Give a man a fish, or teach him to fish?

If we give a man a fish, he'll be fed for a day.

If we teach him to fish, he can feed himself all he wants.

Here's the problem: Education isn't free.

So, you're the man. You've been given a fish. Your belly is satisfied with devouring Charlie Tuna though you'll glow from the mercury ingestion. How do you pay for the courses on how to obtain the bait?

"...when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security..."

http://www.archives.gov/national_archives_experience/charters/declaration_transcript.html

1) Will the man recognize the fish as something to eat if you give it to him? WITS IS fish appropriate for the man's culture?

2) Is the man going to starve to death before the beginning of the new semester?

2b) Will there be enough students to "make" the class?

3) Will his education include how to make tartar sauce out of pickle relish and mayo?

4) Fish are able to feel pain, learn, etc. thus having aspects of life associated with some sentient beings, why teach a guy the immorality of eating them?

5) What makes you think that if you teach him how to spear fish you haven't put him on a path to spear-warfare and ultimately the making of missles he might use against us?

then, what does anything else matter really?

:silly:

when he eats fish!

it says that "...the love of money is the root of all evils."

-- 1 Timothy 6:10

Is there public land where he can fish? Are there licensing requirements, or will he be able to fish his meal into extinction?
Finally, what about all the other people making a living by catching and selling fish. "If you sell a man a fish, you can make a living. Teach him how to fish, and you just lost your job."

and keep him warm for a day. Set a man on fire, keep him warm for the rest of his life.

If he can't take the time to learn because he has to feed himself, he's never going to learn.

They're too busy trying to survive to learn about complex and nuanced old-boy political issues. (Never mind that they can't afford to take 4 hours off work to vote!)

But when you think of all the social stigma associated with being too up on the issues, and the amateurish TV media where most get their news from, it's probably not too surprising no one cares or wants to care. I know some who should know Dennis Kucinich's platform by heart but instead can recite to me the statistics of every major Viking by rote--they choose to do other things because they are convinced politics is unimportant.

So what the fuck good is learning how to fish anyway?

Make dinner and take the rest of the day off.

Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day.
Teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.
Build a fence around the lake, and he feeds you for a lifetime.


MDN