While reading Good Old Neon I sat there thinking the whole time, "This sounds strangely familiar." I thought about the sort of "identity crisis" of the narrator and got to thinking about school.
I've always found the systematic binging and purging of information in school to be tiresome and it always pissed me off to see that people on both sides of the tests/grades often don’t really care whether anything was learned or not. The focus is on the student’s retention rates for the test and to hell with the rest. All that matters is a transient measurement of essentially a first reading. The assumption that the higher grade = higher intelligence is also frustrating and I see much daily deception from peers to convince themselves and others of their intelligence. Nothing is taken from their studies save for a few measurements.
I personally feel that if I'm really learning something, I keep talking about it long after I go home. Lately I've been talking to perfect strangers about my subjects so I have a little bit of hope.
This is a rant. I realize this, but it is what reading David Foster Wallace triggered. I’m highly interested in investing in his works now. Thanks Krys! I haven’t reacted violently to a reading in a long time!
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