You would think that an education would give a person some moral parameters, wouldn’t you? The more educated you become, the more sensitive you are to the needs of humanity — the concerns of the Common Good – that sort of idea. This is a truly naïve premise, however — being more educated, many times, makes you more deceitful and ruthless.
The magnitude of this, nonetheless, was not really made concrete until I read an article the other day that pointed out that most of the “police” personnel, the investigative agents, of the Gestapo, (1) the Nazi secret police, were highly educated. There were not some dim-witted thugs hiding in the back alley. (2)
“By the late 1930s, those who were “up-and-comers” tended to be young, well-educated, middle-class individuals, many of whom had law degrees or doctorates. Those German males who procured coveted posts in the political police/Gestapo were selected for their police training and experience, not their Nazi Party membership or status, and only a minority of Gestapo officers were ever Party members. Most who did join the NSDAP (The Nazi Party) did so simply to keep their jobs, the only way to enjoy a lucrative pension in retirement.”(3)
So if an education doesn’t make me more moral relative to the needs of my fellow man what does? The answer it would appear lies in your basic family education. (4) The pedigree of your family is a major component of how you view the world and how to respond to her needs. If your family teaches that individualism, money, and social advancement are the core values of a culture, then the results will not benefit “the collective” as seen in the recent chaos in the United States.
“America was founded in part on the cult of the individual, the self-made myth, the will to power. And indeed we cannot ignore the core egotism of human nature, the need to channel that drive to succeed and establish one’s sense of self and identity, against all odds. Capitalism isn’t always inherently evil when it is coupled to values and reasonable regulations that steer its course away from sheer self-interest. But in its current course, this complete self-interest and narcissism can also be a terrible dead-end to human civilization.
A lack of empathy, an indifference to human vulnerability and suffering, to misfortune and lack of opportunity and circumstances, to exploit and ignore these realities can harm everyone. “No man is an island” as John Donne (1572-1631) famously noted.” (5)
Hence we see the confusion and conflict our world sees herself in during the recent, so-called, pandemic. On the one hand, we now need to look after each other more than ever and on the other, we have the “me-ism” on my money and my possessions. The knowledge that Amazon and its major shareholder, Jeff Bezos (b. 1964) are on track to become the wealthiest entities on the planet when millions are losing their jobs and businesses, can only dramatize how far we have fallen from our societal values. (6) The solution, as always, can only rely with the young.
They must be encouraged to think critically about the world they want to live in and how they view society – to use their imagination. Now we come to the perennial question, are the cell phone and its partner, social media, being harnessed to simply dull the young so that they never question these values? Why does virtually everyone go to university when most are not university material. They are not thinkers, intellectuals in the classical sense of the term. They go to university for job training, not to question, “Why do I exist and what should I do to fulfill my life mission?” (7)
If we encourage young people to “simply think” or rather to learn to think, I am sure that most will be able to discern the truth for themselves. Yes, a real education will make me a just and caring human being. The Christian Minister and civil rights leader, Martin Luther King (1929-1968) leaves us with a thought: The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.
A closing thought: Educational inflation (everyone must get a university degree and more) is the great bane of our civilization, I am sure. So many young people are simply filling in desks at university — a time that should be exciting, imaginative, and experimental. Let those who simply want to get trained at something, do so, and get out into the job market: the apprenticeship program of old. Germany still utilizes this system and it has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the world and, one would think, a happier population. (8)
To sum up: This week, we spoke about a university education and how it was never designed to benefit the many.
To be noted: From novelist Chuck Palahniuk (b. 1962) — The problem with educating stupid people was that they didn’t know they were stupid. The same went for curing crazy people.
This week on your reflective walk, please reflect on your own views on education.
Every day look for something magical and beautiful
Quote: All truth, all wisdom, and all understanding lie within the self. We must simply learn how to listen to our inner voice.
Footnotes:
1) Gestapo
2) Stories Of The Gestapo With Frank McDonough
3) Intelligence in Literature and Media
4) WHAT ARE YOUR FAMILY’S TOP 5 MORAL VALUES?
5) How America Fell into Toxic Individualism
6) Amazon becomes world’s most valuable public company