“Wisdom is not a
product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.”
- Albert Einstein
Today I had lunch with my youngest son and my wife. My son has struggled getting traction in his
education pursuits. This term he is at
12 credits. He is taking a history
course, a philosophy course (ethics) and a course in basic writing. Thing is, this term seems different. Both his history class and his philosophy class
seem to engage him. Unlike past sessions
he wants to talk about what he is learning.
He wants to debate big ideas and pull at their loose strings.
From our conversation it seems that the ethics class has
recently been studying the Greeks who felt that living a good life was to have
a belly full and diversions enough to keep life entertaining. The coursework has moved on to the school of
thought where meaningful work or meaningful study has been added to the requirements
for a good life. As I sat dipping my French
fry into a small paper cup of ketchup the lad was riffing on people for whom
meaningful study produces nothing of empiric value. Cue up the objective/subject evaluation
debate. And we were all in on this discussion and he was responding to
challenges to his ideas and assumptions with fervor.
Whatever he decides about the merit of these particular
ideas, and wherever the class heads next, I don’t care. What makes me happy is that this is real
thought. These debates are the kind of
thing university is supposed to bring out in students. No matter where you stand on the political spectrum
or any other spectrum, the point of university is not just to pick up a trade. The point of higher education is giving one
the tools for reasoned and analytic evaluation of ideas and concepts. The end result being good reasoned choices that
bring about more good than bad.
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