I was listening to talk radio a couple of days ago, and one of the speakers made the comment that there are many who “are educated into imbecility.” I laughed at the time, knowing in the midst of the laughter that he was right, although I couldn’t really articulate my reasoning behind it all.
I then completed my reading of Benedict’s encyclical, Caritas in Vertitate, and found that his writing put words to it all.
Take a look at section 61.
I quote, “education refers not only to classroom teaching and vocational training…..but to the complete formation of the person. In this regard, there is a problem that should be highlighted: in order to educate, it is necessary to know the nature of the human person, to know who he or she is. The increasing prominence of a relativistic understanding of that nature presents serious problems for education…. Yielding to this kind of relativism makes everyone poorer….”
True education requires a good understanding of human nature. In our contemporary culture, our minds and our consciences are being blinded to even the recognition of the human person. We do not recognize a human person when we see him or her; our failure to extend the rights of personhood to the unborn is a glaring example of this. The advancement of the euthanasia movement is another example: we devalue and dehumanize the feeble. Those completely dependent on others are in effect, dehumanized.
A sizable portion of our society have been educated into imbecility.
Frankly, I believe this is a result of the failure to require learning philosophy in all academic programs at the university level. A failure to require learning theology. Faith and Reason. They are the cornerstones of an educated person.
What do you think?
