This essay is the first one in which I have disagreed with Lewis. He says that in university one should specialize in one topic instead of trying to learn a little about everything. He says of this composite form of learning, “In reading such a school, therefore, you would not be turned loose on some tract of reality as it is, to make what you could of it; you would be getting selections of reality selected by your elders – something cooked, expurgated, filtered, and generally toned down for your edification.” I understand his point, and I do believe that one should find at least one topic in which to delve deeply, but I do not think that one should neglect other topics after an cursory introduction to them.
Any selection of content made by another will by digested to a certain extent, unless the whole body of knowledge is prescribed. The answer to this is not, as I believe Lewis is suggesting, specialization. Rather, the student must hunger for knowledge and study on his own. The great conversation of ideas so much greater and so much more connected than any one course of study can convey. Whether one's formal learning is focused and deep, or broad and general, it is always our responsibility to continue to explore and learn the things that we are not learning through school. At least for me, the joy of learning comes when you discover the connections between disparate subjects and they each contribute to your understanding of the other.
I think that Lewis is right in saying that education is there to give us the breadth and means to learn and make connections. I differ from Lewis in that I believe that university ought to be a place where the student who wants to learn will be stretched and pushed to learn different things and in different ways than he would have on his own. Lewis, as I understand him, thinks that university should just enable you to study one subject deeply. Learning is good for it's own sake, so the aim of a university curriculum should be to help students to to learn what they would not have on their own, so that they have a fuller understanding of reality.
I also got the feeling that Lewis was advocating for a more specialized field and that made me uneasy. I do think it is important to find a field, your vocation, in a specific subject area but I feel that as much as possible one should also be incorporating the education of the other subjects as well. I guess I might say one progresses to truly learn in their field of choice but continues a broad education to continue there personal improvement.
ReplyDeleteI also love to find connection between the different disciplines that we study. I think that undergraduate education is the time where students make the jump from general to specialized. This makes sense because high school is very generalized and graduate work is very specialized. I think undergraduate work should start with a broad foundation and then move on to become more specialized and allow students to really pursue knowledge during upper level work.
ReplyDeleteGood developments.
ReplyDeleteI think you are right when you mention ‘I differ from Lewis in that I believe that university ought to be a place where the student who wants to learn will be stretched and pushed to learn different things and in different ways than he would have on his own’ and that the ‘university curriculum should be to help students to learn what they would not have on their own, so that they have a fuller understanding of reality’.
However, is it not more the ‘student’s attitude’ than the ‘choice of the school curriculum’ that will make him a learner or simply one being educated? When C.S. mentions ‘go and get the fish yourself’ against having a ready meal? The college still brings you to a specific spot where fish can be found and gives you (hopefully)the right bait and tackle?
Could I state that many a child 'learns' more than a great percentage of college students? Just look at the joy and dedication with which a toddler learns to walk - it gets up the moment it falls and does so hundreds of times a day, till it can joyfully run towards the outstretched arms of its parents?
Cheers!
adriana
I agree with you that specialization is not necessarily the best way to go. I kind of had a different impression of what Lewis was saying though. To me it seemed like he was saying that the ideal was to pick a topic and then study everything that affects it, which would really be to study everything there is to study. But, since it is impossible to know everything it is necessary to be a bit more selective. I don't know, that was just my take on it.
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