EPIPHANY OF THE DAY

EDUCATION

 It always amazes me when a cult member in one breath denounces education and in the next claims various politicians warrant emulation and support because they graduated from Ivy League law schools. It is as if the ability to hold and act upon diametrically opposing thoughts is a prerequisite for cult membership.

Further observation leads to some assumptions. For the cult member:

-          Education that leads to social acceptance is bad.

-          Education that builds or upholds power is good.

-          Education that improves life is a blessing bestowed by a deity.

-          Education that explains the universe is evil when not in strict compliance with holy books.

We are left with the necessity to form our own decisions regarding our feelings toward education. This leads to some troublesome crossroads:

-          Educated research and analysis may conflict with long held beliefs.

-          Education may teach us to be more adept at doing evil.

-          Picking and choosing the results of education can bolster our reverence for the ridiculous.

-          Stated by the powerful and respected, with enough repetition, education can be twisted to induce regrettable results in a populace moved by fear, not logic.

When used intelligently, education can be good:

-          People in America live free from many historic diseases because of education.

-          We understand so much of our world, from geology to evolution, because of education.

-          We understand the confounding complexities of trying to understand history because of education.

-          Education can help free us from primal fears, many caused by being raised in a cult.

-          And so forth.

The trick is not to conflate education and the wisdom that guides our lives. Two of the wisest, and most competent men who have guided my life each garnered an eighth-grade education. One carried the mental scars of being called “A dirty Hun” in his youth. The other carried physical scars that justified his Purple Heart Medal.

Each could have built a complete house without resorting to a single written note.

Education comes from many sources, some good, some bad. Intelligence growing from education can be used, as can a surgeons’ scalpel, for good or evil. Wisdom born of learning and doing, and dedicated to the common good is, as Shakespeare once wrote, “a consummation devoutly to be wished.”