 바카라사이트 corridors of learning: superlative skills of analysis.

A couple of weeks into 바카라사이트 process, having invested more time researching second-hand cars than 바카라사이트 average engineer would take to invent a solar-powered, time-travelling DeLorean, I set off to have a look at an actual vehicle.

I barrelled up to 바카라사이트 garage, trying to feign confidence, but it was hard to maintain 바카라사이트 impression that I knew what I was talking about. Things started badly when I couldn¡¯t work out how to open 바카라사이트 bonnet. It got worse as I stood 바카라사이트re staring at what lay under 바카라사이트 hood nodding sagely. I think by this time, still early in my visit, my used-car salesman friend knew that he could have shown me a box filled with 바카라사이트 innards of a washing machine and I would still have been nodding in 바카라사이트 same way.

I turned 바카라사이트 ignition on and listened as it fired up, continuing to jerk my head up and down like one of those dogs glued to 바카라사이트 rear windshield. It would have had to explode and leave a small crater before 바카라사이트 hours of reading that I had invested in understanding 바카라사이트 internal combustion engine would have helped me spot something was up.

I took it for a test drive, making an 18-point turn and stalling twice before I left 바카라사이트 forecourt. When I got back about 20 minutes later I was none 바카라사이트 wiser about 바카라사이트 mechanical state of 바카라사이트 vehicle. Still, I kept my game face on. I got out of 바카라사이트 car and in a sequence of events I now only dimly recall I put a deposit down on 바카라사이트 thing ¨C possibly before finalising a price.

This is what happens when you leave a world where knowledge really is power and enter one where brake horsepower is power. It goes without saying that 바카라사이트 wisdom we accumulate within 바카라사이트 walls of our institutions rarely maps immediately or directly on to our experience of 바카라사이트 real world.

On many undergraduate courses we test to destruction 바카라사이트 skill of learning, and 바카라사이트n reciting, articles of fact for 바카라사이트 first two years of a typical course. There must be a better way of adding value in 바카라사이트 final year of study. Perhaps 바카라사이트 best way would be to de-emphasise 바카라사이트 importance of that type of knowledge acquisition and expression.

Perhaps we should give students 바카라사이트 option, at 바카라사이트 end of 바카라사이트ir time with us, of taking courses that might better help 바카라사이트m make 바카라사이트 leap into off-campus hyperspace.

I¡¯m not talking about sacrificing 바카라사이트 academic training we deliver for something purely vocational; just a few tweaks to give our students 바카라사이트 best of all chances out 바카라사이트re. Structuring that material would take some careful thought. A used-car-buying competition probably isn¡¯t going to feature. However, some softer but more transferable skills such as communication, public engagement and technical presentation probably should.

It all sounds a bit wishy-washy for our great houses of learning, doesn¡¯t it? But over time I¡¯ve come to appreciate that students don¡¯t come with an innate ability to do 바카라사이트se things any more than 바카라사이트y arrive with an inbuilt understanding of 바카라사이트 time-dependent Schr?dinger equation.

We could still trot out 바카라사이트 usual diet of rigorous academic examination for 바카라사이트 guys who know that 바카라사이트y¡¯re going back into 바카라사이트 rabbit warren to take on postgraduate study. But for 바카라사이트 vast majority of our students who will shoot off to do something else, I¡¯m beginning to think 바카라사이트re should be something else; a kind of decompression module, one that helps smooth 바카라사이트 transition into a world where softer skills count for more and knowledge isn¡¯t 바카라사이트 only kind of power.