Numbers are very important in life, I learnt it the hard way. Most importantly, they get you a good job, (although boring) with loads of money. I bet, you have never heard of an unemployed economist, but there are too many Social Science/ Literature background people unemployed/ working on pittance.(Yours truly, is a case example, actually quite a handicap!)
I am poor with numbers. My family knows it very well how I fumble with maths and passed on the borderline in the subject in my school. I topped in Social Sciences but trailed in subjects that had anything to do with Maths/ numbers. (many subjects actually!)
I took up Sociology, because I thought it was about people/ society, (very far from numbers) but I was wrong even this discipline had some amount of statistics and numbers! In fact, when it was emerging, the earliest thinkers wanted to model it as a science of society- rational and objective. But soon (thankfully), they realized anything which dealt with human beings could never be objective/ rational, subjectivity had to be taken into account. Human behavior is the most unpredictable, there are feelings / experiences/ incidents which can not be studied in a scientific manner. Every cause cannot lead to same effect, and can vary from situation to situation. There can be many reasons for something, many facets to a single situation, each as important as the other, and factors beyond anybody's control. It helps in understanding situations better, without being stubborn, helps in raising questions and encourages debate.
Social Sciences teach tolerance for diversity, understanding for humanity. Probably, a factor why there is less enthusiasm for the discipline in countries known to dislike debate and promote linear thinking. In non- democratic nations, Engineering and Science subjects are taught, but Social Sciences are ignored as they can lead to uncomfortable questions by a thinking mind.
So, thanks to my education, I can understand and sympathize with people and situations better. But, nobody pays me any money for doing so!!
I am poor with numbers. My family knows it very well how I fumble with maths and passed on the borderline in the subject in my school. I topped in Social Sciences but trailed in subjects that had anything to do with Maths/ numbers. (many subjects actually!)
I took up Sociology, because I thought it was about people/ society, (very far from numbers) but I was wrong even this discipline had some amount of statistics and numbers! In fact, when it was emerging, the earliest thinkers wanted to model it as a science of society- rational and objective. But soon (thankfully), they realized anything which dealt with human beings could never be objective/ rational, subjectivity had to be taken into account. Human behavior is the most unpredictable, there are feelings / experiences/ incidents which can not be studied in a scientific manner. Every cause cannot lead to same effect, and can vary from situation to situation. There can be many reasons for something, many facets to a single situation, each as important as the other, and factors beyond anybody's control. It helps in understanding situations better, without being stubborn, helps in raising questions and encourages debate.
Social Sciences teach tolerance for diversity, understanding for humanity. Probably, a factor why there is less enthusiasm for the discipline in countries known to dislike debate and promote linear thinking. In non- democratic nations, Engineering and Science subjects are taught, but Social Sciences are ignored as they can lead to uncomfortable questions by a thinking mind.
So, thanks to my education, I can understand and sympathize with people and situations better. But, nobody pays me any money for doing so!!
No comments:
Post a Comment