Those who have read the book can come here to describe when people with understanding, imagination, strong character, courage, humility and generosity educated others and made the world better. (Instructions at bottom of page.)
If you have not read the book, or if you doubt these are the six virtues of the educated person, think about the last time your companions were ignorant, intellectually incompetent, weak, truth-fearing, proud, or selfish. How was that experience?
Remember your teachers
Or, better yet, think about your teachers:
1. The best ones modeled and taught all six virtues, so you felt appreciated. You reciprocated with appreciation for them and their lessons, and you appreciate them even today. That is why, “Teachers never die.” That is the first line of The Wonder Years episode entitled, “Goodbye.” It is the finest 20 minutes ever produced for television.
The first 10 minutes are at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1o_IMpm9cM
To view the whole episode, the next 5 minutes are at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9Rnaslr21M
and the final 5 minutes are at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=468h7-R1awU
I am moved by this episode and viewer comments because I love the beauty of human virtue. The first time I was moved to tears by this kind of beauty was at the birth of our third child. At 40 years old I was finally understanding and imaginative enough to appreciate the beauty of my wife’s strong character, courage, humility, and generosity — all of which were evident at the moment of birth.
This Wonder Years episode is beautiful on many levels. I explain them at:
http://www.sixvirtues.com/2010/08/13/review-of-wonder-years-goodbye/
2. Now think about your mediocre teachers. They modeled and taught the virtues of understanding, strong character and generosity, and the vices of intellectual incompetence, fear of truth, and pride. They delivered lessons that rarely “grabbed you,” they blended into the faculty–not wanting to be trouble makers, and they were proud of themselves and taught you to be proud of yourself. Most public school teachers model and teach these virtues and vices, and many of us learned them. That is why Americans have understanding that is unimaginative, strong character that is fearful of truth, and generosity that emerges from pride.
3. Your worst teachers taught understanding; but their intellectual incompetence, weak character, fear of truth, pride and selfishness made you feel unappreciated. And you reciprocated with a lack of appreciation for them and their lessons — even to this day.
The six virtues always have been and always will be the mark of the educated person and influential teacher. (Definitions are here.) American policymakers and educators haven’t discovered this truth because they are looking in the wrong place. They search the social sciences to improve what is an art — the art of working with young people to answer two philosophical questions:
1. What does it mean to be educated?
2. How can we move toward that ideal?
Going in the wrong direction
Public educators and policymakers ignore philosophical questions to focus on social scientific ones because social science findings can be turned into profits. For example, the internet is now a marketplace for the sale of educational materials and workshops. Public education has become a venue for powerful people to pursue their own interests:
1. Business people and industrialists claim public education’s purpose is to prepare a work force for business and industry. (Is there a shallower purpose?)
2. Researchers, scholars, and publishing houses produce books about “best practices,” not because they discovered ”best practices,” but because such claims earn scholarly reputations and profits.
3. Politicians claim they will hold teachers accountable for higher student test scores, not because higher scores are an important purpose, but because it is a purpose for which teachers can be held accountable (by politicians seeking re-election).
4. And hundreds of thousands of public educators claim teaching is an applied social science, even though the memorable ones practice it as an art.
Anthony Cody uses different language to discuss these same points:
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2010/08/overcoming_despair_as_we_fight.html
Finally, have you been in a situation in which the virtues made things better? To present a story for consideration in the next book, click on Email Casey Hurley. Provide your name and phone number. I will call to record your story. Before anything goes to press, you will have final approval.
