Education

Last Friday, I had the opportunity to meet with the General Education Department at PolyU. I was surprised to find that we have several philosophers on our faculty. In the meeting, a lot of the discussion centered around the quality of education that we are delivering. Large organizations such as Universities can become quite bureaucratic and political. How to best develop a program that will prepare graduates for their careers and more importantly, their lives ahead? How do we keep academic staff curious and sharp (vs. feeling like a replaceable cog in a big machine)?

When I was in college, there were many topics that I was conscripted to study which I haven't really used since. Education was also the development of a process for thinking about things. I can remember the hoops I had to jump through (many late into the wee hours of the morning), reading things that I would not have otherwise studied, to "broaden" my perspective. I see so many students today get "turned off" by the process of education because of the pressures and seemingly irrelevant topics they are compelled to learn. The "glazed look" on their faces after sitting through hours of lecture.

The challenge for both education institutions and for students is to stay "creative," "fresh," and to keep the spirit on inquery alive. Lecturers and professors must be given the freedom and flexibility teach from their wisdom as much as from their intellect. Areas such as philosophy, mind-body health, and self inquery should be at the core of all education programs rather than as supplementary electives. There is an excellent article on Education and the Significance of Life written by a Philosopher, Jeddu Krishnamurti that is available online here (http://www.krishnamurti-and-education.org/edu_and_signif_ch1.htm) which I find continue to find inspirational each time I read it. Education is about finding purpose and meaning in life rather than as a set of skills that are necessary to gain employment. New research in psychology, neurosciences, consciousness, "wellness," and east-west medicine provide rational explainations towards the relationship between mind and body.

Of all the things that I've learned in college, it has been the close relationships that I've made (many friends and my advisor, Al Despain), work experience on the East Coast at Bellcore, and a round-the-world trip that I made as a graduate student that have had the most lasting impact on me, although I am still trying to correct (almost 20 years later!) many of the habits that I picked up in college including staying up late and irregular eating times.

I can still probably design a microprocessor out of a bucket of nand gates if I really had to...