“We are not what we know, but what we are willing to learn.” -- Mary Catherine Bateson
Philosophy for me is still the love of wisdom. To this I shall just add that we tend to pursue what we love. Thus, my statement of educational philosophy is about the pursuit of wisdom through learning. I do not make this statement solely as a deductive exercise; instead, I shall explain why wisdom ought to be the paramount goal of education today.
* * * * * * * * * *
For the longest time, the Classics was the linchpin of higher learning in both the Occidental and the Oriental scholastic traditions. This changed however with the rise of the sciences and the technical vocations. Today, I believe another change--no less tumultuous and perhaps more urgent--is underway.
Today, it has dawned upon us that more technology and improved ways of problem-solving are not always ameliorative for the human condition. But to this realization, we have no substantive answer yet. In the absence of a substantive answer, societies have elected to plow ahead faster with more development and better technology--as if by going faster, we can make up a worthy teleology through greater speed.
This specious teleology centered on unbridled possibility over worthiness, accelerated progress rather than human purpose and technique at the expense of wisdom is the root cause of many pressing problems and risks facing the world today. These pressing problems do not ask for more technique or technical solutions--there are plenty available in every shade and size today. Instead, what these pressing problems behoove is wisdom to question the present course of actions and upon this reflection, to begin making worthy choices based on what we already have.
* * * * * * * * * *
No matter where we stand on the political spectrum today, and no matter what our position on climate change is, it is unequivocally clear that the general human condition will deteriorate in the next 50 years, if not earlier. Even if we discount the predicted ramifications of climate change, an absolute rise in global population over the next two decades will simply imply a greater contestation of common resources (e.g., clean air, water and food). And with contestation frequently comes conflicts. From another perspective, many cities around the world today are wrestling with the repercussions of unplanned diversity and pluralism from globalization. Unplanned diversity and pluralism may inject new energy into the cultural lives of cities. But at the same time they can bring about socially counterproductive conflicts.
In such a world, there will be competing goods. Even with governance specifically designed to oversee the distribution of resources, hard choices will have to be made. Should resources be consumed preponderantly by the native or the newcomer when both are equal but incommensurable good? And in the event of a climatic catastrophe, to what extent and for whom do we open the borders of our havens to? Is not every human life an equal, intrinsic good?
Where there are such competing goods, there is likely also tragedy. As a scientific civilization, we have forgotten the vital moderating role of the tragic for the human condition. The tragic, I argue, will become more prevalent in the world of tomorrow. To navigate the tragic does not call for more refined techniques of Operations Research or rational decision-making. To navigate great complexity and resource constraints all amid the tragic inevitability that some goods would have to be sacrificed, wisdom is again required.
* * * * * * * * * *
On the other hand, modern education has a tendency to categorize knowledge without truly appraising it. Today we produce new knowledge of every category and discipline, but we have no good way of justifying for any of them. It is also said that the world today moves too fast; we have to learn how to learn because no formal education is ever sufficient for the complexity of practice and life. Learning to learn is still necessary but no longer sufficient for the future. To be sufficient, we need to periodically appraise our acquired knowledge. We also need to know what to do with the knowledge we have acquired and to steer this knowledge towards a sustainable human good, all which are wisdom in action.
* * * * * * * * * *
I do not pretend that wisdom is the magic pill. All I have tried to suggest here is that sustained human flourishing increasingly requires the exercise of wise decision-making--wisdom in action that modern education has scarcely made room to provide or teach. This is why I suggest that there is a tumultuous change in the air. The Financial Tsunami of 2008 has demonstrated the foolery of knowledgeable, intelligent men and women without wisdom. But in its wake it has left the palpable burden on educators to nurture wisdom: how can educators nurture or teach wisdom?
* * * * * * * * * *
No statement is complete without a few concretely stated propositions. In concluding my statement, I make the following propositions concerning the nurturing and the teaching of wisdom:
(1) It is unwise to repeat great mistakes or to reinvent the wheel
On this I refer to the classics in every tradition, where thoughtful choices and conversations on nearly every category of human perplexities have already been explored in one way or another by great minds. It is wise to learn from these conversations; it is even wiser to master the foundational ideas underlying them. In the same way, it is wise not to repeat their mistakes. Only one thing the classics cannot provide: that is, how to navigate the novel and treacherous problems technology has burdened upon the human condition today.
(2) It is unwise to learn alone or to hold a monologue with oneself
On this I deviate from the image of a wise old hermit in his cave. Sustained, independent inquiry is an admirable trait of any learned man or woman; but more impressive and certainly wiser is the willingness to test the outcomes of this inquiry in a community of other learners and thinkers. For this reason, it is wise to learn in a communicative and argumentative environment filled with dissonant ideas.
(3) It is unwise to remain as an armchair theorist trying to learn wisdom
On this I depend on the phrase, ‘to rise to the challenges’. What are the pressing problems today? What can I do about them? What is the value of my actions and how does this value resonate with a sound vision for the future? What are the anticipated consequences of my actions? What are their ethical repercussions? Are there limitations to what I can do independently and how do I address these limitations? And how and to whom should I pass my mantle in the natural course of things? To test one’s judgments on concrete issues and to act upon them; to anticipate the consequences of one’s actions and to reflect on their ethical repercussions; and finally to prepare in advance for one’s mortality--these have always been the hallmarks of wisdom.
(4) It is unwise to be cynical
The line between wisdom and cynicism--the attitude of having seen it all and that nothing good can come out of anything--can be very thin. This is especially true today. Therefore, it is possible to say that the road to wisdom today is filled with many pitfalls of cynicism. How to rescue oneself from cynicism is critical for nurturing wisdom. On this I see the teacher playing an important role. This role consists of encouraging the student; of making constructive remarks and rebukes; and of building and envisioning rather than tearing and constricting. Most important of all, the teacher is to demonstrate how and why wisdom leads to life whereas cynicism leads to stagnation and decay.
* * * * * * * * * *
This then is the concise statement of my educational philosophy.
No comments:
Post a Comment