Officially it has been little over a year since I finished High School. Like most people in this planet, I had some of the most incredible and amazingly fun experiences I have ever had there. I met many people, went to many places, heard all kinds of music and forged friendships that (according to every grown-up I knew at the time) will last for all eternity.
What I realized a few minutes ago was something I first noticed not long after the last year began, our school system used an area instead of a course-picking system, which is: students are to choose from one of four areas and take each and every course in the one they choose. In the end we had future engineers, doctors, people-people (interaction) and artists. As a student aiming for a SOEN degree I picked the former, and fun times I had. The first months, however, I noticed the way everyone changed their way of thinking: To make it simple, each area looked down on the others with pity and disgust. I guess everyone forgot we all need each other sooner or later.
High School came to an end, each area divided itself even more (remember, there is a universe of programs out there), and things could only get… worse. A SOEN student, I got along with Computer Science (related) people but since I am completely against all kinds of discrimination, I refused to make fun of people who didn’t get my jokes or the structure of my ideas. Unfortunately for me, most people who DID know something I did not had oceans of fun trying to make me look dumb (but I DO know how to use Google) and word came from others that the same had been done to them, or by them (which isn’t funny).
It wasn’t until a while ago that a mean comment, and a completely annoying person (never IM me again, Mr. SOMEAWE) that I noticed this had reached a whole new level of mean. I guess people forget how things work in a society sometimes.
To move a city, how many doctors do you need? How many traffic controllers? Which spent more money on his education? Does it matter?
Now, I am absolutely sure I would not like a traffic controller performing surgery on me… but that is beyond obvious (unless said person is secretly an M.D. and a Ph.D.). The point is, there is no need to demean another profession just because you think yours is better because if that were the case, I would certainly love to see you perform well at both (at the same time, for you smart people).
So next time you use hyper-specialized terms with people you know will know nothing about, remember you don’t know it all.
And you, who might read said word/phrase/whatever, show them how wikipedia is probably at a higher educational (and most certainly semantical) level.
