“What
is the solution to the paradox between educating for the world's
fight and the soul's salvation?”
This question
seems irrelevant in a society preoccupied, not with timeless themes,
but current issues of policy. The jargon of experimentation and
research suppresses questions of truth and judgment. The expert,
secure in his newfangled science, rejects the timeless (and
unprovable) wisdom of the ages.
The journalist,
speaking in terms we understand, challenges the expert, who responds
with more innovation or else advocates a utilitarian 'back to basics'
approach. The question of the world's fight and the soul's salvation
may be called classical education. Hicks wishes to respond to those
who, while they sense the importance of classical education, cannot
figure out how to fit it into an industrial society.
(prescriptive:
concerned with norms/ideals)
(descriptive:
facts without value judgment)
Our ideas about
education flow from our ideas regarding man's nature and purpose.
The ancients took a prescriptive view embodied in myth: the Ideal
Type. This type, both unchanging and constantly refined, was used to
instruct students in what they should do. To the ancients, the
'everyman' was an ideal to be attained rather than a random specimen
to examine psychologically. They insisted on descriptions that
conformed to the ideal, even when those descriptions did not line up
with what actually happened.
For instance, it
was customary at a Roman funeral for the son to tell idealistic tales of his father's and ancestors' virtues and
successes (not necessarily accurate), thereby inspiring young men in the virtue of
public service. The modern educator, disliking inaccuracies and
denigrating the Ideal Type as arbitrary, rejects the old form of
learning and puts in its place a scientific education concerned only with
facts.
The ancients saw
science as a useful tool in transforming the heart of man rather than
as technology for improving quality of life. They believed man himself was responsible for his own folly and needed much more work than the material world, agreeing
with Jeremiah that man's “heart is deceitful above all things and
desperately wicked”. However, modern scientists believe evil resides in things outside of man or outside his control, giving rise to the
progressive notion that man will be good if technology alters his
environment for the better.
The modern world
has disregarded the idea of a moral imperative, perhaps thinking it
too confining, or else fearing it excludes something important and
necessary. However, rejecting the immaterial has narrowed the search for truth and free exchange of
ideas in our schools, teaching students to consider only what can be
done, rather than what should be done. Modern education, believing
man to be a reaction to his environment, has excused him from
responsibility for what he knows and focused him on functioning
efficiently. The question becomes “How can man get along in this
complicated modern world?” and students are taught to desire power
rather than truth.
The prescriptive
pattern of truth spanned thousands of years and
crossed cultural boundaries (Christian, Jew, Roman, Greek), whereas
the descriptive pattern is a
recent development that excludes non-empirical wisdom and reduces man's thoughts and actions to a reaction against his environment.
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