Ruminations on mastery and being pushed.

Originally circulated on 27 March 2020

Hi fellow Ruminants & Groupies in Lock Down

I have decided to continue with  Ruminant Pink Friday’s ™ through the lock down.

The topic today is people who have pushed you in your education and development. I don’t mean people who have gently guided you, taught you and advised you. I mean people who have pushed you hard and who believe that mastery is not achieved without extreme dedication and indeed suffering. Learning to think critically and master topics or a sport can and often is  achieved by a teacher, parent, boss or coach who pushes you to the limit and beyond.

Those of us who graduated from Wits Chemical Engineering in the 80’s and 90’s will all remember the late Donald Williams. He did not suffer fools gladly.  His marking methods on reports and exams where you were lazy or had not prepared properly or were not clear in your thinking would have the comment RUBBISH 0 written in capitals in red pen next to your work. If you had submitted a sub-standard report then on the front page of the report there would have been written:

THIS REPORT IS SO POOR I AM NOT GIVING YOU A MARK. IT IS BENEATH YOU AND YOU CAN DO MUCH BETTER. PLEASE COME AND SEE ME SO WE CAN DISCUSS YOU REWRITING THIS AND SUBMITTING A PROPER REPORT.

In this kinder and gentler age these teaching methods would not be tolerated. You need to be careful about offending people.

I provide two references for you to look at during the lock down. The first is the book Open: An Autobiography by Andre Agassi. https://www.amazon.com/Open-Autobiography-Andre-Agassi/dp/0307388409. Agassi was groomed to be a tennis champion by his moody and demanding father who drilled him relentlessly. On the opening page he says “I hate tennis, hate it with a dark and secret passion, and always have”. The second is the movie Whiplash https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/whiplash_2014 about an ambitious young jazz drummer and his abusive teacher. This is a movie worth watching during the lock down and asks uncomfortable questions.

As an old school chemical engineer who was taught thermodynamics properly I have to confess to wanting to proclaim RUBBISH 0 to some of the wacky concepts currently being proposed relating to things like the hydrogen economy, climate change and the use of CO₂ as a feedstock. Of course I can’t do that and so we prepare calculations and beautiful and colourful PowerPoints carefully demonstrating that thermodynamics do indeed apply however I still maintain:

Mastery is often not achieved without suffering and being pushed hard

Please continue to provide inspiration and topic submissions during this challenging time.

Regards

Bruce