The Scholar, Uneducated man and the mouse

Worldlybusinessman SG

This has been posted before, but i feel this story is intruiging

2 men were put in a giant maze which was riddled with incomprehensible signs and symbols and were told to find the exit.
one was a scholar and the other was an uneducated man

The 2 men were discussing how to get out. When the uneducated man suggested something, the scholar disagreed thinking he is wrong because he was uneducated. The 2 couldnt agree
Each of them took a different path to find the exit from their starting point.

but each time the scholar came to a junction he thought so deeply about the signs and symbols and clues applying his logics, mathematics and academics and was going about in circles

but each time the uneducated man came to a junction he thought so deeply about his family and how he would get back to support them.

Finally only one got out first and it was the uneducated man.
The inventor of the maze was surprised and asked him how.
He said " I do not know how to count or write but
He said : i saw a mouse and followed it and it showed me the exit"
This has been posted before , but the topic expired. I feel this story is fantastic.

THe inventor then said to the man that " the maze was riddled with incomprehensible symbols which do not have a solution .You had the most simple and perfect solution"

The reason why the scholar failed is becos

1)he was so engrossed in his academics that he failed to look at the world and notice the subtle things around him which could guide one in life to a solution

2) his ego of disapproving another man's words thinking he is inferior had blinded him further

he reason why the uneducated man suceeded is becos

1) he was full of love for his family , with attributes which is universal and worldly.

2) his mind was humble and free from thoughts that would clog an academic's mind to blind him further. His void mind was stimulated to look at the world around him to notice the subtle clues

Experiment controls:

The riddles and signs have no meaning

The mouse is a control item

The mouse is a seasoned veteran of the maze or like most animals, it uses its extra sensory capabilies to get in and out of the maze periodically

The experiment is designed to gauge a specific EQ component in both groups

The expereiment is time dependent

Implications:

The maze inventor will not have a maze with symbols making sense and without a mouse with an uneducated man inside as the result is predetermined:

1)The uneducated man may have never got out

2) no guarantee that the scholar can solve all of the riddles and get out even if the riddles have meanings.Even if the scholar gets out, the conclusion of the experiment is also predetermined and no point conducting the experiment

3) if both did not get out, the experiment has no conclusion

4) Research has shown that all of us have extra sensory capabilities in us but we lose them through formal learning and education

5) Animals have extra sensory capabilities not found in humans.

eagle SG

Sometimes, I really dislike such stories. They have the potential to make our society worse off.

Many youngsters nowadays say things like

1) Study so hard for what? See so many businessmen earning big bucks all O level grads only. Books also say so. So fail never mind, next time I'm going to set up own business earn big bucks.

2) Raise up stories like the above, and use it as a reason for them not studying or preparing well for exams.

3) MLM says easy to earn money, no need any degree, study for what?

4) things like financial freedom, and how they can achieve it without having a good education from the education system.

They also use all the reasons above to mock and laugh at their peers who are doing much better academically than them. These are things that are happening in Singapore, and has already happened way before now.

A few of them would go on to succeed in setting up their business, but the majority of them? Now grown up, I know such people regretting not studying harder earlier. Some have problems earning more than $2k take home pay, and after paying bills, are left with very little. Some struggled and attempt to take part time uni degrees so that they will have higher paper qualifications to get a better paying job.

Seriously, it pains me to see some people thinking and feeling like what I have described. Sure, they can be street smart, set up businesses, anything they like. But please, it's still of utmost importance to get a good education.

So, such stories are not meant for everyone. As with water or fire, these stories can make or break people. Working/studying hard, working/studying smart, and spending within your limits while building your retirement nest prudently is the way to go.

Stevenson101 SG

Couple of years ago i believed such stories, as i started to read more (actual books) i start realising the world is a lot more complex than we realise, and it is held together by educated men.

Who set up the power plants and design the grid layout so electricity would reach us quickly at a flick of a switch?

Who would ensure that our sewage do not mix with our drinking water?

Who creates the vaccine and medicine for us? And who decides which one we should take?

Even our food and clothes need to be processed from raw materials(Which takes time to grow and accumulate) and sent to us.

The educated men, who we dismiss as lacking in common sense because they do well academically are the ones ensuring that the uneducated men gets fed, clothed and have access to the comforts we take for granted.

Sure, street smarts and common sense do matter but these traits are still useless without information and knowledge to guide you. Of course, the other side of the argument also applies.

Engineers and scientists are the ones that maintain the infrastructure for a society that the uneducated men can live in which allows for the street smarts to get rich and pretend they're better because they have more money and could become a politician.

Did not the educated inventor built the maze with his knowledge to conduct the test in the first place?

Worldlybusinessman SG

Couple of years ago i believed such stories, as i started to read more (actual books) i start realising the world is a lot more complex than we realise, and it is held together by educated men.

Who set up the power plants and design the grid layout so electricity would reach us quickly at a flick of a switch?

Who would ensure that our sewage do not mix with our drinking water?

Who creates the vaccine and medicine for us? And who decides which one we should take?

Even our food and clothes need to be processed from raw materials(Which takes time to grow and accumulate) and sent to us.

Sure, street smarts and common sense do matter but these traits are still useless without information and knowledge to guide you. Of course, the other side of the argument also applies.

YOUR ARE VERY WRONG. Take for example in prehistoric times, when man was still a ape, he used his instincts so develop tools to hunt and make fire. THESE ANCIENT APES WERE NOT EDUCATED MEN.

ANCIENT MAN SURVIVED WITHOUT EDUCATION AND DEVELOPED AGRICULTURE FOR CIVILISATION TO THRIVE.

Worldlybusinessman SG

iSAAC nEWTON DID NOT USE HIS CALCULATIONS TO FIND GRAVITY, He used an apple.

hiphop2009 SG

It is all about balancing and getting into the real world.

What if the educated man is very street smart? What if the uneducated man is not streetsmart?

hiphop2009 SG

iSAAC nEWTON DID NOT USE HIS CALCULATIONS TO FIND GRAVITY, He used an apple.

so you saying Issac Newton is uneducated? (with reference to the story)

[r]obinho SG

YOUR ARE VERY WRONG. Take for example in prehistoric times, when man was still a ape, he used his instincts so develop tools to hunt and make fire. THESE ANCIENT APES WERE NOT EDUCATED MEN.

ANCIENT MAN SURVIVED WITHOUT EDUCATION AND DEVELOPED AGRICULTURE FOR CIVILISATION TO THRIVE.

I think you are wrong bro. Your comparison of the modern world to ancient man makes no sense?

Education is important, as it almost 100% turns a man useful, in some ways or others.Be it behavior, knowledge, ethics, language, methods of learning to progress further etc.

If you choose not to study, u will have a 10% chance of becoming successful, provided you have a creative+smart mind and a good chrisma to attract people to assist you.

But how many out there have a creative mind + chrisma to make things happen?.......

Herzog_Zwei SG

Couple of years ago i believed such stories, as i started to read more (actual books) i start realising the world is a lot more complex than we realise, and it is held together by educated men.

Who set up the power plants and design the grid layout so electricity would reach us quickly at a flick of a switch?

Who would ensure that our sewage do not mix with our drinking water?

Who creates the vaccine and medicine for us? And who decides which one we should take?

Even our food and clothes need to be processed from raw materials(Which takes time to grow and accumulate) and sent to us.

Sure, street smarts and common sense do matter but these traits are still useless without information and knowledge to guide you. Of course, the other side of the argument also applies.

Did not the educated inventor built the maze with his knowledge to conduct the test in the first place?

Agree with you.

speakup- SG

To WorldlyBusinessman, your story is really thought-provoking but i think the message you are trying to send from it is grossly misintepreted. I believe the inventor of the story meant to remind us that in pursuit of education and better qualifications we should not forget the other things that make us a complete and wise person.

And yes Newton's discovery of gravity is indirectly caused by an apple but do bear in mind that without his intellectual prowess and education, his observation would be dismissed as a mere myth. Science always starts from observation and hypothesizing, but without formal training and theorizing, these observations remain as unexplained phenomena and not recognized as a scientific discovery.

YOUR ARE VERY WRONG. Take for example in prehistoric times, when man was still a ape, he used his instincts so develop tools to hunt and make fire. THESE ANCIENT APES WERE NOT EDUCATED MEN.

ANCIENT MAN SURVIVED WITHOUT EDUCATION AND DEVELOPED AGRICULTURE FOR CIVILISATION TO THRIVE.

The above is true, but taken out of context by you. What you should be picking out of this is that Man is adaptable and pick up things through experience and by learning from their environment, they progress and make civilisation possible. Man today has preserved that spirit of learning and discovery and that is precisely why we educate ourselves. Just because we do not go out into the wild and look at trees and birds and make theories out of them, doesnt mean we are not learning. It is because society today has progressed and that much knowledge of the world has been consolidated into books and academic journals. Instead of going through the arduous task of discovering our environment again, sitting in the classroom and browsing the internet for materials is how Man today is educating himself to continue what his predecessors has done for him. I do not deny that many academically inclined individuals lack EQ or being street-smart but that does not render their academic knowledge useless.

Many of us here have already pointed out that success is not only through the route of being educated as people like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and many other entrepreneurs are not PhD holders or such. But the lessons that should be learnt is that through grit and hard work, anything is possible but it should not imply that education is not important. Look at Mark Zuckerberg. He is a Harvard grad but do you think its his mere education that brought about his success in Facebook? He is a classic example of the educated man with EQ and has achieved success.

Eagle has correctly pointed out that by slanted the tone of your story and many others that have been taken out of context, have misled many youths today of the importance of education. We are not educated for the sake of it. Besides the practical use to our future work, raising your intellectual level contributes to your ability to recognize and appreciate The Arts and improve other aspects of your life such as graciousness and courtesy. All these contribute to our society improving and creating a better place to live in. More fundamentally, education serves as a signal to potential employees our ability as a worker. Although a rather blunt tool, your education level serves as an approximation to your intellectual capacity and your discipline as a student, all are attributes important of a good worker. And worldlybusinessman in your other post about CCA, my points there are precisely why there is a need for CCA, which is to complement this blunt tool to give a better picture of you as a person for employment. EQ is important, but without the correct IQ to carry it out, it is equally impaired as in IQ without EQ.

Chew Bakar SG

The moral of this experiment is not about education or success.

There are only a handful of successful people, be it educated or uneducated.

There are a lot of unhappy people, be it educated or uneducated.

There are a lot of proud people, be it educated or uneducated.

There are a few contented people, be it sucessful or not.

There are a lot of uncontented people, be it sucessful or not.

There are a lot clueless people, be it sucessful or not.

But there is only a handful that ate the humble pie will understand all the above.

Tell me who is successful, the experiment, the scholar, the undeducated or the mouse?

Enjoy!

oldkid SG

iSAAC nEWTON DID NOT USE HIS CALCULATIONS TO FIND GRAVITY, He used an apple.

In both case that you have quoted, first of all, we are living in a modern society, not caveman era. We are not even the agricultural era/society. Please do compare apple with apple.

Speaking of apple, it is not Newton used an apple to find gravity, it is through logic and deduction of an educated and scientific mind. If not, apple farmers will be the first to discover the laws of gravity.

Basically as eagle had mentioned, there is no right or wrong. Such stories do make or break pple. We will have to be fair to those who did not achieve academically for it maybe due to circumstances of unable to study or simply do not like to study. But it does not means they're wrong, merely just a different path in life. If it is 20yrs ago, it is still quite a feasible idea not to study so much and just become an businessman. Nowadays, it is simply too tough in SG to do business or even being an employee. The streets are full of grads, local or foreign.

eagle SG

YOUR ARE VERY WRONG. Take for example in prehistoric times, when man was still a ape, he used his instincts so develop tools to hunt and make fire. THESE ANCIENT APES WERE NOT EDUCATED MEN.

ANCIENT MAN SURVIVED WITHOUT EDUCATION AND DEVELOPED AGRICULTURE FOR CIVILISATION TO THRIVE.

And without education, we wouldn't have progressed from ancient man.

Ancient man used instincts to develop tools and agriculture. They educated their descendants on developing tools and agriculture.

The descendants learned what their predecessors had done or developed, saving lots of time by not making the same mistakes. They progressed from there and develop even more things. Then they educated their descendants on developing tools, agriculture and whatever they have progressed and developed.

This virtuous cycle of education goes on and on until today, where we have so many branches of studies.

eagle SG

iSAAC nEWTON DID NOT USE HIS CALCULATIONS TO FIND GRAVITY, He used an apple.

Wrong

He did not use an apple to find gravity. The apple happened to drop on his head, and as oldkid mentioned, it is through logic and deduction of an educated and scientific mind that he came up with the theory of gravity.

Then with the logic and deduction of his educated and scientific mind, he came up with the equations, and apply it to previous observations like Kepler's Law. And through education of fellow peers and others, he shared his knowledge, where other educated and scientific minds build upon what Newton has come up with.

charlize SG

Moral of the story:

Become the inventor of the maze.

And charge people money to escape from the maze.

Chew Bakar SG

Moral of the story:

Become the inventor of the maze.

And charge people money to escape from the maze.

That's what the tax dept IRA is all about. Get your sum done by 15th Apr, ok!

RETARDED_MORON SG

Has it ever occurred to anyone that those who speak against the importance or relevance of education are often those who are uneducated themselves? If an educated person speaks against education, his views would hold some weight.

Too many people nowadays think that they can do away with education, take short cuts in life and succeed through ways that are basically products of wishful thinking:

"Oh, I'm going to be a professional model/singer/athlete."

"I'm going to find a rich husband and not going to have to work anymore in life."

"Studies are not important; I'll start my own business and be my own CEO and those dumb ass graduates would have to work for me."

"I'll be a stock market expert and invest my way to millions."

I mean, seriously?

If you can't handle books, which are, by the way, one of the easiest things that one can encounter in life, what makes you think that you're equipped to take on bigger things like getting rich? How do people manage to become so stupid?

RETARDED_MORON SG

iSAAC nEWTON DID NOT USE HIS CALCULATIONS TO FIND GRAVITY, He used an apple.

Please provide us with your academic credentials and educational background to help us assess where you're coming from.

eagle SG

Too many people nowadays think that they can do away with education, take short cuts in life and succeed through ways that are basically products of wishful thinking:

"Oh, I'm going to be a professional model/singer/athlete."

"I'm going to find a rich husband and not going to have to work anymore in life."

"Studies are not important; I'll start my own business and be my own CEO and those dumb ass graduates would have to work for me."

"I'll be a stock market expert and invest my way to millions."

I mean, seriously?

That's really the mentality of many students nowadays

If you can't handle books, which are, by the way, one of the easiest things that one can encounter in life, what makes you think that you're equipped to take on bigger things like getting rich?

I like this

charlize SG

Study so hard for what?

In the end, all become pole dancers.