11Jun Dissertation ideas

I think I have a good idea for a dissertation. That isn’t the point of this post.

I was watching this video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81lBL_5xHno and had a thought.

Initially the thought was something like “Books are the original form of distance learning.”

And then I realized that when the press was developed that might not have been the purpose. Perhaps it was. You could read the Bible (and interpret the interpretation, in German I believe, by a Great man – Martin Luther) without the assistance of a member of the Church. If I remember correctly–from the dvds i watched–this was a reason the Church was so against the press.

Anyway. Watch your “p”s and “q”s.

So are books a form of distance learning? Does the average author of a book of learning intend an instructor to be present when the book us used for learning? I think not.

Certainly some books are meant to be used by an instructor in a classroom, but the vast majority of books going back many, many years are meant to be read by a person intellectually capable of grasping the content within. I do not mean to say that I would not have learned more by attending class under Master Luther rather than “reading” the New Testament on my iPod (yes iPod at the time–old school). I would hope that at least Mathew, Mark , Luke and John in their little nutshell would have written their pieces with the intention that a simple person such as myself could understand what they wrote.

To wrap this up. Books are the original form of distance and time spanning learning. No instructor needed. If you think I can only learn by attending a class where you speak to me you are mistaken.