Sunday, November 29, 2009

On education and children -

Went to the library yesterday to select some reading for the holiday period. One of the books I selected has this little gem which I would like to dedicate to Al the Ol' Whig following his post on the topic of educating children -

On The Birth Of His Son.

Families, when a child is born,
Want it to be intelligent.
I, through intelligence,
Having wrecked my whole life,
Only hope the baby will prove
Ignorant and stupid.
Then he will crown a tranquil life
By becoming a Cabinet Minister.


Now, I can not resist the temptation...

Roughly when was that little poem written, and where?

Answer - posted 6 Dec

Su Shi (Su Tungpo) 1037-1101) China (obviously)
Quoted translation taken from "The Art Of China" - Jason Steuber.

4 comments:

T. F. Stern said...

You got me laughing, thank you.

Eugene Tan said...

Between you and I, do you *think* Al does the raising of children?

The probligo said...

From his writing of his daughters, he sounds to me like he is a pretty good dad. Does he enjoy it? I suspect more than he might let on.

The probligo said...

From his writing of his daughters, he sounds to me like he is a pretty good dad. Does he enjoy it? I suspect more than he might let on.