“Commitment unlocks the doors of imagination, allows vision, and gives us the "right stuff" to turn our dreams into reality.”
Educational ideals and aspirations
Before we can figure out how to build an education system or assess whether an educational system meets the goals and ideals we aspire to as a moral & ethical society, we must first ask ourselves what those goals and ideals are. Note the important word in that sentence: ideals. Yes, ideals do matter, even if we often fall short of them, because of the other important word in that sentence: aspire. It is the, the aspiration to ideals, which tells much about what a person considers serious and important and defines the direction of his life. When a kid plays baseball, he imagines himself becoming the next Derek Jeter -- he doesn't aspire to becoming the next 40 year old overweight guy in the Sunday breakfast league. When a kid starts to learn, he should similarly imagine himself becoming the next Albert Einstein, the next Beethoven, and put in hours trying to make that dream come true -- not aspire to becoming a...
Before we can figure out how to build an education system or assess whether an educational system meets the goals and ideals we aspire to as a moral & ethical society, we must first ask ourselves what those goals and ideals are. Note the important word in that sentence: ideals. Yes, ideals do matter, even if we often fall short of them, because of the other important word in that sentence: aspire. It is the, the aspiration to ideals, which tells much about what a person considers serious and important and defines the direction of his life. When a kid plays baseball, he imagines himself becoming the next Derek Jeter -- he doesn't aspire to becoming the next 40 year old overweight guy in the Sunday breakfast league. When a kid starts to learn, he should similarly imagine himself becoming the next Albert Einstein, the next Beethoven, and put in hours trying to make that dream come true -- not aspire to becoming a...
40 year old person who can barely read economics with the help of a commentary. At some point in life a person matures and is forced to realize he is not Derek Jeter and maybe becoming a lawyer rather than count on playing shortstop for the Yankees is not a bad idea. And at some point down the road most students will realize they are not Albert Einstein or the Beethoven and they too will need to make concessions to reality as well. But those decisions can come long after elementary school, even after high school.
So what are the big dreams we should to inspire students to think about? Should we inspire them to go figure out a cure for cancer, perform some valuable social service that can help the needy, improve the world in some other way? All those are important goals, but they are secondary and far less important than the one goal for which a Human being was created.
The famous scholar asks in his introduction to a commentary he is writing on values: "Why is man here; for what was he created?" The Scholar answers that man was created for one purpose alone -- to imbue his soul with the wisdom of G-d. All other wisdom is valuable only to the extent that it enables man to draw closer to that singular goal. The scholar continues that even if a person lived a holy life of a monk, perfecting his nature and character, performing good deeds, avoiding sin and temptation, he would still be imperfect so far as he did not devote himself to attaining the knowledge of G-d.
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So what are the big dreams we should to inspire students to think about? Should we inspire them to go figure out a cure for cancer, perform some valuable social service that can help the needy, improve the world in some other way? All those are important goals, but they are secondary and far less important than the one goal for which a Human being was created.
The famous scholar asks in his introduction to a commentary he is writing on values: "Why is man here; for what was he created?" The Scholar answers that man was created for one purpose alone -- to imbue his soul with the wisdom of G-d. All other wisdom is valuable only to the extent that it enables man to draw closer to that singular goal. The scholar continues that even if a person lived a holy life of a monk, perfecting his nature and character, performing good deeds, avoiding sin and temptation, he would still be imperfect so far as he did not devote himself to attaining the knowledge of G-d.
http://www.facesnetworking.com/See More
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