The flawed nature of our concept of learning
As I reflect on my university experience in my final year, I can’t help but think about the ideas I’ve been exposed to and the difference between my view of the world now, compared to my view of the world in first year. I value my education. I’ve worked hard for it, and I’ve spent a lot of money to get it. To some extent, I am proud of this, yet I believe some aspects of our concept of education and learning at university are deeply flawed.
We are taught to think critically, yet we are not taught to think critically outside of the liberal, secular ideological framework we are taught within. We are educated on the issues and problems of our world, yet we are taught that they are no fault of our own. We are taught that human nature is basically good, and perhaps if it is not, it does not matter anyway. Instead, our society, conditions imposed on us from society, and our political structure are to blame for the suffering and injustice in the world. Humanity is not at fault, even though we created these conditions in the first place. We have theories and frameworks to explain our world. We are told that, if we could find the proper theory, the right political framework, or that utopian ideal that Karl Marx once had, then the world would be at peace – despite evidence to the contrary.
We are driven by the herd mentality that university students must behave in a certain way, hold certain beliefs, and deem certain things as important. Partying, excessive drinking, and casual, guilt-free sex is the norm. Students live by the imperative that if it feels good, do it, as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else – to the best of your knowledge and the best of your definition of hurt. The pursuit of pleasure and human connection is the meaning of life. It’s what we were made for, and there is nothing else.
We are taught that God does not exist, and if he does, it does not matter. God and science are enemies, and there is no evidence for God anyway. We need only hear our professors denounce or mock the existence of a deity to be content that we have exhausted all our personal efforts into the matter. We are taught that morality is subjective. As long as you do what you think is right then we will all be fine. Yet I only need to mention Hitler’s Germany or Stalin’s Russia to characterize the outcome of this logic.
We are taught to be tolerant of all beliefs and ideas. Yet tolerance seems to actually mean, “you must agree with what others believe,” despite the fact that all these beliefs and ideas are contradictory. If you disagree, you are intolerant and an adversary to human rights and equality. Tolerance has become intolerant. It does not seem to be possible any longer for one to show others respect and dignity yet still disagree with their religious, political, or sexual views. An idea can be contended against an idea, because ideas have no feelings or desires, but a human being should not be contended against another.
We are taught that what is true for you is not necessarily true for me. Rather, what is true is a matter of one’s own personal opinion, reality notwithstanding. Whichever way you view the world is not right or wrong, it is simply what you choose to believe and we must be ‘tolerant’ of it. We must all find the truth that is right for us, for there is no absolute truth. Except, of course, the truth that there is no absolute truth.
My experience at university has left me unsettled, because I see a generation of youth that accept what they are being told without question, that have no boundaries, and that exhibit no amount of wisdom or discretion for such matters. The twentieth century is arguably one of the bloodiest yet, and this is a result of a disregard for these issues, which many of today’s youth continue to neglect.