Commencement
It was not so very long ago that one of my duties was to speak to young men and women and try to inspire them. I wasn't always very good at it, and it was difficult and painful and arduous and altogether quite a burden. Yet, at the same time, it was a burden which I thought was important, meaningful, worth bearing.
When I left my last job, I threw away all my notes. There was a time when I would have thought of keeping them and perhaps some day compiling them into a book about the fifteen years in which I had that duty. But I think I made this conscious decision in the knowledge that the basis for all those words remains the same, that what I might have thought was good could always be made better, and that whatever I said could always be said again.
If I still had that duty this year (and actually, it was to have been my duty the day after I left), I would have continued to speak about the pursuit of truth and about seeing with blinding sight. I would have noted that a positive outlook is based on St Paul's list in the letter to the Philippians: "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
At the same time, I think I would have referred to the First Commission in Matthew's gospel. That passage has inspired me for ages; whether you are a Christian or not, the window of vision is enormous. It really says, "Go out and change society. Be a force for the division of good from evil, of justice from injustice. Be wise as serpents, harmless as doves. You will prevail."
I have sometimes likened the offspring of a school to arrows fired from a bow in the hands of a strong archer. This is an old view, most recently echoed by Stalin in his statement that education is like a weapon – it depends on who holds it and at whom it is aimed. Once an arrow has left the bow, it is the remorseless influence of anonymous forces that holds it to its course. The artistry is in the aiming and firing, the archer's control.
But students aren't inanimate. They have souls, they have spirits and emotions. They may resist or accept guidance, but never with exactitude and Newtonian compliance. They can be influenced, and they can influence. The only thing one can do is watch and pray, and hope with all one's heart that for each of them, the best is yet to be.
When I left my last job, I threw away all my notes. There was a time when I would have thought of keeping them and perhaps some day compiling them into a book about the fifteen years in which I had that duty. But I think I made this conscious decision in the knowledge that the basis for all those words remains the same, that what I might have thought was good could always be made better, and that whatever I said could always be said again.
If I still had that duty this year (and actually, it was to have been my duty the day after I left), I would have continued to speak about the pursuit of truth and about seeing with blinding sight. I would have noted that a positive outlook is based on St Paul's list in the letter to the Philippians: "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
At the same time, I think I would have referred to the First Commission in Matthew's gospel. That passage has inspired me for ages; whether you are a Christian or not, the window of vision is enormous. It really says, "Go out and change society. Be a force for the division of good from evil, of justice from injustice. Be wise as serpents, harmless as doves. You will prevail."
I have sometimes likened the offspring of a school to arrows fired from a bow in the hands of a strong archer. This is an old view, most recently echoed by Stalin in his statement that education is like a weapon – it depends on who holds it and at whom it is aimed. Once an arrow has left the bow, it is the remorseless influence of anonymous forces that holds it to its course. The artistry is in the aiming and firing, the archer's control.
But students aren't inanimate. They have souls, they have spirits and emotions. They may resist or accept guidance, but never with exactitude and Newtonian compliance. They can be influenced, and they can influence. The only thing one can do is watch and pray, and hope with all one's heart that for each of them, the best is yet to be.
Labels: Education, Idealism, Ideas, Matthew, Philippians, Students
etched with acid at 10:48:00 am
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