On 02-03-98 Frank Masingill wrote to Day Brown... 
DB> If I, for one, were given the opportunity to raise a family in a nation
DB> that only allowed in citizens who could pass a test on the works of 
DB> Machaivelli and Plato, I would expect that nation to be very well 
DB> educated, have very high job skills, and be positioned very 
DB> competitively for the global 21st century economy. 
 FM>  
 FM>    I heard and read Peter Bertocci of Boston University closely on 
 FM> that one. 
 FM> I don't think all of our plumbers or janitors or other quite good and 
 FM> respectable people care to sit down and pour over the Republic or the 
 FM> Gorgias 
 FM> but Bertocci did not think that should be an excuse for not 
 FM> introducing them 
 FM> to the existence of such a world.  I'm almost a void when it comes to 
 FM> serious 
 FM> mathematics despite a college education but the small amount of math I 
 FM> can 
 FM> understand as it has to do with elementary computer  
 FM> programming fascinates me.   
 FM> That's something of what I mean. 
 I am not so sure that they would need *full time* plumbers or 
janitors Frank.  The advance of materials design, as for example, 
the use of plastic pipe, makes plumbing within the reach of any 
who would wish to build a house.  The use of VCR instructionals 
would enable anyone to 'do it himself', and that further, the 
satisfaction from that is balanced against the journeyman. 
 
And, as you suggest, there is no reason why a journeyman might 
not actually *enjoy* reading Plato. 
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