Question

school of hard knots
by alex hanson

the typical apprenticeship with a japanese traditional boatbuilder lasts six years, during which an apprentice can expect to spend a lot of time sweeping the shop floor and sharpening tools while watching the master ply his trade. work is conducted in silence, questions are answered elliptically, if at all, and, by the end, the master will have withheld key pieces of knowledge that the apprentice is expected to acquire through guile or outright theft. even in japan, where traditional crafts are revered, this system is too grueling, too much at odds with modern life, to survive. it is no wonder, then, that as a generation of japanese boatwrights has retired, their knowledge has retired with them. vermont boatbuilder douglas brooks is trying to ensure that the centuries - old designs for fishing boats and water taxis don’t follow these craftsmen to the grave. for more than two decades, brooks has researched traditional boatmaking in japan, and has done short, nontraditional apprenticeships to record boat designs. ordinarily, no westerner would have a hope of learning in a few weeks what usually takes years of patient observation to acquire. they’re willing to teach me because they realize what’s about to be lost, brooks says. the challenge of preserving this art is largely pedagogical, and that’s the subject of ways of learning, a slide talk brooks gives through the vermont humanities council’s speakers bureau. through his talk, brooks has stimulated a debate about how traditional crafts are handed down. his american audiences expect collegiality and dialog between student and teacher, and are often shocked to hear about the japanese method. japanese craftspeople do not teach in a way that’s familiar to us as westerners, brooks says. in part, that’s because the apprentice is meant to develop a set of values as well as a set of skills. they must learn how to observe, and they must learn patience and cunning. of the five masters brooks has learned from, only two had drawings of their boat designs, and even those were incomplete pieces of knowledge from the master’s spin, he could expect to have to steal measurements or by some other subterfuge. one master sneaking into the shop to take his own master with safe to unlock his secrets. when brooks learned to braid the hoops that hold together a tarabune, the traditional tub boat still used for gathering shellfish and seaweed off japan’s sado island, his teacher told brooks he had piled the hoops...
select the correct answer.
which detail best shapes the idea that a japanese boatbuilder apprentice is meant to learn certain values as well as skills?
a. \the typical apprenticeship with a japanese traditional boatbuilder lasts six years.\
b. \brooks has researched traditional boatmaking in japan, and has done short, nontraditional apprenticeships.\
c. \they must learn how to observe, and they must learn patience and cunning.\
d. \his american audiences expect collegiality and dialogue between student and teacher.\

Explanation:

To determine which detail best supports the idea that a Japanese boatbuilder apprentice is meant to learn certain values as well as skills, we analyze each option:

• Option A: Only tells the duration of the apprenticeship, not about values.
• Option B: Focuses on Brooks' research and non - traditional apprenticeships, not on what the apprentice learns in terms of values.
• Option C: The text says "Japanese craftspeople do not teach in a way that’s meant to develop a set of values as well as a set of skills. They must learn how to observe, and they must learn patience and cunning". This shows that the apprentice has to learn values (patience, cunning) along with skills (implied in the context of boatbuilding), so this option supports the idea.
• Option D: Talks about American audiences' expectations, not about what the Japanese apprentice learns.

Answer:

C. "They must learn how to observe, and they must learn patience and cunning"