DEWEY: There is no problem we cannot reform. Reform is the soul of my vision. Man has no insurmountable built-in faults. Indeed, he has no built-in anything. External influences make him what he is, and education is chief among these. There is no limit to what it can achieve - no limit to progress along the path to perfectibility.
Anyone who reads The Bell Curve, by Charles Murray, will find that IQ is a remarkably consistent predictor of both educational success and socio-economic success, which is presumably why it has become a taboo subject. Universities are now more concerned with `diversity and inclusion`.
"If there is no transcendent moral order, then growth is not objectively good either."
How very true.
By the way: I believe that modern education (at least in the humanities) does not even pursue growth anymore, but stagnation or outright stupification. I have spent 4 years at a German university reading History and English (for teaching in grammar school) and I am more frustrated than ever.
A significant majority of lecturers (especially from the English faculty) are not prepared to lead by example (academic or moral), to pass on knowledge (not to speak of wisdom), to kindle an interest in old literature, to train critical thinking or to make fine teachers out of us. My fellow students speak about rassism, police violence and gun control, genderism etc. in almost every single lesson - simply to state opinion and to get confirmation from the rest of the class. They have been brainwashed into adding weird inflections or suffixes to all kinds of words (the German language lend itself well to that), and I could literally observe their ideological transformation.
We train people to turn into identical robots, not unique characters. It is painful to watch it.
Intellect, knowledge and wisdom are not valued anymore. Every reed that towers above the others is cut. Truth and answers are not sought anymore. If there are multiple truths, well, what is the point in trying to unearth any kind of truth? Truth is not sought, because the West has buried God. God is truth. Seeking truth is seeking god. Killing God means killing truth.
When I come home after a long and useless day at uni, I often take up my bible and remind myself of what Jesus said (Matthew 5):
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
How gifted we are to have been created in God's image, to share in his holiness (a frightful and equally beautiful concept) and to have been granted the knowledge that, one day, we shall be just as holy as he is?
If you're interested in this, I will record it as a podcast.
DEWEY: There is no problem we cannot reform. Reform is the soul of my vision. Man has no insurmountable built-in faults. Indeed, he has no built-in anything. External influences make him what he is, and education is chief among these. There is no limit to what it can achieve - no limit to progress along the path to perfectibility.
Anyone who reads The Bell Curve, by Charles Murray, will find that IQ is a remarkably consistent predictor of both educational success and socio-economic success, which is presumably why it has become a taboo subject. Universities are now more concerned with `diversity and inclusion`.
"If there is no transcendent moral order, then growth is not objectively good either."
How very true.
By the way: I believe that modern education (at least in the humanities) does not even pursue growth anymore, but stagnation or outright stupification. I have spent 4 years at a German university reading History and English (for teaching in grammar school) and I am more frustrated than ever.
A significant majority of lecturers (especially from the English faculty) are not prepared to lead by example (academic or moral), to pass on knowledge (not to speak of wisdom), to kindle an interest in old literature, to train critical thinking or to make fine teachers out of us. My fellow students speak about rassism, police violence and gun control, genderism etc. in almost every single lesson - simply to state opinion and to get confirmation from the rest of the class. They have been brainwashed into adding weird inflections or suffixes to all kinds of words (the German language lend itself well to that), and I could literally observe their ideological transformation.
We train people to turn into identical robots, not unique characters. It is painful to watch it.
Intellect, knowledge and wisdom are not valued anymore. Every reed that towers above the others is cut. Truth and answers are not sought anymore. If there are multiple truths, well, what is the point in trying to unearth any kind of truth? Truth is not sought, because the West has buried God. God is truth. Seeking truth is seeking god. Killing God means killing truth.
When I come home after a long and useless day at uni, I often take up my bible and remind myself of what Jesus said (Matthew 5):
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
How gifted we are to have been created in God's image, to share in his holiness (a frightful and equally beautiful concept) and to have been granted the knowledge that, one day, we shall be just as holy as he is?
Well, should we not try to be worthier of him?