Thursday, June 13, 1996
Post-Post-Grad
by MF Ham

I have long held the belief that the most important education is that which one acquires after formal schooling -- life experience, with (or even without) some hard knocks.

Keeping abreast of the investment world here in The Motley Fool has done much to reinforce that belief. I regularly browse through a few folders here and am constantly amazed at some of the impressions given. OK, I must admit that the Iomega file in particular is most fascinating, although it cannot begin to be described by just that one adjective.

I never realized before this past year just how fierce the battles between Bulls and Bears can become. Gross exaggerations, half-truths, outright lies, twisted illogical assumptions and more are used by both sides in an attempt to influence the gullible novice investors to buy, sell or hold a particular security. Interspersed among all this stuff is a dwindling number of serious attempts to propagate useful facts and plausible conjecture, based on facts instead of false assumptions. Separating the wheat from the chaff sometimes requires fierce attention to detail as some posters in both camps are quite adept at making fiction look like truth.

And then there are the signs of decay in the formal education sector of these United States:

loose = lose

hugh = huge

there = their or they're and vice versa

congradulate = congratulate

Gardener = Gardner

Gartner = Gardner

This is but a small sample of the poor spellings.

Malapropisms, non-sentences, and other assaults on the English language abound. Given the high percentage of people who now go on to get Bachelor's and Master's degrees, it's no wonder that many colleges and universities find it necessary to teach freshmen classes in remedial English and math. I really wonder how successful these efforts are in this day and age when it's not always necessary to demonstrate a satisfactory level of knowledge in a given subject to pass the course; just having given it a try is enough for a pat on the back and a passing grade.

Another cause for concern is the large number of instances where erroneous information is posted just through inattention to detail and gross carelessness. Sure, we all make occasional slips, typos and the like, but words and numbers do carry meaning and a modicum of care in what one utters is desirable. How would you like to rely on these guys if your life depended on accuracy?

It's all very curious and a bit disheartening if one cares for the future of the nation.

All of this reminds me of a comedian somewhere back in the 1930s. I think it was one known as Baron Munchausen, whose tag line was "Vas you dere Sharlie?"

His more famous question (still unanswered) was: "Vy are zere so many more horsez assez zan zere are horsez?

Transmitted: 6/14/96