Education and the Future

Thank You Experience.com
I have had the pleasure to blog for experience.com for the past summer and fall semester. I would like to thank them for the opportunity to share my thoughts about education and life. Blogging has definitely been an educational experience in its own right, and I hope, as I have learned from it, others have learned or at least thought about the words I put forth.

Education: the Past and the Future
There are a few ideas that seem to permeate many of my posts. First, appreciate education in its own right. Find a topic, an idea and pursue it; not because of its payoff, not because others tell you you should do it, not because somehow you feel like you have to do it. Find something that gives you joy, where you need no motivation, an idea that occupies your mind no matter what you're doing. If you follow your heart, because that is really what you're doing, you will find a way to make use of your love, you will be happy, and the world will be a better place; because when you are passionate that passion grows. Lead by example and lead with your heart.

Second, pursue education inside and outside of the classroom. From early education through college and beyond. I often feel a strict curriculum can be detrimental to real learning. Sure, by the end of the year students can regurgitate facts and figures, but what have they really learned? We must teach students how to think about and approach different issues and problems. Take the environmental problem for example, what good is a student who knows how severe the problem is, without being able to propose a solution?

I have gone to public school, parochial school, and an all boys private school. My K-12 education happened in 4 states. I have had a pretty ranging experience and I must say that when I really felt I was learning was when I was challenged to think about issues, not just remember facts that I forget as soon as I turned in the test. I knew I was learning when I found myself applying what I had already learned to a new task. We must focus on fostering this type of growth in our students.

On the college level, I feel it is very easy to get into the rhythm of classes and feel like we are learning so much. We are learning a lot, but let us not forget that people are writing about our various topics of study for a purpose; to teach us about something about life, to convey to us a thought or feeling that will affect how we view the world. So, instead of being satisfied with what we learn in the classroom, we must apply that to our lives. I urge every student to become involved in a group or cause through which you can apply what you've learned. The two forms of learning will grow upon one another, until you see no difference between learning for in college and learning for life. You will know when you reach this point, it will be a feeling of warmth and invigoration. A happiness about life and what it can offer. The following quote from a Zen Buddhist Text:

"The Master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play,
his labor and his leisure,
his mind and his body,
his education and his recreation,
his love and his religion.
He hardly knows which is which.
He simply pursues his vision of excellence in whatever he does,
leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing.
To him he is always doing both."




Education for all
The opportunity to learn and grow intellectually and morally should be available to all. With the current financial situation it is becoming more and more difficult to afford higher education. This article in the Philadelphia Inquirer discusses that it is not a lack of motivation, but a lack of opportunity that prevent people from pursuing higher education.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20081212_Helping_more_students_afford_higher_education.html

At Swarthmore, there have been discussions of affordability and opportunity wound deeply within issues of class, and race. There is not an easy solution to the cost issue, but that doesn't mean nothing can be done. We must do everything we can to provide opportunity to those who may see it slipping away day by day as tuition increases. I urge you to read the the discussion of the issue by students themselves in Swarthmore newspaper "The Phoenix." (Debate over financial aid policy intensifies)

The question we must ask ourselves:

Is education a RIGHT or a PRIVILEGE?

I believe education is a right, and just because someone's parents happen to have more more than another's shouldn't prevent someone form going to college. After all, did any of us choose to be born? We had no part in the matter, so by shear luck we are alive and were born. And we did not choose to be born anymore than we chose into what situation to be born. So why let arbitrary chance decide who gets what in education?

Well, some may say as a society we have limited resources, and unfortunately these resources cost money; so those who can pay will, and those who can't---we will either help through aid, or they will not get the chance at a higher education. But why must we choose who gets what in education?

The Iraq War costs billions and billions of dollars. Why send so much on destruction, when we can construct an unparalleled education infrastructure here in the US. The website www.nationalpriorities.org has a place where you can see the trade offs between the war in Iraq and other more productive uses of our tax dollars. (http://www.nationalpriorities.org/tradeoffs)

National Priorities
"Taxpayers in the United States will pay $656.1 billion for total Iraq war spending approved to date. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:

193,370,980 People with Health Care for One Year OR

679,232,570 Homes with Renewable Electricity for One Year OR

14,170,626 Public Safety Officers for One year OR

11,251,447 Music and Arts Teachers for One Year OR

101,437,848 Scholarships for University Students for One Year OR

5,103,740 Affordable Housing Units OR

289,177,337 Children with Health Care for One Year OR

90,037,052 Head Start Places for Children for One Year OR

10,777,823 Elementary School Teachers for One Year OR

9,479,502 Port Container Inspectors for One year"

So let us live life with the purpose to learn and foster learning in others. Learning is progress, learning is change. There is so much we can offer to the world let us realize our potential as we help others realize their's. I repeat one of my favorite quotes:

"If you want to travel fast, travel alone. If you want to travel far, travel together"

-African Proverb