Education

'Fine words or fine features
Cannot make a master
Out of a jealous and greedy man


Only when envy and selfishness
Are rooted out of him
May he grow in beauty'

Shambhala Dhammapada, v.19,p.70

I listen repeatedly to radio and television stories about the cost of education, student loans and the growing number of high-school drop-outs in America. I hear grousing teachers protest being held accountable for student performance under their charge. I hear a U.S. President threaten quality control by government to prevent colleges in league with bankers from ripping off their students with expensive, useless degrees. 

Where does mastery in a life start? Education, whether found in the home or in a school, is the way to happiness, peace and independence in life. Yet educators have bought into a capitalism which reduces the noblest of professions to dollars and cents. They have prostituted themselves to greedy administrators, bankers and politicians. The results are obvious.

As a humanist, I see self-education as the foundation of any humanist practice. Self-education requires a skill set which must be learned from teachers. However, as a humanist who supports organizational humanism, I see too little emphasis on working in the schools in the actions of humanist groups. In my own limited experience with organized humanists, I saw a hesitancy to engage with the public education system as a method to impact young minds by assisting them with reading and tutoring. 

We can all be teachers in the moment. Giving directions on the street is an opportunity to impart helpful information, for example. Interceding in a disagreement among friends or strangers is an opportunity to educate. Correcting unduly harsh treatment of a child by bullying adult can be an educational moment. Reading to a child is an easy and rewarding way to inspire a young mind.

Spreading humanity's finest ideas and impulses to young minds is perhaps the most admirable form of humanism. At present, this is not the main thrust of the humanist movement, which is based largely in privileged collegiate environments. While The Academy is a wellspring of innovation in thought and education, the crucial opening of minds begins much sooner. There are no fortunes to be made teaching the young in America or anywhere else. However, those who teach the young have the power to change the world.