"Purpose of Education"

Sydney M. Williams

Essays from Essex.

“Purpose of Education”

August 17, 2018

“Education is the movement from darkness to light.”

                                                                                                Allan Bloom (1930-1992)

                                                                                                The Closing of the American Mind, 1987

With ten grandchildren, the two oldest of whom will be off to college in the fall of 2019 and the youngest only eight years behind, the state of higher education has been on my mind. Much has been written about the need for greater emphasis on STEM classes – that China and India outstrip us in graduates each year in those fields. We read of cryptocurrencies and cyber theft and recognize the need to understand the former and thwart the second. There are students talented in these fields, and they should be encouraged. Less, however, has been written and said about the decline in humanities and the concomitant attenuation of morals, values and character that are their progeny. When a student at Morehouse College in 1947, Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote for the college newspaper: “The function of education is to think intensively and critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”

No country in the world has colleges and universities so well endowed, and so highly regarded as does the United States. Yet, too often, university administrators see their job as letting students design faddish majors that reflect a cultural-relevancy, advocating diversity in all ways, excepting ideas and preparing students for what is their view of a multi-cultural and globally-competitive world. There have been consequences.

One is the politically-correct model they follow. Students are deprived of needed contrary and, at times, uncomfortable, speech and opinions. Thus, there is no open and free debate. Insularity in a world of seven billion people, awash with myriad philosophies and political system, does little to encourage curiosity, increase understanding, reduce arrogance and hone rhetoric. Another consequence is an emphasis on STEM that supersedes humanities. Certainly, we need students to use their creative talents to invent new products and services, but we also must consider the consequences, the “whats” and “whys” of their creations. Why is it needed and what might be its longer-term effects? Much of life is learning to balance and temper the proven versus the unproven, dreams from reality. Humanities help. History teaches perspective. Literature provides insights. Philosophy allows for nuances. Religion makes us think beyond ourselves. Students need to consider all sides of an argument, even to question the wisdom and motives of their instructors and professors. When 90% of the teaching and administrative staff is of one political mind-set, prejudice sets in. And, as Victor Davis Hanson recently wrote in National Review, “…bias is a force multiplier of ignorance.” Why, for example, should trigger warnings and safe rooms be necessary if the cloistered student is to become an unsheltered working woman or man? Do such actions prepare them for the world, or do they only offer cocoon-like protection for the duration of their time at university?

There is a fundamental purpose (and need) for education that stretches beyond math and science, which are subjects more germane for graduate and trade schools. Students should first read and learn classics that have stood the test of time. They are the threads that bind generations. Students should study philosophy and learn economics. They must read history to understand how governments have evolved, to learn from other’s mistakes and successes. They should read poetry to appreciate the beauty of words. They must think independently and communicate effectively. The world is in constant flux, but basic principles of morals, ethics and character do not change. Even vivid imaginations cannot predict the positives and negatives of artificial intelligence: which jobs will be created and which replaced. In a recent issue of National Review, Justin Dyer and Ryan Streeter recently wrote, “As artificial intelligence increasingly performs STEM-specific tasks, greater expectations should be placed on the liberal arts to cultivate the creativity and curiosity that robots cannot do.” Minds must be prepared for an unknowable future.

As well, a good education allows people to live rich and rewarding lives – not only in the material sense – but ones in which literature, art and music can be appreciated; to understand other cultures and people; to know one’s heritage and to recognize there are religions whose values do not match ours; and that a moral sense, while not universal, does exist. C.S. Lewis once wrote: “Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil.” Theodore Roosevelt went further: “To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.”

In a recent op-ed in The New York Times, David Books referred to a metaphor I have used – that the purpose of life is the journey, not the destination. While agreeably reminiscent of Dr. Seuss’ “Oh, The Places You’ll Go,” Mr. Brooks raises the question that such attitudes lead to narcissism and away from social connections. Victor Davis Hanson of the Hoover Institute wrote an article, “The Origins of Our Second Civil War,” in which he laments the role of higher education that has fostered debt, radicalism and intolerance, and an absence of shared knowledge, of works like the Bible, Shakespeare, writers during the Enlightenment and the Founding Fathers. He concludes that religious and spiritual reawakening are crucial to reforming the university. He suggests that we confuse technological advancement with improvements in the human condition. “…technology,” he writes, “is simply the delivery pump…That water can be delivered ever more rapidly does not mean it ever changes its essence.”

Albert Einstein allegedly once said, “I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”  A liberal education should cultivate curiosity. It is the fuel that fires the brain. A good education should make one less certain they have all the answers and more eager to question, to debate and to learn. My father, sitting at the dining room table, would talk to my brother and me. There were times when we would find his ambivalence unsettling: “on the one hand, on the other.” However, we were being taught to question our conclusions. Aristotle allegedly said: “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” You hold a thought or an opinion in your mind, weigh it, view it from different angles, challenge it and either accept or reject it. The university should urge its students to question assumptions, and debate assertions, no matter their ubiquity, popularity and province. The university should encourage and sate curiosity. Doing so, the student will satisfy Socrates’ admonition to know thyself. Shakespeare has Polonius say something similar to Laertes in Hamlet: “This above all: To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst then be false to any man.”

The papers are filled with myriad examples of graduates of our best universities confusing fiction with fact, praising their elite education, while making outrageous and erroneous statements. Should not colleges, before graduation, require students pass an exam, demonstrating proficiency in history, literature, geography and government, showing to the world and future employers they will be valued citizens and workers, and to their parents that four years on campus was worth the $200,000 to $300,000 expended?

In his book, 12 Rules for Life, Jordan Peterson writes of the struggle between order and chaos. We require rules, values and standards, but “Order can become excessive, {while] chaos can swamp us.” It is the search for balance, for the dividing line between the two, that should be the goal. A sound education helps. This is what I want for my grandchildren: An education that provides the tools for considered decisions, to take responsibility for their own lives, to live without bias, to understand that justice is blind, to be unafraid of contrary opinions, to appreciate beauty, to find meaning and to be content with who they are. That pathway blossoms with education, whose roots feed on the humanities. And that, in my opinion, is the purpose of education.

"A Political Philosophy"

Sydney M. Williams

Thought of the Day

“A Political Philosophy[1]”

October 23, 2017

“The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when

 they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than

 generally understood. Indeed, the world is ruled by little else.”

                                                                 John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946)

                                                                 The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, 1936

In universities, we were exposed – at times through the lens of prejudicial teachers, but ones with less bias than today – to the writings of political philosophers, from Socrates to Locke to Marx. We glimpsed the ancient Greeks and Romans. We read history and surveyed the Bible.  We grazed on the works of economists, like Adam Smith, Jeremy Bentham, John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich Hayek. While most of us did not study these philosophers and economists in detail, they were, at least, unmasked for our inspection. We were taught to think – to reason for ourselves – to determine what principles would help guide us past the Scyllas and the Charybdis’ we were bound to encounter. Today, too much focus in our universities is on issue-specific, special studies that pass as education.

It is the ability to think independently that is critical for democracy. Today, that is at risk. STEM programs help with jobs, but a vibrant democracy depends on a broadly educated electorate. For most older American, the concepts of personal liberty and economic freedom, along with a legacy of democracy and respect for institutions, are deeply ingrained. These beliefs have kept us free and democratic. Yet, youth today seems less critical, less challenging of their teachers. They believe what they hear and read in the mainstream media and on social media. The threat to democracy comes not from coarse, loud-mouthed people like Mr. Trump, but from subtle, cavalier politicians who surreptitiously insinuate themselves into our minds under the guise of doing good. To me, the biggest risk to our country is from within – elitists on both coasts, in the media, academia and in Washington, who use the threat of populism as justification for plutocracy.

Politics is an empirical process. Ours has changed over the past two hundred plus years, adapting to differing conditions and mores. The President is more isolated and more powerful. Congress has not expanded in line with the population growth, and has ceded responsibility to the Executive. Today, the judiciary (at least, those who are not activists) and local government most closely resemble what the Founders envisioned. Politicians, regardless of Party, exude an arrogance that sets them above those they represent. Many are hypocrites, spouting promises, with no intention of upholding them; passing laws, while exempting themselves; beholden to lobbyists and special interests, rather than the people; pledging prudence, but practicing profligacy. They use identity politics, which are counter-productive to assimilation and unity, leading, as they do, toward pluralism – a salad bowl instead of a melting pot.

Beware dogmatism born of ignorance. Like all self-respecting pundits, I see things I like and things I don’t. I have beliefs, and I have doubts. I do not believe climate skeptics are deniers, or that extremists come only from the Right, or that Francis Fukuyama was correct in proclaiming that the fall of the Soviet Union represented the end of history. I do not want to be lectured to by a supercilious Al Gore on climate – a man who made millions, while frightening gullible innocents. I do not want to be instructed on morality by cocky, ethically-challenged late-night hosts, like Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert. I do not want to be preached to by Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton on civility in politics, when they look upon conservatives as gun-toting, Bible-thumping “deplorables.” I do not want to listen to anti-Trump rants from sanctimonious Ivy League professors, hiding behind ivory towers. I don’t like duplicity or hypocrisy. I don’t like those who invoke identity politics, and I don’t respect those who use public fame to generate private wealth. I do not believe that any country, government, system or political party is perfect, but I do believe ours comes closest. I do like a sense of humor, civility and respect. I also believe that citizens have the responsibility to be conversant on matters of public policy, or, at least within reason, and that they should always exercise their right to vote. While unions have served a useful purpose, in recent times public sector ones have become more interested in preserving jobs and benefits, regardless of the costs to taxpayers. As well, in impeding progress by delaying or denying innovation, they have become advocates for the status quo.

We learn through discussion and debate, not propaganda-filled lectures. Life is a constant learning process. Since the advent of the industrial revolution, science has altered the lens through which we view the world. Religious faith had to be reconciled with Darwin’s findings. What had been certain gave way to doubt. But doubt led to creativity, and to improvements in living standards. Before the Industrial Revolution, our forefathers could predict what life would be like for their descendants. Afterwards, they could not. Today, we cannot foretell how our grandchildren’s lives will differ from ours, but we know they will.

The importance of reading political and economic philosophers, like Hume, Kant, Rousseau, Paine and Ricardo, is not to discover the answer one has long sought, but to provide a base of knowledge, to challenge one’s beliefs, to ensure one can argue cogently. We do not have to be disciples of a particular school of thought, but we should understand why we think as we do. We should be able to debate and defend our positions. Most importantly, we should be prepared for whatever lies ahead, and to ensure the survival of that that which is (and what we hope always will be) most important – freedom.

Authoritarianism emerges from ignorance and propaganda. Ignorance is born when students are encouraged to seek safe places, where they will not be exposed to arguments they find uncomfortable. Consequently, they are uninformed of alternative views. Most professors preach from the same political handbook. In the 2017, (William F.) Buckley Free Speech Survey, 93% of respondents agreed that there is educational value in listening to and understanding views and opinions that are contrary to their own. Yet 30% of the students believe that physical violence can be justified to prevent someone from using “hate” speech or making racially charged comments. A recent op-ed in The New York Times by Professor Clay Routledge of North Dakota State University noted that parental behavior has become “increasingly guarded and safety focused.” He worried that such attitudes, taken to extremes, delay personal independence. He found that “today’s teenagers and young adults are less likely than those in past generations to engage in a range of activities that involve personal independence, such as working for pay, driving, dating and spending time without adult supervision.” In a recent speech, former President George Bush noted: “There are some signs that the intensity of support for democracy itself has waned, especially among the young.” That would be a death knell for freedom.

We learn through reading, experience, mistakes, pain and fear. We do not want to unnecessarily expose children to risk, but if we want future generations to value freedom, as Mr. Routledge concludes, “we need to restore our faith in them.” Learning to handle disappointment and failure is part of growing up.

My advice to the next generation: Read as much and as widely as possible, but don’t rely on social media. Let commonsense be your guide. Remember, no one – parent, teacher, professor, economist, philosopher, pundit or politician – has all the answers. And be humble; we are all fallible.

---

[1] On March 14, 2016, I wrote a piece titled, “I Believe…” On May 29 of this year, I wrote “Things I Think About.” This can be read as an extension of those two pieces.