ECOLOGY, ECONOMICS, ERGONOMICS AND CULTURE -- COMMENT AND COMMENTARY -- WHAT IS A GERUND?

ECOLOGY, ECONOMICS, ERGONOMICS AND CULTURE – COMMENT AND COMMENTARY – WHAT IS A GERUND?

James R. Fisher, Jr., Ph.D.
© June 9, 2010

* * *

A READER COMMENTS:

Hello Jim,

Having read your latest today, I find Betty and I have a lot in common with her remark regarding reading your writings. I don't have time to read all that you write. Give me the shortened version or something like that. You write more than Betty and I can find the time to read ... and then to think through it all and try to gain the same understanding of what you say that you are attempting to convey. But, we keep trying.

I apologize. Yes, I did get your book, THE TABOO AGAINST BEING YOUR OWN BEST FRIEND (1996), and have made an attempt to read it, but have not succeeded. Thank you for the book.

Keep up the emails.

Ron

* * *

DR. FISHER RESPONDS:

Ron,

I hear you. I know in these hectic times it is difficult to savor the moment with the luxury of reflection, or the time to devour words and ideas much less complete required tasks. My wonder, though, is if we have our priorities in order.

A recent column by New York Times columnist David Brooks caused me to reflect on this. People, he finds, gravitate to where the money is and bypass such studies as English, History and the Humanities for the meaty curriculums in college that put them on track to the big engineering, computer and finance jobs.

He writes, “Once the stars of university life, humanities now play bit roles when prospective students take their college tours. The labs are more glamorous than the libraries.”

But then Brooks zeros in on the problem: “Studying the humanities improves your ability to read and write. No matter what you do in life, you will have a huge advantage if you can read a paragraph and discern its meaning (a rarer talent than you might suppose).”

* * *

When I was in college and a chem.-major, two required courses, MODERN LITERATURE, and GREEKS AND THE BIBLE introduced me to the humanities. Although having four years of math, four years of science, and four years of English in high school, I discovered I was an illiterate when it came to the humanities. Every chance I had to take an elective I took it in the humanities. That included courses in Shakespeare, the American Novel, Understanding Poetry, Greek, and Understanding and Writing Fiction.

Exposure to Joyce, Chekhov, Aristophenes, Euripides, Dostoyevsky, and so on, familiarized me with the language of emotion. It also gave me a taste for the simple declarative sentence. I might add it influenced by organizational development (OD) work much later.

* * *

One such program I set up at Honeywell Avionics (Clearwater, Florida) was Technical Education.

I discovered that more than fifty percent of the thousand engineers were working on technology developed after they left school. All engineers participated in this program with the chairperson designate to run the program changing every year.

It was possible to upgrade the skills of engineers and for technicians to acquire engineering credits in association with the University of South Florida’s School of Engineering. A plus was that technicians could do this without leaving the Honeywell campus.

Fortunately, more than twenty Honeywell engineers had earned Ph.D.’s in their respective disciplines. I wrote a monograph to assist them in teaching titled, TRAINING THE OCCASIONAL INSTRUCTOR (1984). Additionally, I presented a paper at the World Conference of Continuing Engineering Education (May 1986) titled, COMBATING TECHNICAL OBSOLESCENCE: THE GENESIS OF A TECHNICAL EDUCATION PROGRAM (1986).

It was working with engineering chairpersons, however, that I discovered that many could not spell or write a clear and concise memo to their fellow engineers. They scoffed at the suggestion that this was a handicap, or that an enormous power escaped them.

As a consequence, when I was asked to interview prospective engineers, I invariably asked the question: What is a gerund?

I never found an engineer who could answer that question. Many, I must confess, asked what this had to do with engineering. I always wanted to say, “Everything!” But of course I never did.

* * *

In my many books, I have dealt with my frustration that professionals refuse "to take charge," especially engineers when the game belongs to them. I write in A LOOK BACK TO SEE AHEAD (2007):

"The modern world is a product of the engineering mind. Yet while engineers created this world, it does not belong to them. It has been stolen from them."

David Brooks has hit on the reason why. Ideas drive behavior; technology only exploits it and not always to our advantage.

* * *

I have a grandson going into his junior year in high school. He has a great facility for math and science, but finds English, History, Literature, and Geography boring. I suspect one day he will discover, as I did, that science and technology are not very effective in explaining human behavior. Deep down we have passions and emotions that drive behavior, which can launch or cripple us in life. It was the reason I wrote THE TABOO.

Be always well,

Jim

P.S. A gerund is like a participle, but it is actually a verb (in its “ing” form) used as a noun. “Running is fun” displays such usage. This also happens to be a simple declarative sentence. Three such sentences in THE TABOO described the essence of that book: “We are not happy campers. We have lost our moral compass, our moral center. We have lost our way.”