Few writers have challenged my thinking and priorities more in the last few years than Wendell Berry. He is a Believer, a husband, and a farmer -- and he is all those things at the same time -- each one inseparable from the others. His words are strong and call readers to a vision of humanity, life, and creation that has been rejected by most.
I include this here because my educational philosophy is the overflow of my worldview -- and again, Berry has challenged it from the first time I read him over three years.
The Air of the Free
TV, computers, and the Internet
Democratize our sins, so that
The smallest child may have a dirty mind,
And this is progress for our kind,
Enriching those who most deserve to be
Enriched, leaving in poverty
The ones who're most deserving to be poor.
This way our art and literature
Serve our God-given freedom to express
Ourselves however we think best
And be as uninhibited as hogs,
Our electronic catalogs
Conveying all our everlasting hopes
While we glide down the frozen slopes
Of the statistical analysis And the opinion poll.
Let this Be a sign unto us: the plug, once plugged,
Cannot forever be unplugged.
When shocked by our electrifying diet
Of filth, inanity, and riot,
Official violence and family quarrels,
We pray to government to save our morals.
Justin, thanks for your blog this week - it is so thoughtful that I find myself reading every word of it, and sometimes twice. You just keep raising those questions of your! I am SO thankful that bright young people like you are entering this profession - maybe you will be one of the ones to answer the hard questions and finally make education the way it is meant to be!! 5/5 points
ReplyDeleteThank you, Dr. G.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I could keep myself from asking questions even I had to.