Some Thoughts On Education

Today I was hunting in the family library for a book to read and I stumbled upon a series of books from The Great Books Foundation. Apparently these books have multiple volumes, intended to span several years of time by providing individuals with readings and discussions. Essentially, you would read and think on the book’s content and than discuss them in a group setting. The desired affect is that those engaged give themselves a liberal education and improve themselves over the course of the years.

Some examples of what these books contain are excerpts from Ecclesiastes, Homer’s “The Odyssey”, Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, Pascal’s “Pensees”, Plato’s “Meno”, and so forth. I found this method and these subjects to be very interesting, so to learn more about it I pulled out the introductory guide included in the set. In it I found the best definition of education that I have ever come across. It was so fitting that it made me smile, and a little saddened, too that I did not understand the purpose of education sooner.

Unfortunately I couldn’t find the text of it online, so I can’t post it here. If you’re interested, the title of the book it is found in however is “The Future in Education” by Sir Richard Livingstone. The definition is all of chapter 4, entitled “The Free Man’s Education”.

I do however want to add another thought about it and then I will be done. I wondered to myself as I read the chapter, “Would it make a difference to students today if they understood the importance of education? Would they at all be inspired to work hard at their studies if they saw that they are bettering themselves through their work?” This question came to mind because I remember a time when I saw no purpose for schooling beyond that it should get me a job someday. It was drudgery to study science when I knew that I would not pursue it further, and it was maddening to keep diagramming sentences when I saw no use for it in the future. If I had understood that it was not my “knowing” things that was important but rather my development that depended on the work than I think I would have had a greater respect at least for education. Perhaps it is reaching too far to imagine that people could desire to learn by simply changing their understanding of it. Perhaps the yearning for knowledge is not simply an understanding in itself but rather an understanding that must be coupled with an inherent thirst for improvement and knowing.

            Enough of my rambling…I’m off to tackle more of life's questions…or just to do the dishes :)

                Yours Truly,
                 Kaydrie