Slow accuracy

“Haste slowly was a well-known saying of the ancient Romans. Erasmus also quoted it in his Adagia. You must find a good balance between diligence and carefulness in all your activities. By hesitating, waiting and considering things carefully, you can save time later on.'

As I spoke these words last Monday evening at the official opening of the academic year, unions were demonstrating outside against the loan system and other problems in higher education. I heard the drumming in the background. The tone may have been different, but our message was more or less the same: take your time, give it space. 

Weeks ago I intuitively chose to talk about slow accuracy on this stage. Because it is precisely when the pressure is high that good solutions are of vital importance. Some problems just don't lend themselves to a short answer. Good solutions require time – education.

When I came to the Netherlands in 1990 I wanted fast, fast, fast. I bought a dictionary and started stamping at the a: pat, barge, anvil, on, ring, tender, offer, sight, offer, attention. My diligence paid off a lot, but looking back, I went too fast. To this day I am trying to correct my stupid language mistakes. I was so scared that I wasted even more time, but that fear was unfounded. It was precisely at that moment that I should have built on fertile soil.   

Getting moving slowly does not immediately sound positive in our society. There's something about slowness that we don't like. Moving slowly is reminiscent of lethargy, of being caught up and of not getting everything out of it. Someone who moves slowly is someone who already sees the bus coming but does not accelerate, causing it to drive away in front of him or her. Someone who misses opportunities, actually. 

I often see the urge for speed around me. Municipalities want to get newcomers off welfare as quickly as possible, which often means that they have to take every available job and are not given the opportunity to retrain or retrain. For example, a refugee doctor cannot continue as a doctor and a young, ambitious lawyer is sentenced to cleaning work. This means a waste of valuable raw materials.