A pragmatic philosophy is also suspicious of broad education and argues for specialized training instead. It leads students (or parents) to ask why a course or major that does not support a practical goal should be taken at all. What good is it, if it doesn't satisfy an immediate need? Rouner argues that usefulness is a poor criterion for selecting a course, a major, or a career. One reason is that it is difficult, if not impossible, to tell what will be useful. When I was an undergraduate, my first-year math course was an overview of mathematics, not just calculus. I learned things of no immediate practical value to my undergraduate major, such as set theory, statistics, Boolean algebra, numerical methods, and number systems with bases different from 10. Nevertheless they were fascinating. It was half a decade later, when my interest turned to computers, that I discovered that many of these mathematical ideas were useful as well as interesting. Another reason is that education needs to prepare students to continually renew and reinvent themselves--for self-motivated lifelong learning. That is much less likely to happen if actions are based solely on pragmatic criteria.

Uselessness becomes glorious when it frees us from the bonds of practicality, enabling decisions based on what we love to do, not what seems most likely to make us successful. Rouner argues that a liberal education is about "discovering not just something that you are good at, but something that you care about, something you can give yourself to, something you can lose yourself in, something you love." He supports this contention with several pragmatic arguments. Loving your vocation insures that you will work to your highest potential--out of love, not duty. What you love to do is much more obvious than what you ought to do; even if you think you know what will ensure success, you may be wrong, but you know what you love. Constant intellectual renewal is assured if it involves a subject you love--it becomes part of who you are, not an externally motivated chore. Satisfaction and happiness are very difficult to measure in economic terms, but they have great value nonetheless.

These truths should be kept in mind when we advise students or colleagues. Should we suggest that they avoid seemingly unproductive pathways? If they would really love to go in a certain direction, that is probably the best thing for them to do. This applies directly to chemical education. Students are sometimes steered away from chemical education careers on grounds that they may not be able to find a "good" job. Colleagues are advised to get tenure first, and then pursue chemical education. This may be good advice for some, but not for those who really love helping students to learn. A good job for them is one in which they can pursue their dreams, not the one we would choose or that would net them the most financial benefit. Ernest Rutherford's statement sums up nicely how important to progress are people whose ideas differ from the norm. Many dedicated and hard-working people in two-year colleges, four-year colleges, and universities who have chosen chemical education as their vocation and are pursuing it avidly have seen beyond the conventional wisdom and consequently are generating progress.

Of course there are our own dreams to pursue. Let's not shy away from what we love because it is not the current fashion or appears not to be the most productive or practical course to follow. Instead, we can work hard to make our own dreams come true, and to support others whose goals are similar. Respect for new ideas is hard to obtain unless the people who espouse those ideas show by high-quality work, dedication--and yes, love--that their ideas have real merit and importance.

Respect for any kind of vocation must always be earned and is usually proportional to how hard people work at it, the quality of the results, and how much dedication people bring to it. Chemical education is no exception. Living up to the responsibilities of our vocation is a tough, but doable job.

Let's go for it!