"Mack Reynolds - Ability Quotient" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reynolds Mack)

"We want them to decide what you will study, at what pace you will go,
whose lectures you assimilate, that sort of thing—for the whole period of
your work here."

Bert Alshuler was dumbfounded. "You mean machines are going to
decide if I become a doctor, an engineer, a lawyer, a—"

"Yes."

The student came to his feet. "No thanks. I may be silly but not that
silly. I'm willing to allow my faculty adviser, or whatever you call him, to
advise me on my courses but I'll be damned if I'm going to have a punch
card machine breathing down my neck every time I decide something like
whether I want pica or elite size type on my voco-typer."

The professor smiled. He said, "The tests indicated that you had a sense
of humor, my dear Alshuler. Sit down. There's more to it than that, of
course."
 Bert Alshuler resumed his chair, but his expression was still hostile.

Katz put more urgency in his voice. "Have you ever considered how few
persons really study what they should, or even what they would like?"

"I don't think I follow that."

"In grammar school, the student is told what he shall learn. All are
given the same courses, all at the same rate of progress, no matter the
individual's abilities. Many youngsters hate history, or math, or whatever,
but must study them. Some love these subjects but are not given the
opportunity to delve into them to the extent they would like. Very well,
when they achieve to high school they are given a bit of choice, but it is
usually a decision made, by parents. If they do not have the wherewithal to
see the child through college, or if they are anxious to have his services on
the farm or in the family's small business, the child is enrolled in a
commercial or mechanical course, and very often drops out before
graduation, once again, no matter his abilities."

The professor paused for a moment. "On the other hand, you take the
son of a well-to-do family who has a flair for mechanics, or possibly one of
the arts or sciences. Unfortunately, his father is a businessman who
attended an Ivy League college. He's going to see his son through the same
school and eventually into the family business, if hades freezes over."

Bert Alshuler grunted understanding.

"Or," the professor pursued, "the student who does have freedom of
choice but the inability to exercise it intelligently. Immediately before
enrollment he sees a Tri-Di show involving a sympathetic doctor. Very
well. Inspired, he signs up as a pre-med. A year later, bored, he meets an
artist, or writer, or whatever, who sends him off on another tangent.