When we arrived, our hotel was hosting a convention of the Philosophy of Education Society. These were mostly middle-aged (or older) people, often found sitting at the bar hunched over their laptops, oblivious to one another. I wondered what "the philosophy of education" means. The Society has a Web site (who doesn't?), and this is their mission statement: The purposes of this organization are (1) to promote the fundamental philosophic treatment of the problems of education, (2) to promote the clarification of agreements and differences among the several philosophies of education through the opportunities for discussion afforded by annual meetings, (3) to advance and improve teaching in the philosophy of education both in schools for the education of teachers and in other educational institutions, (4) to cultivate fruitful relationships between workers in general philosophy and workers in philosophy of education, (5) to cultivate fruitful relationships between scholars in philosophy of education and those in other areas of education, and (6) to encourage promising students in the field of philosophy of education. So there you have it. Whatever "it" is. Photos of these earnest people attending this convention can be seen by clicking here.

Accura party at the Lowes As the philosophers (or educators, or both) were leaving, they were replaced by a convention of Acura executives and sales managers. There are possibly no two groups of people more unlike than philosophers/educators and car salesmen. The contrast was startling. The car salesmen did not hunch over laptops at the bar. On the contrary, they swilled cocktails at the bar. And they were not oblivious to one another. On the contrary, they clumped naturally into large herds. Loud herds. One evening they had a party at the Lowes pool, next door. They had a band, booths with some kind of entertainment, a buffet -- the works. I suspect Acura has a bigger shindig budget than the Philosophy of Education Society. Since our room overlooked the Lowes pool, I got a picture.