Juniorboon 3? (or, is intervention a valid foreign policy?)
Hm. The Os and As are starting in 1-2 weeks’ time, so I’m getting slightly more concerned of late. Trying to keep watch over my juniors and make sure they’re holding up. I’d gladly give tuition/help if anyone asks (and if I have time to spare—probably a fair bit, with some deft time-juggling). Partly out of concern, but also partly out of a selfish desire (I’m afraid) to self-test, to see if I can teach half as well as the System apparently thinks I can. =P

And then I wonder if intervention is the appropriate thing. God watches over 6 billion lives, who have 6 billion little problems that He could easily solve with a wave of His hand. But He doesn’t. Why? The same reason a parent lets a child fall. So that the child can learn to walk. Too much help for too long becomes a crutch, and giving a man a fish everyday for a year teaches him only how to wait for his ‘dole’.

But I’m not wholly convinced that argument extends to me. While spoonfeeding is a pernicious academic crutch, succinct phrases used to sum up a concept, or prodding questions which provoke thinking outside the text (almost-but-not-quite to the point of irrelevance) is more like a guiding hand, constructive and non reliance-building. In a way, teaching is kinda like parenting, or leadership—as one CEO put it, “you’ve got to try and work yourself out of your job”. Teach/lead your charges to a stage where they become self-learning, self-running and don’t need you anymore. And then you move on.

So, yes, in this case, I guess intervention is probably a valid foreign policy.