Replying to At de Lange and LO28005
When I read At's words, they reminded me of this passage from the work of
Ralph Barton Perry. In a 1954 work entitled -Realms of Value-, Perry
wrote this about education:
"In the fundamental sense, education is the cultural process by which
successive generations of men take their places in history. Nature has
assigned an indispensable role to education through the prolongation of
human infancy, and through the plasticity of human faculties. By nature
man is not equipped for life but with capacities that enable him to learn
how to live. Since it is generally agreed that acquired characteristics
are not inherited, education assumes the full burden of bringing men 'up
to date,' creating 'the modern man' of the ... latest model. Through
education men acquire the civilization of the past, and are enabled both
to take part in the civilization of the present, and make the civilization
of the future. In short, the purpose of education is three-fold:
inheritance, participation, and contribution."
John Warfield, in the context of "The Wandwaver Solution, Creating the
Great University,"
(http://www.gmu.edu/departments/t-iasis/wandwaver/wandw.htm)
reflects on this trio of inheritance, participation, and contribution.
He suggests adding a fourth element: -integration-.
"To enable the graduate to integrate the inheritance, participation, and
contribution, as a citizen in a free society."
While I do some small amount of teaching in higher education, my 'day job'
is in business. In that world we talk of knowledge workers, knowledge
sharing, transfer of knowledge, knowledge management ... I believe that
if, in my company, we could create an environment where
+ inheritance of what is known
+ participation in the ongoing dialogue that creates new knowledge
+ contribution to the commonwealth of learning
+ integration in service of the whole
were the daily norms, we would not only generate honest profit, but also
serve the larger world of which we are only a small part.
Michael A
--Michael Ayers 3M Center IT Communication, Consulting, & Professional Development 224-2NE-02 St. Paul, MN 55144-1000 Tel: (651) 733-5690 --- Fax: (651) 737-7718 mbayers@mmm.com
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