An area that I haven’t thought about much recently is university education – and this book examines the education received by students of the elite universities in the United States, and how this education has changed over time.
The author looks at where we are now, what the original purpose of a college education was, how that purpose has morphed over time, and gives some advice for students who might not want to accept the system as it is now.
I especially enjoyed reading about what the author considers is the point of a higher level education (especially one in the liberal arts). There are a lot of quotes I highlighted while reading, and that is always a sign of a book that rang true to me.
He writes that what makes someone interesting is not a laundry list of accomplishments, but rather “reading, thinking, slowing down, having long conversations, and creating a rich inner life for yourself.” Another quote I liked was, “life is finally a long process of learning how you ought to have lived in the first place. Or it is if you do it right.”
Lots of food for thought in this book, and I think I’ll enjoy reflecting on the contents for a long time. Hopefully this book is on the list of reading for students just entering the higher education system (and maybe even better to read as parents thinking about their child’s education).
What it boiled down to for me was that we need to develop the ability to reflect on things and consider problems and systems from multiple viewpoints. We must ask questions about why we are doing things a certain way, and be able to consider other ways that we might do it – or if we really need to be doing these things in the first place.
Living in Japan it is rare to meet people who question why things are set up the way they are. The educational system here prizes rote memorization and the submission to authority, so it is natural that the people educated like that bring those same values to their careers and ways of thinking. But I don’t think those are the best skills to bring to a rapidly changing and evolving world.
Next I’m going back to fiction with The Last Watch by J.S. Dewes.
