Johann,
Surely there are engineers, doctors, and other professionals who are
disgusting human beings.
But there's a difference, at least for me, between the aspiration we
have for 'professionals' and the less-than-perfect instances we see
around us every day.
I don't think we should paint the ideal of 'the profession' with the
same brush we paint its less than perfect instances.
Cheers.
Fil
On 3 June 2011 07:56, Johann van der Merwe <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> To all
> To Fil, I apologise for using your post as a platform ...
> The very significant implications that Fil mentions are, surely, the
> basics of any practical course of know-how, and ANY version of design
> will include this knowledge in its basic course(s), whether this means
> one or two years of learning about "the profession" so that you do not
> design a car or a bridge that will kill people.
> However, teach them as you may, no "professional" training will deter
> former pupils from access to 'professional' platforms that will allow
> them to act against the general good of the population they are supposed
> to serve.
> As a student I had direct knowledge of this shameful process because I
> shared a student house with an aspirant "lawyer" who was, in nature, a
> thief, and he was "taught" this very lucractive trade by his
> "discipline".
>
> SO, sue me for speaking out.
> Too many "design" students are "taught" (indoctrinated) to become
> "professional" designers that have no use for the "consumers" of their
> products, since they themselves cannot distinguish between an informed
> user and a mindless consumer.
>
> "Professionalism" too often coincides with "what the INDUSTRY wants",
> but they are mostly too busy with making money to spare any time to
> finding out what the "real customer" wants/ needs.
>
> Just as the "profession" of family therapy have turned to systemic
> thinking and cybernetics, so too the general (i.e., very wide ranging)
> profession (i.e., 'what exactly are we doing?') of "desing" can find
> what I can only describe as the only 'solid' ground for "launching
> sorties from", the ONLY platform from which to "know" any-thing in the
> environment outside of the "self" ...
>
> All this talk about "professionalism" is counter-poductive ....
>
> What's in a name - what is at stake for my students are their own
> personal reputations ... and they do not like the way that the "world"
> is developing ...
>
> Johann
>
>
> Johann van der Merwe
> HOD: Research, History & Theory of Design
> Faculty of Informatics and Design
> Cape Peninsula University of Technology
> South Africa
--
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Filippo A. Salustri, Ph.D., P.Eng.
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Ryerson University
350 Victoria St, Toronto, ON
M5B 2K3, Canada
Tel: 416/979-5000 ext 7749
Fax: 416/979-5265
Email: [log in to unmask]
http://deseng.ryerson.ca/~fil/
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