Topic 120 A Dreamer or a Practical Person?

2 July 2021


1. Can you have too much imagination? What is a good balance between action and imagination?

2. What are some jobs where a good imagination is useful? What are some jobs where imagination can be a problem?

3. How can you encourage children to develop their imaginations? What kills a child's imagination?

4. In your life, what do you personally think is 'not practical' and 'a waste of time'? Why?

5. Imagination is the ability to think of things which are not (yet) real. Dreams when you sleep are imaginary. A plan for changing your future also needs imagination. What future can you imagine for yourself?

6. Most people want a secure, well-paying job. They pay a lot for education which seems to promise jobs like this. Is education only for getting a job? Do university degrees really guarantee a good job? What is a 'practical' career path for you?


7. Not long ago there was no Internet, no supermarkets, no big hardware stores etc. People needed practical skills to fix things themselves. What did people fix themselves? What can you fix?

8. Sometimes you might not like a situation, but you are powerless to change it. It is not practical to fight it. What is an example of this?

9, An 'entrepreneur' is someone who starts a business which nobody else has ever done. Often their friends and families call them useless dreamers. Sometimes entrepreneurs DO succeed. Who were some famous entrepreneurs? What qualities do you need to be an entrepreneur?

10. An English woman called Ada Lovelace died at 36 in 1852. She was not respected (she became an alcoholic). ADA LOVELACE INVENTED COMPUTER PROGRAMMING BEFORE THERE WERE COMPUTERS. People said she was 'not practical'. We have the same problem today. People often say that university research is not practical. How should we pay for research which might not seem practical until many years in the future?

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Topic 120 A Dreamer or a Practical Person? ©Thor May 2021