Q: I would like to continue the discussion of the book: Man is not alone by Abraham Joshua
Heschel.[1] He talks about a kind of discontent and being
in a state of endless yearning. People
need to search for spiritual needs rather than achievements and find what a
person is not what he has. [2]
How does a college course teach this?
Animals are satiated when they have their needs of food and
shelter met. Because people are in
always in a state of dissatisfaction, moral and scientific progress can be
made. We teach the each new generation
about the past and the principles of science so that they get a type of
dissatisfaction and can have a fresh view of the world. Maturity is learning to balance the
experience of our masters with the path toward the new and better ways of
dealing with the world. Classes are
designed to save students from the trial and error of investigating everything
on their own. The teachers give the
basis, background, and history and then guide the students to find their own
answers. Liberal education does not have
all the answers but hopefully guides students to the right path to seek the
mature way of appreciating the world.
Q: How do we open the student potentialities? How do we teach student to value success?
A: According to Heschel, values are attained when we learn
to anticipate, seek, and crave for them.
Values, like goals are based on the understanding of the past and the nature
of law and community. One can not have a
goal without understanding the self and the role of the self within
society. A package of cement does not
strive to become a building, but the imaginations and plans of people can turn
the cement as the glue to become the concrete used for a sidewalk or
building. People learn to create, based
knowledge of the world, how materials work, and a yearning for something
better.
Our job as educators is to show the light of knowledge to
our students. Hopefully the knowledge turns into wisdom.
Q: Thank you very much.
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Part twenty-six of imaginary
interviews with the president of the College. After 20 interviews the president
is no longer “new,” but since we are all works in progress I am continuing the
series as if s/he were a “new president.” Please feel free to suggest new ideas
for interviews and presidential comments. This article is for your information,
amusement, and edification. Any connection to a real college or president is
strictly coincidental.
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