Haleivi, I’m not really sure what you meant by the ballroom metaphor, but I take it you are trying to say that derech eretz is NOT kineged kulam, the way learning torah is. And that may be true, but in my eyes, that doesn’t make derech eretz any less valuable. I’d rather be a person with wonderful derech eretz and not know how to read a gemara than a person that knows Shas but is seriously lacking in derech eretz.
