7.06.2009

Adult Ed.


Today I read something surprising in Mortimer Adler's The Paideia Proposal: An Educational Manifesto. He states in it that real education happens after someone completes their education, when they are on their own, when their maturity is put to the test, when they make crucial life decisions.

This was surprising because we post-mod babies are raised to look backward into our childhoods for the most shaping moments in our lives. It is true that the stuff adults are made of is indeed concocted when we are young. There can be no denying that. I know my dad is still moved in his heart by "the way he was raised," despite how far he feels that he strayed from that.

But, maybe Adler is still right. When we're out of school, when all training wheels are off, when we pedal so far that we cannot look back and see our mothers standing behind us we have the chance to either bend and break under independence and responsiblity, or to stand stronger, and more resilient against their weight.


2 comments:

monica said...

i like this. i particularly like the title.

also, i miss you. and nana. RIP nana.

RUBY DIALECT said...

to learn life, a full hands on experience is needed.