The Importance of a Liberal Education

The Eye of the Mind

July 7, 2013

Twin Peaks, California, USA

     Education is on my mind; hopefully, some of it is also in my mind (what hasn’t leaked out or been hidden in the locked recesses of memory)—Education, it’s “whys” and “hows” and “wheres” and “whens”—that’s what I want to explore in my writing today. 

Experiential Learning on the Streets of London with actors portraying Charles Dickens and Virginia Woolf, June, 3013

 What seems most valuable to me differs often and much from what I see being elevated in society at large, and I find myself on a mission of sorts to deepen and strengthen a better understanding of the importance of adopting a lifestyle of lifelong learning, of appreciating critical thought and knowledge for their own sakes.  And not down only the intensely beautiful narrow cobblestone streets of any one person’s particular chosen neighborhood of industry or science or art or literature or religion, but also, along a world encompassing network of roads leading to the knowledge thus far compiled on earth. 

     I would love to hear your thoughts.  What is the purpose of education?  Who should be educated?  How should they be educated?  Where should they learn?  When should an education begin, and when, if ever, is enough, enough?

     This is obviously much too much for one day’s worth of writing, so I’ll begin with my main concern right at the moment, and that is to attempt to explain what I believe the purpose of education to be, by exploring my own experiences and through an examination of what others have published on the topic. 

     This summer I pulled out an old college volume, The Norton Anthology of English Literature, and began a short program of study.  I chanced upon the following quotes the other day.  I had underlined the passages below during my student days.  I find these words even more compelling today, as an American school teacher, living in an environment of constantly changing educational expectations and requirements. 

     “The bodily eye, the organ for apprehending material objects, is provided by nature; the eye of the mind, of which the object is truth, is the work of discipline and habit…  This process of training, by which the intellect, instead of being formed or sacrificed to some particular or accidental purpose, some specific trade or profession, or study or science, is disciplined for its own sake, for the perception of its own proper object, and for its own highest culture, is called Liberal Education…And to set forth the right standard, and to train according to it, and to help forward all students toward it according to their various capacities, this I conceive to be the business of a University.”

                                                                          John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801-1890), from “Discourse 7. Knowledge Viewed in Relation to

                                                                          Professional Skill,” The Idea of a University.

     The eye of the mind, yes!  Education for the broadening and deepening of the mind, for the opening of that mind’s eye, this is what I still believe frees humankind from petty, self-righteous, narrow thinking—authentically releasing us from the constrictions of our own history, culture, mores, family, state, and national systems.  These systems are not all wrong, no, not at all, but they are not enough.    

     Newman continues, “It is the education which gives a man a clear conscious view of his own opinions and judgments, a truth in developing them, an eloquence in expressing them, and a force in urging them.  It teaches him to see things as they are, to go right to the point, to disentangle a skein of thought, to detect what is sophistical, and to discard what is irrelevant.  It prepares him to fill any post with credit, and to master any subject with facility.  It shows him how to accommodate himself to others, how to throw himself into their state of mind, how to bring before them his own, how to influence them, how to come to an understanding with them, how to bear with them.  He is at home in any society, he has common ground with every class; he knows when to speak and when to be silent; he is able to converse, he is able to listen; he can ask a question pertinently, and gain a lesson seasonably, when he has nothing to impart himself; he is ever ready, yet never in the way; he is a pleasant companion, and a comrade you can depend upon; he knows when to be serious, when to trifle, and he has a sure tact which enables him to trifle with gracefulness and to be serious with effect.  He has the repose of a mind which lives in itself, while it lives in the world, and which has resources for its happiness at home when it cannot go abroad.  He has a gift which serves him in public, and supports him in retirement, without which good fortune is but vulgar, and with which failure and disappointment have a charm.”

     This speaks to “why” and also to “when,” for it is clearly a course of education that supports the student for an entire life, through the school years, working years, and all the way through retirement. This also explains why I still wish to teach the classics, while I wish to teach the classics of as many cultures as I can, while at the same time bringing in as many of the new great writers being published today.  And why do I want to expose my students to as many different styles of writing and schools of thought as possible?  Why do I propose that they explore their own minds with unlimited and unedited requests that they write in response to the words, ideas, art, and history presented to them on a constant, nearly daily basis?  To assist them in opening their minds’ eyes.  It is never to insist that they agree with or even like any particular piece of literature, but it is an invitation to become someone with their own “clear conscious view of [their] own opinions and judgments.”  What greater gift can a teacher give?  What higher calling?

     In this way, a Liberal Education seeks to prepare every student for a life truly fulfilling and without boundaries.  And it can only be accomplished in a truly loving and brilliant environment—one that shines with excitement and constant academic thought, exchange, and preparation.  As teachers, we need to believe in and support our very important mission, to encourage all students to use their minds’ eyes, and to believe that even those who today seem to reject the gift of education are still profiting from being included in a caring and safe community of intellectual pursuit.  There is no way of knowing exactly how much any one student is profiting from a rich, supportive, loving, and enthusiastic classroom environment.  Test scores cannot reflect the sparks a teacher can clearly see in a student’s eyes or hear in their words.  Of course, tests are probably not going away, and so we will continue to teach the skills and information necessary for students to test well—but that is the least important lesson.  Critical thinking, true academic research, a wide exposure to the worlds’ fantastic collected fields of  literature, science, mathematics, art, and the history of all cultures…these are the lessons that mean the most, the greatest gifts of all.  As teachers, it is our duty to gives these gifts freely and with respect, humility, and love.  If we cannot muster up the capacity and enthusiasm for the mission, then I respectfully would suggest that teaching should not be our chosen profession; it’s much too important a cause.  Liberal Education has the power to open up the eyes and the minds, and yes, also the hearts, of everyone. 

     And so the “why and how and where and when” of education are to me all encompassing; it is crucial that education is elevated in practice and in support, that it is everywhere and that it is lifelong, for it is as important to humanity, and to everything humanity affects on this earth, as are our very lives. 
  
                                                                                 ©2013 Rachel Lorene Pohlman