On Competence

I was reading some work on quality issues in education today, when I came across this statement by John Gardner.

He states:
" In a society of free men, competence is an elementary duty. Men and women doing competently whatever job is theirs to do tone up the whole society. And the man who does a slovenly job - whether he is a janitor or a judge, a surgeon or a technician - lowers the tone of the society ..." (John Gardner, Excellence, New York: Harper & Row (1961), 2nd edn., 1971, p.193).


Suddenly I found myself asking, "Am I a competent person?" My answer surprises me. Yes ... in many areas... and NO ... in many, many more areas... oh, oh I thought. I should list my incompetencies separately for my own perusal and see if I can work on it.