In 1947, Martin Luther King Jr. said that the purpose of education is to “…teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.” He was right in the idea of what he said.
However, this is a different time. In today's world, knowledge is meaningless. Tony Wagner of Harvard says on the topic of education, “Knowledge is free… The world doesn’t care what you know.”
George Fox University’s mission statement is as follows: “George Fox University, a Christ-centered community, prepares students spiritually, academically and professionally to think with clarity, act with integrity and serve with passion.” With the instant availability of all knowledge known to the human race via the internet, pursuing knowledge through education is essentially pointless – there is no difference between knowing the information and finding it online. This undeniable fact poses a serious problem in our egocentric, capitalist, American university culture. If education is not to teach us facts or knowledge, what is it for?
Education should be about the pursuit of truth. Conversations in the GFU culture are similar to any other in that you run into a lot of dead ends in debates due to arrogance and close-mindedness. George Fox has a mission statement that claims to prepare academically and professionally for the real world outside of our isolated bubble. And yet with the close-mindedness of our generation, it is increasingly difficult to be exposed to new ideas and new concepts. To truly pursue truth, we must approach every conversation with humility and an open mind. This can look a variety of different ways, including asking thoughtful questions, listening to understand and engaging mentally in each interaction.
However, the most important idea to engage truth and pursue it is to first admit that we do not have it. Coming into classes, conversations and other interactions with the attitude that we know the truth about the topic is short-sighted and idiotic. One common misconception in America today with the social chaos that we encounter constantly is that an idea is right simply because it is familiar and safe. This is a backwards ideology that should not exist in an educational setting. It sets discussions back and holds students from being able to pursue truth in the way that we should be able to. Acknowledging our own ignorance is the first step to fixing it.
There is a push on campus to share ideas and get opinions out in the public sphere in order to gain exposure, and this is good. However, this is only good in moderation. Sharing ideas and concepts is a wonderful thing, but only when it does not inhibit the pursuit of other ideas and concepts.
In order to best understand the truth, we must pursue ideas that counter ours. This seems to be a very counter-cultural idea. We live in a world with fake news, where it is acceptable to disagree with verifiable facts because they do not support your opinion. Rather than attempting to find information that supports our opinions, we should strive to pursue ideas that counter them. We should welcome hard questions that force us to reconsider opinions and ideas. We should dissect our own arguments in order to better understand them. An opinion is not right simply because it is ours.
It is easy to get caught up in the activities of daily campus life. Classes, extracurricular activities, clubs and sports can all take up our time, and these are good things. Often, however, we get sidetracked by these activities and lose sight of the reason we should be here. To truly get the most out of higher education in the 21st century, we cannot lose sight of its purpose.
The book of John says it best, “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
