During a recent editorial meeting with a class of journalism students, one young woman didn’t have a news story to offer. She asked if I could assign one to her, one that would offer her a challenge. I thought a second and suggested she cover the Ontario finance minister’s introduction of the provincial budget. She cringed at the thought and then looked to me as if to say, “Why would you choose that as an assignment?”
“It’s important that you learn how things work,” I said to her.
She nodded and said, “I’ll check the Queen’s Park website for the phone number of the Finance Minister’s office.”
“Well, the learning curve has just begun,” I said. “Have you ever tried using a telephone book?”
The rest of my students laughed at her expense. But I’m certain they would have jumped to the same conclusion – go the Internet to get a phone number. The exercize helped to illustrate how limited our understanding can be along paths we don’t normally travel or in worlds that are not our own. It’s a little like learning helpful street phrases in French before going to France, understanding corporation abbreviations at the TSX or being able to decipher the instructions for a model airplane before assembling it. You’ve got to know the rules before you can play the game.
I’m sure that must be among the greatest challenges immigrants face upon arrival in Canada. If there’s no one to explain it, how does a new Canadian learn the basic way things work? How does someone get health insurance or a bank account? What happens when you go into a voting booth? Who teaches the way to assemble a barbecue from scratch? When do you applaud and when do you cheer at an event? What’s the trick to knowing what does or does not go into a blue recycling box? See what I mean? For some, learning the right process must seem like getting used to reduced gravity on the Moon.
I remember an instructor back at broadcasting school (before Ryerson became a university). Andy Kufluk taught us fledgling disc jockeys all about radio technology. His job wasn’t so much to teach us the way to repair a broken microphone. He simply had to help us understand the way it functioned so that we could use it correctly and to its full potential. For most of us, including me however, he might as well have been instructing in Greek.
“I know none of you has the foggiest notion how a microphone really works,” Kufluk would say. “Here’s the deal. I’ll explain it once. I’ll explain it slower a second time. I’ll even go over it again one-on-one, if you like. But after that, just chalk it up to magic.” Not surprisingly, I came away thinking that most radio technology was just plain magic.
My brother-in-law has a unique way of dealing with the unknown in his world. If there’s ever something Bill doesn’t understand or has to find out, he always says, “You’ve just got to know the man. ” Bill was born, raised and has lived in the same Canadian city most of his life. Experience has taught him to meet and befriend people who make his community tick. Consequently, he has never been at a loss for advice as to how to get things done whenever the need arises. He just calls on <em>the man</em> and finds out.
There are elements in my life I will never understand and probably don’t care to. I can’t play bridge. I’ve never been able to figure out how the Electoral College ultimately determines who gets elected president of the United States. I can’t explain how jumbo jets fly. I’ve never been very good at tying knots in rope. I don’t get cricket or Sudoku. And if a car is fuel-injected, as opposed to carburettor-fed, I’m lost the moment I raise the hood.
They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. I don’t see it that way. I am selective, but I consider knowing a little bit about a lot of things an incentive. That’s why I’ll explore some things others might overlook or ignore. I’ll look a little longer at a road map to a better find way. I’ll pick up that ancient Popular Mechanics magazine while I’m waiting in the car repair shop. I’ll listen to an oldtimer with a story to tell. And I’ll sit through a lock-up at the Ontario Legislature to learn the way a provincial bill is prepared and released to the public.
It helps me understand how things work.
