I am passionate about education. I love learning, I devour books, and I obsess over school. I take pride in my studies, but what I am most proud of is not my grades. My studies have changed me. My studies have educated more than mind.
I am a type-A super nerd who is accustomed to straight A's and excessive pride. As I've grown, I have been humbled and realized better than anybody how pointless knowledge is if it just rattles around in your brain. Knowledge is not meant to sit there and gather dust. It is meant to challenge you and to change you. The people I study with are more interested in education for the sake of education rather than education for the sake of jobs. We believe that knowledge really is power, but not just the power to control things. Knowledge is powerful enough that it changes us before we can begin to think about changing others. I read Seneca's letter to the Roman Emperor Nero entitled "On Anger," where I was forcibly reminded that true justice is only found in righteous mercy, and then I read Boethius' "Consolation of Philosophy", and I am reminded that just as goodness is it's own reward, so is wickedness. I need not concern myself with anger or vengeance when I keep the company of these men.
If I have learned anything it is that I am fool, because A's don't equal wisdom. Education is more than understanding theories and solving problems. It is more than papers and exams and grades. It has a purpose and a power beyond climbing the ladder of success. And you do not need to be reading philosophy to understand this. Education shapes us. It forms our thoughts and behaviors and it teaches us what to value. The notions of human dignity, basic freedoms and universal rights stem from the knowledge of history and philosophy, but you do not need to take an ethics class to understand them.
My pre-med friends stare in awe of the atoms this world is composed of and they are forced to see beauty in everything, and everyone, because she may have dumped you and he may be a bad roommate but at the base of their biology they are walking miracles. My music friends know more than the mathematical theories of composing a melody that is pleasing to the ears; they know how to soothe grief, give compassion, and express joy in ways that have left no person untouched. My literature friends do more than study plot devices; they study the expression of the human soul and as a result their own is moved. My history friends know more than dates, they know how even the smallest of actions cannot exist in a vacuum; everything has consequences, intended or otherwise, good or bad, and they are the most conscientious people because of it. My psychology friends, study the human brain, the science of humanity and they cannot keep themselves from looking deeper into people's lives because they have a burning desire to serve and bring healing to people.
Aristotle said that "educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all," (Nichomachean Ethics Book 10), but the system does not care. They will teach you atomic structures, music theory, poetic devices, dates, and neurochemistry. It is up to us to find the miracles, the empathy, mercy, the conscientiousness, the healing and the love. Education is more than what we are taught, but we must choose to learn those lessons. They only care about our minds, so we need to care enough to educate our hearts.
*This articles was inspired by a poem called "Educate the Heart" by Shane Koyczan, which can be found Here and you should definitely go watch it*
*Equally inspiring was the children's book From The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, which everybody should reader of their summer break*
