Plague Journal, Higher Ed Redux
If I could — I would.
The discussion was intense for an hour and a half. If I could re-invent higher education, where would I start, what would I change? The question is more than an idle thought experiment, a mind game. Human beings without the benefit of instincts, rely upon the internal map made possible by language. Survival is a matter of education, the requisite skills of acquiring shelter, nourishment, psychological stability, etc. All must be learned. Individual life, as well as life together, culture, is a matter of life-long-learning. Call it education, even higher education if you will. Survival of our species, depends upon our effort to be “reality based.” Survival depends upon being undeceived about the cause and effect significance of matter and energy (science) and to be undeceived about our need for love, nurture, the cultivation of self respect (religion).
So yes, our continuation as a species hangs by a thread, is fragile. Do not be deceived by images of Maersk seagoing freighters loaded with container goods, or a city skyline gleaming in the setting sun. Those global supply chains, those cities depending upon networks of communication and transportation systems are more fragile, vulnerable than we’d like to know. Do not be fooled by appearances, especially the media images served up 24×7 to shill all manner of inessential goods, or frivolous services. The status quo is not guaranteed.
How and when does higher education begin? Higher education, the transmission of culture, the legacy received from Homer, Plato, Marcus Aurelius, Shakespeare, Francis Bacon, Einstein, and Wittgenstein begins with the acquisition of language. Language has to do with how we appropriate the world, with connoisseurship, with good taste including the food served at the table, with communal sharing of stories at the table, with development of visual and aural appraisal skills.
This, and nothing less is education, higher education. It begins early, and is a life long quest.
Upon this and nothing less, civilization depends.
The Romans used redux as an epithet for the Goddess Fortuna with its “bringing back” meaning; Fortuna Redux was “one who brings another safely home.”
4 thoughts on “Plague Journal, Higher Ed Redux”
Good thoughts, Jerry. What can a bunch of Old People accomplish sitting around a Zoom Table, trying to dodge the whims of Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi? Teaching your grand-Kido may be the highest aspiration anyone can accomplish. Pay our taxes without whining too much about the ‘Education’ and ‘Library’ line items. Take in a museum, drag-race, or other cultural event?
Yes, fortune repeats. The meaningful returns safely. Also does the plague of re-doing the same thing, and expecting different results. Were Cassandra’s warnings any more effective than those chanting to build (Troy’s) Walls Higher? Big, Beautiful, Walls.
O Fortune,
like the moon
you are changeable,
ever waxing
ever waning;
Perhaps the future is obscured, even is “open” because the matrix of cause and effect is complex, the tipping points are multiple. We never can know the downstream effects of our conversation around a Zoom table, especially as we do not mean the exchange to be idle, as would be the case at a saloon table. “Fortune” is how we point to what we cannot know. We do know that education breaks the wheel of poverty. We also know that education can serve the preservation of what we mean by civilization.
Surely it is too late for higher walls.
Education begins at such a young age and continues throughout one’s life. If one is blessed or just plain lucky enough to have good loving parents and family along the way, life for them is off to a good strong start.
How fortunate a child is to encounter good, strong teachers on their life journey, from formal to higher education; this includes college, technical training and even road scholars. We, as family like beings, must diligently and constantly strive to ensure this is the case for all.
I like your reference to “road scholar.” I have known a few “self educated” individuals. Is not any educated person, ultimately one who takes responsibility for exploring sources, for making good use of what they discover as they are able?