Educated Guess

Anna Gregoline | September 1, 2004
What are two or three characteristics which you feel a person must possess to be considered "educated?"

Lori Lancaster | September 1, 2004
[hidden by request]

Anna Gregoline | September 1, 2004
* A person who is educated should be open to new ideas, and be able to listen to another viewpoint and consider it. They don't think they are always right, or that other people who have contrary views are silly for having those views.

* A person who is educated should never accept what they see or hear as completely honest or factual just because it's in print or on television or coming from another person. Facts!

* A person who is educated should treat other people with respect.

Erik Bates | September 2, 2004
[hidden by request]

Anna Gregoline | September 2, 2004
I don't know the proper way to eat steak, but one etiquette rule my mom always pushed that I didn't understand was that it was rude to cut up all of your meat at once on a plate. You were supposed to cut bite by bite. This makes no sense to me, and I prefer to have all my meat in pieces, ready to eat.

Anthony Lewis | September 2, 2004


It's kinda scary to see a grown-up cut meat that way.

Anthony Lewis | September 2, 2004
**Nothing brings down the estimate of a person faster than seeing a person stab their meat with their fork and holding it in a position that when cutting it with a knife, it looks like they are trying to start a fire by rubbing two sticks together.**

It's kinda scary to see a grown-up cut meat that way.

Anna Gregoline | September 2, 2004
Cut it my way?

What's < > mean?

Anthony Lewis | September 2, 2004
I screwed up on my posting. I was trying to quote Lori. I'm no good with HTML.

But now I'm over 100 comments because of it!!! Whoopiee!!!

Anna Gregoline | September 2, 2004
I'm still unsure how one is supposed to cut meat if not to hold it with the fork - is it just the utter intensity of that description?

Anthony Lewis | September 2, 2004
Let me see if I can explain it.

The so-called proper way to hold the fork when cutting meat is to hold it between the thumb and middle finger, while pressing down with the index finger for pressure. The way Lori is describing it, the fork is being used in a way someone may use a knife to stab something or someone...with the entire hand palming the fork.

Anna Gregoline | September 2, 2004
Ohhhhh. Ok, I get it.

Lori Lancaster | September 2, 2004
[hidden by request]

Anna Gregoline | September 2, 2004
Love the image!!!!! =)

Lori Lancaster | September 2, 2004
[hidden by request]

Scott Hardie | September 3, 2004
The custom, to my knowledge, is to hold the fork in the left hand as Anthony described while cutting off one small piece of meat, then to switch the fork to the right hand and lift the piece to your mouth and eat it entirely before you switch the fork back to the left hand to continue. I remember reading that this custom started sometime around the American revolution, when soldiers were eating faster than more food could be cooked, so they were trained to follow this procedure to slow themselves down. But that sounds ridiculous, so in the spirit of this discussion, I refuse to believe it just because I read it in a book. :-)

Myself, I cut and lift with the left hand, in intentional defiance of manners. It's just plain more sane to do things efficiently. I prefer to show my level of education by my speech and ideas, not whether I can employ simple table manners that, as Lori already said, a small child can master. I guess it sounds like I'm putting down your ideas; I'm just trying to explain how I see things, and I have probably had numerous dinner partners think less of me for it. :-D

So anyway, what makes me think a person is educated? Obviously, their level of useful knowledge has something to do with it. But it also takes an open-mindedness towards new ideas and new areas of knowledge, though I confess to glossing over once in a while myself when someone starts discussing a subject I know nothing about. I do believe that one can choose a field of study. I'm working my way through a list of classic films, and some of the Begging To Differ guys got into a discussion about finishing a list of classic works of literature. These are essentially finite fields of study that we can master (unlike a hobby such as philosophy or poetry that can never be satisfied), but that doesn't make them less worthy of attention.

Also: The ability to use logical analysis. One doesn't need to know the actual rigid rules of logic, only to employ the principle that the purpose of all thought and all discussion is to get closer to the truth. Those who go around in circles accomplish nothing, and those who cling to their beliefs in the face of contrary evidence accomplish nothing; one must engage in an ongoing process of considering facts, drawing conclusions, and later changing those conclusions to accomodate new facts.