Lord Muck oGentry
28th April 2006, 11:58 PM
I found this heartliftingly grumpy rant by Howard Jacobson in The Independent of 22/4/06:
http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_a_l/howard_jacobson/article359389.ece
You have to pay a pound for the full rant, but it's well worth it.
As Jacobson is not a man to ignore, I kept my eyes open for what he was ranting about. And up it popped, in the education section of the Guardian:
http://education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/story/0,,1760096,00.html
Wellington College is to introduce a course in Positive Psychology, based on the work of the Harvard psychologist Tal Ben Shahar. You might think that what he has to offer is pop psychology or selfhelp talk. However, he suggests that his teaching is based on research about people who " make lemonade out of lemons".
So off I go to find out what research he has published. Can't find any, but I find this:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5295168
It seems that he has spurned tenure, and with it the need to publish original research, in favour of happiness. And teaching ( teaching makes him happy).
What I am left with is the feeling that he is taking money for advice that I got free from my granny: eat sensibly, take exercise and spend some time counting your blessings.
However, it is quite possible that I am doing the man an injustice, and if anyone would like to tell me so, and tell me why....
http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_a_l/howard_jacobson/article359389.ece
You have to pay a pound for the full rant, but it's well worth it.
As Jacobson is not a man to ignore, I kept my eyes open for what he was ranting about. And up it popped, in the education section of the Guardian:
http://education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/story/0,,1760096,00.html
Wellington College is to introduce a course in Positive Psychology, based on the work of the Harvard psychologist Tal Ben Shahar. You might think that what he has to offer is pop psychology or selfhelp talk. However, he suggests that his teaching is based on research about people who " make lemonade out of lemons".
So off I go to find out what research he has published. Can't find any, but I find this:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5295168
It seems that he has spurned tenure, and with it the need to publish original research, in favour of happiness. And teaching ( teaching makes him happy).
What I am left with is the feeling that he is taking money for advice that I got free from my granny: eat sensibly, take exercise and spend some time counting your blessings.
However, it is quite possible that I am doing the man an injustice, and if anyone would like to tell me so, and tell me why....