As a former public school educator, including five years as an elementary school principal before I retired, I have thought often about the subject contained in the title of this essay not only for my students but also for myself personally. As a baby boomer born in 1950, I was a part of the first American generation expected to either attend college or give serious consideration to attending.
My personal journey in this regard
may be instructive in this regard. As a high school senior in Afton Oklahoma I
decided to attend the University of Oklahoma (OU) in Norman about 200 miles
from home. My backup plan was to enroll at Northeastern A&M, a two-year
community college near my home, until which time I was able to take care of
business and transfer to OU. In the end, in August 1968, I drove away from home
in a packed used car my grandparents had given me for graduating high school
and about 4 hours later arrived in Norman ready to become a Sooner.
First semester of college life can
be miserable for many students. But for me, I was more confused than any other
feeling I had at the time. I was homesick and I often had little extra spending
money. I thought briefly about transferring either to Southwestern College in
Winfield Kansas or at nearby Coffeyville Community College. I asked myself if
OU was the right school for me. By decision time, I did not have the answer so
I decided to stay in Norman at least for one additional semester. It would become
one of the best decisions I had ever made, until then and since then.
I went to the Financial Aid Office
and received a slight increase in my loans and I also found a parttime job at
Dee’s Student Shop on Campus Corner. After a visit from a witness team from the
Baptist Student Union, I decided to follow Jesus Christ and become a Christian.
And then, I met Karen McLane, a beautiful spunky co-ed with a winning smile. We
were engaged on July 4, 1969, and married January 15,1971. By the time of my
graduation from OU in December 1972, I had also received a quality education.
My forementioned experience at OU
and the experiences of many others at various other institutions of higher
education show that one can truly become educated if they pay attention to for
primary factors:
1.
Intellect. Intellectual growth, as important as
it is to be truly educated in Western society, is not the only primary factor
at play in the process nor does it end at the conclusion of the graduation
ceremony. Personal and communal biases must be confronted, and sloppy and mushy
thinking must be eradicated.
2.
Social. I came to college essentially a kid from
a small farming town in Oklahoma lacking confidence in myself. After passing my
classes and making new friends, my confidence increased to the point I was able
to propose marriage to my girlfriend. A
positive social life is essential for a quality educational experience.
3.
Spiritual. “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding,” declares a psalmist
(9:10- NIV). I understand fear in this context means deep respect or reverence.
But make no mistake about it- this is no garden variety “I will do it myself
and god will understand” type of god. Indeed, this is the God who created and
sustains us and is revealed in the Hebrew Scriptures and Christian New
Testament of the biblical canon primarily in Jesus Christ. So, no one who is
truly educated in Western society, whether a Christ-follower or not, without a
fear of God and some knowledge of Scripture.
4.
Learning. No matter how extensive our structured
learning is, we will have gaps in our plans and new knowledge and worldviews will
be snaffled upon older them or replace them altogether. Therefore, it is
imperative for a lifelong learner to continue to be curious about the world
through reading, writing, and other learning means.
In addition to the four key factors
described above, other factors contribute to the Western educational tradition:
5.
Cultural and Historical Awareness. History is
the lens through which we view, and even evaluate, our culture. Some look at
the dark side of our past and proclaim our current culture to be dark also,
albeit even more so, due to our sophistication to shield our historical past
from rigorous inspection. And others examine our past and declare even though
we have had problems in the history of the West, we are past those situations
and therefore there is “nothing to see” here now in our common culture.
Our reliance on history,
although vital to our collective consciousness, has flaws which leads too many historians
of both the Right and the Left to go down the “rabbit hole” of distorting our
past to prop up their own personal cultural biases. History is not a
straightforward rendering of facts to regurgitate upon command. If anything the
Western cultural narrative has shown us is that history only can be, but indeed
is, nuisance, contradictory, and inconsistent,
6.
Communication. Developing our verbal and written
communication skills is essential to expressing adequately our ideas, hopes,
dreams, and fears to others. Knowing our audiences is essential to successful communication-
this knowledge includes, but is not limited to, choice of words, examples used,
voice modulation, gestures, how we dress, personal reputation, and personal appearance.
Remember, it is primarily the communicator’s, not the listeners’, to
effectively communicate the message intended for the audience.
7.
Civic Responsibility. Our responsibilities to
our communities go beyond voting, paying our taxes, and occasional jury duty. Non-profit
organizations of all kinds need volunteers as well as our neighborhoods (ex-
HOA boards), cities (ex- Police Advisory Councils), and states (boards and
commissions). Alexis de Tocqueville in Democracy in America commented
that volunteerism helps to make Americans a great people,
8.
Self-Knowledge. Socrates once commented, “The
unexamined life ain’t worth squat” (my translation). In regard to being truly
educated, Peter Drucker, from Managing Oneself (2004), recommends all of
us to ask the following questions of ourselves regularly-
·
What are my strengths?
·
How do I perform?
·
Am I a Reader or Listener?
·
How do I learn?
·
What are my values?
·
Where do I belong?
·
What should I contribute?
·
What is my responsibility for relationships?
·
How will I live the second half of my life?
9.
Science and Technology. The truly educated
persons in the West will know that “to follow the science” is a political statement
and not necessarily a rational one, regardless of the advocate’s political
stance. This is not a recent phenomenon, a generation ago Thomas Kuhn in his pivotal
book Paradigm Shift raised this issue. The Western educated person
needs to embrace and question scientific and technological breakthroughs at the
same time in order to be a responsible consumer of such so the community will
benefit.
10. Artificial
Intelligence. AI Is indeed a natural part of the above factor of science and technology,
but with all the discussions about it AI deserves its own factor category. My
grandson taught me how to utilize ChatGPT in my writing research several years
ago and now AI will not only research but also write an essay for me. I did
indeed write the preliminary paper for this essay but I found it too simplistic
and lacking the necessary background information to publish it as it came to me.
So, the paper became part of my research notes. I also have found Microsoft’s
AI Co-Pilot to be an invaluable research and writing tool if properly supervised.
Introduction of
AI is akin, in my opinion, to the introduction of the electronic calculator
about 1970 while I was at OU. High costs and having no practical need for one
kept most students like me from purchasing one. The lone exception were the
engineering students who were ready to ditch their slide rules. Alas, the
engineering professors banned the devices from their classrooms considering
them to be some sort of high level electronic cheating, as many do understand
AI today. So, for AI to be acceptable, functional, and effective in the future,
AI users must a demonstrate a high level of ethical sensibility.
11. Vocational
Imagination. VI is a specific mode of imaginative understanding which allows
one the capacity to envision a life of meaning and purpose in response to
personal calling and social need. The key elements of VI are personal calling, interpretative
discernment, contextual awareness, and personal gifts.
12. Ethical
Responsibility. Being honest with oneself and others, developing trust with colleagues
and the wider community, doing the right thing over doing a thing right, aiming
for long-term results instead of short-term gains, and a heightened empathetic
understanding of those in need are hallmarks of a well-developed ethical
responsibility and sensibility.
Other Voices
There are other voices besides my
own in the discussion over education in the Western tradition. However, the
list below is illustrative, not definitive as there are no feminine voices and
also no people of color. Nevertheless, I am confident that the astute readers
of this essay could recognize such folks who would have positive comments on
the subject at hand,
The persons that were selected because
they by word or deed contribute to the discussion in significant ways:
Frederick Winslow Taylor. I
was surprised that I included Taylor in this list, albeit I was going to
include him in the Peter Drucker section below as the antithesis to Drucker’s
thinking about education. Nevertheless, Taylor’s thoughts and writings have
value if we consider the cultural context in which Taylor lived and worked.
Born in Philadelphia just before the Civil War to a prominent Quaker family
Taylor became known as the founder of scientific management in which time and
motion studies were used to measure individual and organizational efficiency to
complete tasks.
The primary work of the Industrial
Revolution was conducted in factories in which manual labor was dominant. Workers
were seen merely as cogs in a machine who needed close supervision from controlling
managers. Taylor’s thinking is summed up in The Principles of Scientific
Management (1911) in which he focused on mechanistic and task-oriented
efficiency and “doing things right.”
Taylor’s approach to education is
that learning should be structured, systematic, and goal-oriented in which one masters
specialized skills and effectively apply those skills for the betterment of society.
One does not necessarily need to be a
“schooler” to be educated; one can also be a “learner” by evidenced by Taylor’s
own education. In his childhood and early youth Taylor was homeschooled and was
taught by his mother with two years of study and travel in Germany and France.
This was followed by two years of formal study at a prep school. Taylor chose
not to enter Harvard due to a temporary eye ailment, rather he became an
apprentice, then a machinist and laborer to gain practical experience on
factory floors. He continued working while studying for the bachelor’s degree
in mechanical engineering at Steven’s Institute of Technology through
correspondence study.
Taylor’s experience with his own
education helps to answer the question of whether a trade school graduate can
be truly educated in Western society. If one is educated only through a college
or university, the answer is no. But before one gets there, it will behoove one
to seriously consider the following statements-
1. Education
is primarily about competence, not credentials.
2. Critical
thinking is not exclusive to colleges and universities
3. Cultural
literacy can be gained through independent study
4. Lifelong
learning counts
Peter Drucker. Drucker, considered by many to be the founder
of modern management, was born in Austria in the early years of the twentieth century.
After his secondary schooling he moved to Germany to enter the University of
Hamburg and then the University of Frankfurt. During his time in Hamburg
Drucker also worked in textile trading and in Frankfurt he was a newspaper
reporter. German universities did not require class attendance in the 1920s, so
Drucker had much freedom to explore his intellectual interests.
Two things he did had a profound
effect on him. In Hamburg he attended an opera written by the renowned composer
Verdi who was 80 years of age when he composed the opera. Thus, Drucker
understood learning has no age limits. He also read Reflections on the
Revolution in France by Edmund Burke in which he learned that contemporary
society must its history and traditions and utilize them in positive ways to
achieve progress.
Drucker received his doctorate in
international from Frankfurt with his dissertation focusing on the law of the
sea. Shortly thereafter he left Germany for England because of the growing Nazi
ideology and eventually he came to the United States. As an American, Drucker
rose to prominence as an author of 39 books, including two novels, and as an
internationally renowned consultant where he coined the term “knowledge worker”
to reflect the new context of work World War II in contrast to the mechanistic
world of Taylor’s in pre-World War I years.
The contributions of Peter Drucker
to the quality education discussion-
·
Read widely and learn across the disciplines
·
Learn a new hobby and seriously engage in it so
the hobby will add to your life especially when your work fails you
·
Know the context of your life and work not so
much by being a prophet but by opening your metaphorical window and looking outside
Jacques Ellul. Ellul was a
French theologian, philosopher, and sociologist who made powerful prophetic
warnings against our overreliance on technology which tends to mechanize human
thought. I first came in contact with Ellul’s writings like The
Technological Society (1964)
a student at Midwestern Seminary and he enabled me to question the influence of
technology with a healthy dose of skepticism even as I use it. His opposition
to “the technique,” a kind of one-size-fits-all tech philosophy to solving
problems should be adopted by all who claim to be educated in the West.
James (Jim) Collins. Jim
Collins is a disciple of Peter Drucker’s. In fact, when his Good to Great (2001)
was published, Collins stated that the book should have entitled, “Drucker was
Right.” And like Drucker, Collins is often associated with business
development, but he maintains that the principles he espouses are common to all
organizations.
Collins majored in mathematical
sciences at Stanford University. Following graduation, he worked at McKinsey
and Company as a consultant. He returned to Stanford to study for his MBA.
After a stint at Hewett-Packard as a product manager Collins began teaching and
researching at Stanford. He then moved to Boulder Colorado to found his “decision
lab.”
The work of Collins and his associates
can easily be applied to schools in general and receiving a quality education.
Examples include-
·
Good is the enemy of great. And greatness is
achieved through discipline and choice. In being educated, it is so easy to
fall into the “good enough” trap- in achieving a quality education, one must
persevere through many obstacles- some obstacles are put up by those folks
perhaps jealous of success or misunderstand the quest while other obstacles are
put up by those who have already achieved “greatness” but who lack the humility
for greatness and desire a “closed shop” keeping out all newcomers. And being great
in one’s journey to be truly educated does not necessarily translate into power
or even prestige, but by adhering as closely as possible to the 12 factors
contributing to a quality education in the West.
·
It is impossible to have a great life without a
meaningful life and it is very difficult to have a meaningful life without
meaningful work. And by implication it is impossible to have meaningful work
without a quality education.
·
A great vision without great people is irrelevant.
The “who” beats out the “what” in any organization if the “who” is comprised of
educated and qualified persons who are adaptable to various situations that
will be faced by the organization.
The astute reader particularly of Good
to Great will note that Collins sets the example of being educated and a
reader himself. I personally was moved by the “Stockdale Paradox” that Collins
links to confronting the brutal facts. He also uses the central concept from The
Hedgehog and the Fox (2013) by Isaiah Berlin. The book is an extended essay
on Leo Tolstoy’s philosophy of history. Tolstoy notes that the ancient Greek poet
Archilochus stated, “The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big
thing.”
Collins uses the fox/hedgehog concept
to apply to his Level 5 leader by maintaining that leaders of good-to-great
organizations should be hedgehogs because they need to be focused. This is
where I part company with Collins in that I believe that the best leaders are
foxes. While the ideal that leaders should be “well-rounded” persons is a myth,
there is no contradiction to believe that leaders should be well read and
possess knowledge in various disciplines. In practice being a fox enables a
person to be adaptable to the various situations an organization faces or will
face in the future and also enables a person to be more employable especially
as a person moves up the leadership ladder. Collins, nevertheless, has a valid
point about focus because all persons need to hone in on their vocational
imagination and the vision and mission of their organizations.
Matthew Stewart. Educated at
Princeton and Oxford with a PhD in German philosophy, Stewart became a consultant
fresh out of college and then became a sharp critic of the business influences
within the field, His book The Management Myth (2010) chronicles
his journey from being a practitioner to becoming an adversary of the
profession when it comes to its culture and practices.
Stewart devalues the importance of
the MBA degree and insists that “A good manager is nothing more or less than a
good and well-educated person.” Moreover, he also devalues the mastery of
technical skills for consultancy work (and I assume for all professions) to the
cultivation of broad intellectual virtues such as critical thinking, ethical
judgment, and cultural awareness gained through a liberal arts education with a
focus on history and philosophy.
[Personal Example- While an elementary
principal much of my time was spent observing my teachers interacting with
their students in various classroom settings. When I entered a classroom I had
the assistance of a technical shortcut- the EAR protocol. EAR was a easy to
remember acronym meaning Engagement, Alignment, and Rigor. After a few minutes
I could ascertain whether or not EAR was present in the classroom instruction.
If yes, super! If not, I had to put on my thinking cap and think through the situation
to personalize my comments for each teacher which had not demonstrated EAR during
my observation.]
Stewart has four key points-
1. Critical
thinking over formulas
2. Understanding
human nature
3. Skepticism
of management science
4. Ethics
and judgment
Ronald Heifetz. Heifetz is
among the world’s foremost authorities on the teaching and practice of leadership.
Based at Harvard Kennedy School where he founded the Center for Public
Leadership, he speaks extensively and advises heads of governments, businesses,
and nonprofit organizations around the globe.
Heifetz is most known for his
pioneering work in developing the adaptive leadership framework which resulted
in his first book Leadership Without Easy Answers (1994). In this volume
he differentiates between adaptive work and technical work needed in
organizations as well as the work needed in blended situations in which both
adaptive and technical work is evidenced. Several books followed co-authored by
Heifetz and colleagues demonstrating how adaptive leadership can be introduced
and sustained in organizations.
Following graduation from Columbia
University, Heifetz enrolled at Harvard Medical School to become a surgeon. He
then decided to devote himself to the study of leadership and he completed his
medical training in psychiatry, a field which provides Heifetz a distinct
perspective on political psychology and organizational behavior. He is also an
accomplished cellist.
Heifetz provides several
perspectives to learners as they seek a quality education-
- He suggests that education should not just transmit
knowledge but also foster critical thinking and the ability to adapt to
new challenges by challenging assumptions, experimenting with new
behaviors, and being open to change,
2.
Heifetz's work encourages learners to cultivate
leadership qualities such as the ability to mobilize others, navigate complex
situations, and manage conflicts. These skills are crucial in both personal and
professional contexts.
- Heifetz argues that learners often face tough
challenges that require them to confront difficult realities and make
tough decisions. Learners can prepare themselves for such challenges by
developing resilience, courage, and ethical decision-making skills.
4.
Students need to learn to analyze complex
systems and anticipate unintended consequences, preparing themselves for roles
where systemic understanding is crucial.
In essence, Heifetz's insights
suggest that education should go beyond traditional academic knowledge to
develop adaptive, ethical, and courageous leaders who can tackle complex
problems in a rapidly changing world. His ideas are influential not only in leadership
studies but also in educational philosophy and practice.
William Bennett. Bennett was
the Secretary of Education in the Reagan Administration. He was educated at
Williams College where he majored in philosophy and played football. Bennett
next attended the University of Texas where he received his PhD in political
philosophy. After teaching at the University of Southern Mississippi for a
year, he enrolled at Harvard Law School where he was awarded his JD degree. After
teaching and administration at Boston University Bennett was involved in
humanities projects and was eventually appointed director of the National
Endowment for the Humanities. And when the then Secretary of Education
resigned, he was appointed by President Reagan to the position.
Bennett is no “ivory tower” theorist
as he regularly sought to get “his hands dirty.” He was involved in partisan
politics, regularly visited and taught in public schools, and was a frequent
contributor on public policy on news panels and giving interviews. Bennett
stressed every student deserves a quality education regardless of zip code and
the importance of the humanities in achieving the quality education for every
student. He
Bennett stresses the following 3 Cs
in educational reform-
·
Content- the curriculum focusing on the basics
of reading, writing, and mathematics
·
Character- students to learn civic
responsibility
·
Choice- students should be able to attend
schools which meet their needs
André Van Heerden. Van
Heerden is a voice that almost did not make the list on what it means to have a
quality education in Western society. And he almost did not make the list! As I
was going through my home library this week I came across one of his books An
Educational Bridge for Leaders (2012) in which he espouses that leaders
need history and historical literature to assist in their development.
Van Heerden has stated that he is from a country “that does
not exist anymore” (probably Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe). Migrating to South
Africa, he studied law at Rhodes University and has been a history teacher, a
deputy headmaster, a soldier, a policeman, a refugee, an advertising writer, a
creative director, an immigrant, a marketing communications strategist, an
account director for leading multinational brands, a marketing consultant, a
conference speaker, a leadership coach, and an author. His interests include
philosophy, psychology, history, politics, and rugby. He has lived in New
Zealand for more than 31 years.
Leonard Borth. The last voice to be heard is most
unusual- he is a fictional character from the novel A Bell for Adano (1944)
by John Hersey. The book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1945 but is relatively
unknown as compared to Hersey’s Hiroshima, which chronicled the effects on
ordinary people of the atomic bombing of that city. Hersey himself was born in
China to missionary parents and lived in China for ten years before his parents
returned to the US. He attended public school and prep school before entering
Yale. Among his college experiences was
playing football where he was coached by, among others, future US President
Gerald Ford. In addition to writing for Time magazine following graduation he worked
as a private secretary, driver, and college master. Hersey also wrote to
promote reading for students.
Now back to Leonard Borth. We first meet Borth in Chapter 1
of the novel; he is a sergeant in the US Army’s Military Police and assistant
to Major Victor Joppolo, senior civil affairs officer for the newly liberated Sicilian
city of Adano. Borth is described as in his 20s, fearless, that he cared about
nothing, and that he thought the war was a cynical joke. He is an enlisted non-commissioned
officer (NCO) by choice.
Hersey’s list of Sergeant Borth’s pre-war employments and
residences is striking. Born in Hungary, Borth had lived in Budapest, Rome,
Vienna, Marseille, Boston, and San Francisco where he had been a pre-medical student,
a newspaper correspondent, a travel agent, a secretary to an exporter, a news
reporter, and a radio salesman. In the meantime, Borth had become an American
citizen.
Although Hersey did not list Borth’s educational
achievements, the astute reader has hints that Borth had received a quality
education according to Western standards. These hints are placed throughout the
novel:
Ø
Knowledge of science and technology
Ø
Skills in language and communication
Ø
Knowledge of history and politics
Ø
Critical thinking and analytical skills
Ø
Cultural awareness and sensitivity
Ø
Civic responsibility
Ø
Self-awareness
Conclusion
The reader may now be questioning what traits learners at
any age can exhibit to begin mastering the disciplines of a quality education
the Western tradition expects. Two Yale Law professors, the wife-husband team
of Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld, did the research to find answers to this
question and presented their findings to a popular audience in The Triple
Package (2014). The three traits they found in successful students from
various cultural groups in the US are-
ü
Superiority- a person has a deep-seated belief
that he/she is exceptional
ü
Insecurity-a sense one has that he/she has not
yet reached one’s goals
ü
Impulse control- self-discipline one possesses
which puts off immediate gratification to pursue long-term goals and benefits
Students at any age and level of education will do well to seriously
incorporate and strengthen these traits into all facets of their lives. If they
do not, they face a dire warning from economist Tyler Cowen. Writing in Average
is Over (2014) Cowen declares that people who fail to get the skills they
need to add value to their communities will get by, but only on cheap food and
cheap entertainment. Even the Christian New Testament speaks to this situation.
Dealing with the issue of faithful servants,
Jesus shared, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be required;
and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be expected” (Luke
12:48, CSB). That principle works in both the spiritual sense and the secular
world. We in the US and the West have been given abundant talents and resources,
let us then be responsible for our personal learning outcomes.
Finally, we return to Matthew Stewart again to assess the character
of the person possessing the desired traits and skills of one who is truly
educated in the Western tradition. Previously, I quoted Stewart asserting that
a good manager is a good person. Now, we must ask about identifying the
qualities and character of a good person, not only for management, but for any discipline
of endeavor.
In reading Stewart, acute readers can find the qualities
that he desires. Among these are establishing trust, getting people to
cooperate, human insight, moral reasoning and courage, listening, discernment, asking
questions, and effectively dealing with ethical complexity.
Echoing Ellul and Drucker (among others), Stewart distains education
as mere acquisition of technical knowledge- the focus must be on the humanities
so a person can be truly educated. Expertise and credentials can only take one
so far. To summarize, I maintain that for one’s education to prepare that
person to make a life, not just make a living, one’s education must prep to be
intellectually free, morally grounded, socially responsible, and continuously curious.
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