A couple of days ago, I was sitting in the faculty lounge at the place where I work, having my lunch, minding my own business. That's when I overhear the following conversation between two faculty members in the M.B.A. program.
Faculty #1: I just planted a cedar tree in my garden. I hope it will stay alive.
Faculty #2: Do you talk to your tree?
Faculty #1: What do you mean?
Faculty #2: Have you not heard about the famous rice experiment (1)?
Faculty #1: No, what's that?
Faculty #2: A researcher in Japan had three jars tin which he grew rice. He talked very nicely to the first jar. He was neutral to the second. And he frowned at the third.
Faculty #1: What happened?
Faculty #2: The rice in the first jar grew very quickly. The rice in the second jar grew normally. And the rice in the third jar got mouldy.
Faculty #1: Really?
Faculty #2: You see, it's the positive energy from humans that helps the rice grow.
Faculty #1: I certainly will talk to my cedar tree at home. And I will also use the rice experiment to start today's class. You know, if students want to open an agri-business, they should know these things.
For their M.B.A. courses, this university likes to hire "business people with experience".
There was another faculty member in the M.B.A. program who told me that before teaching business ethics, he never even cracked open an ethics book. To be fair, I am not an expert in business ethics. Maybe basic knowledge about philosophy is not required to teach business ethics. After all, the university is charging students $2,000 for courses given by laypeople who read the textbook a week before they did.
NOTES AND REFERENCES
(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masaru_Emoto