On
Metro (newspaper distributed for free) today, on page 16 appears an editorial entitled "The university is not" signed by Mariano Sabatini. (I think you can see here
, but their site is always difficult to follow.)
The starting point is the written test for Italian school-leaving examination taking place today, and the advice to high school students is they do not want at all costs to continue their studies. In fact, says Sabatini, "the feeling, supported by the data appeared in these pages last week, is that the university is no longer a guarantee of safe use" (but should!).
The thing that puzzles me get to the end: "It is not obvious that the lives of campers at universities are more taken by those who decide to start as soon as possible to be measured by the difficult world of work. Better a passionate cabinetmaker, who reads Tolstoy or maybe in the evening Camilleri, a researcher who deceived, exploited by the 'Baron' on duty, do not even have time to browse through a comic book. "
If "better" means that you happier, it may very well be, or maybe not. It is a professional cyclist happier with the hobby of ikebana, or a butcher who plays the cello? Or a scavenger lover who devotes every spare minute to the loved one? Who knows?
If, as seems, we are telling the reader of Tolstoy and Camilleri is the most cultured of the researcher, even here we do not have any evidence to say this: it can be and can not be. Perhaps the researcher, as used, is an expert on string theory, genetics or medieval paleography, and then it will not be so uneducated. It's almost as if you gave it for granted that the main job does not contribute to the culture, while it would be formed only by the evening of readings Camilleri ...