The abstract, the obscure, the nameless.....

Its difficult to feel engaged in what i'm doing. Sure, i enjoy the banter with the young ones, but surely that cannot be the reason why i'm here. At the end of the day, its about making a difference, cliched as it may sound. It's difficult to describe the 'difference' that i'm making, let alone quantify it. So if i cant measure it, how do i improve it? How do i make a 'bigger' difference? Can we even judge who is making a 'bigger' difference if we cant even measure it? Some people like to say that the difference we make takes time. Maybe ten years down the road, blah blah blah. Which may or may not be true. More importantly, it will be difficult to attribute the 'difference' ten years down the road to any particular/specific person. So who takes the credit? Or the blame?
Maybe we can try a different tack. Instead of using such a vague, all-compassing phrase, let's try..... 'making them into critical thinkers'. Now that's something that might be amenable to measurement. But in this, education fails miserably. People compartmentalise what they've learnt. Sure, they can solve some problems in social studies, math, and even around their community. But when faced with overwhelming 'evidence' or 'supporters', they fail to consider the other side. One of my pet problems is with people who are convinced global warming is taking place AND also convinced that Earth is less than 10000 years old. On a superficial level, these people probably haven't read any of the research papers, know nuts about statistical science, and jump behind the global warming banner because...well... it SEEMS right. No prizes for guessing why they're convinced that Earth is less than 10000 years old. But here's the problem, global warming SHOULD be based on cold, hard facts - scientific evidence. So when some bigwig scientist comes out and says that global warming is a MAJOR problem (note that i didn't say its not taking place, but whether its a MAJOR problem), based on numerous scientific models endorsed by numerous high profile research institutions, these people lap it up. HEY! Global warming is a problem. But the same (almost) people and the same institutions endorse that Earth is probably a couple of billion years old. So why do these people still believe that the earth is less than 10000 years old!
God may or may not exist. But i'm pretty convinced that Earth is older than 10000 years old.
Now generally, i dont really care what you believe in. I mean, at the end of the day, you dont touch me, i dont touch you. But when your beliefs spill over into public domain, then you have to be prepared for hits below the belt. I do not understand why religion is sacrosanct. I suspect its only so because it has so many holes in it. You'll never see mathematicians going "ok... let's not discuss the BTL theorem anymore. Let's just agree to disagree. I believe its true. But thats my belief."
Sigh.... let me just concentrate on making $.