A Formally Educated Joseph Smith

[_moksha]

Seems to me that Joseph Smith was a creative genius with a good memory and some ability toward self-education.

Makes me wonder what Joseph Smith might have been able to accomplish with a formal education. Would such an education have homogenized his creative ability into an ordinary religious view or set him on a more traditional career path?

[_subgenius]

formal education is oppressive.....it is merely boot camp...its value is specific and arguably subjective.

"Academic training in beauty is a sham. We have been so deceived, but so well deceived that we can scarcely get back even a shadow of the truth." - Pablo Picasso

[_moksha]

Good point Subgenius. I imagine the hills of Palmyra would be as formative as the playing fields of Eaton, and that more education itself would simply stymie both outcomes.

[_Always Changing]

This thread reminds me of "a little knowledge is dangerous."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Essay_on_Criticism

Joseph Smith operated from what he knew, which was not much. Maybe his later craziness came from his own massive cognitive dissonance.

[_subgenius]

Good point Subgenius. I imagine the hills of Palmyra would be as formative as the playing fields of Eaton, and that more education itself would simply stymie both outcomes.

is that anywhere near Eton?

[_moksha]

New 'don't ask, don't tell policy' for the Nauvoo Legion declared success, sources say.