Friday, April 17, 2020
Be your own beacon, 1900 edition
Several years ago I cited a 1900 book on sanitation and nutrition by Ellen Richards.
The book was right about everything, even though some of the microscopic details weren't known at that time. The FUNCTIONS haven't changed. We've learned in more detail how the enzymes and microbiome WORK on complex food, and we've learned that this WORK is crucial. The perpetual idiot dream of consuming all nutrition in one pill is physically impossible, and the closer we get to the idiot dream, the faster we die.
Pulled out the book again today. This passage is especially relevant.
The natural food-materials are so complex in composition that one may well be led astray by outward appearances, and substances of the same proximate composition present themselves under so many guises that when the markets of our cities offer the food of all the nations of the earth, how shall the buyer know what he is getting? To outward seeming, the potato and the banana have little in common, but their food value is almost identical, with the advantage on the side of the banana. The general public is alarmed over newspaper reports not wholly disinterested, or is "instructed" by paid agents. People become accustomed to certain terms which are held up as scarecrows, and learn to look to the daily press rather than to the agricultural college for knowledge as to new or dangerous foods. The remedy lies in their own hands. Every high-school laboratory should contain a case of samples and charts of values, and it should be considered just as important for good citizenship that the child should have the tools of health put in his hands as that he should learn about banking and interest. His bank account is his health. His interest is his daily efficiency.The general public is alarmed over newspaper reports not wholly disinterested, or is "instructed" by paid agents. Terms held up as scarecrows. Sound familiar? Murderous media, paid bots. The FUNCTIONS haven't changed, only the details. Well, one FUNCTION has changed. Richards mentions a mysterious entity called interest in the same phrase with banking. I looked up this term, and it seems to have been a sort of rent that banks paid in return for holding and using your money. Hard to understand. Probably beyond my comprehension. Richards wanted us to be our own beacons, to learn about real life in school and apply the learning on our own as much as possible. It was the only cure then, and still the only cure.
Labels: Equipoise, Experiential education
¶ 3:56 PM
