I attended the commencement ceremonies at a regional public university over the past weekend. (My sister graduated with a Master of Arts in Sociology, and I am quite proud of her!) I was struck by the administration of the university boasting about taking young kids out of high school and exposing them to “new ideas”.
New ideas….. Sounds like a good thing, correct? Can’t argue that one, can you if you stop right there.
I commented afterward to my sister and family that it seems to me that universities certainly expose students to new ideas, but they have a responsibility to teach the truth also and that under the guise of “new ideas” often comes manipulation of a gullible mind. History is replete with individuals who instill new ideas in the public consciousness only to mislead them, convince them of something, and upholding as good and true that which is anything but that.
In other words, I get very nervous when anyone who wishes to implant new ideas into others when that person holds to a relativistic epistemology. Said differently, I don’t trust anything coming from a person who refuses to acknowledge objectivity in acquisition of knowledge. Epistimology (how we know what we know) is rooted in truth; it is rooted in an awareness of something out there we are trying to apprehend and categorize and comprehend. It is the recognition of difference, something which cannot be accomplished without a concurrent recognition of an objective something to which we reach out in relationship so as to know.
To many people have no idea what is true because they see only what they perceive without an assurance that their apprehension is secure.
I looked up in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church (no.557) what it said about schools and ideas. Here is what it says:
…the right of families and persons to free and open schools; freedom of access to the means of social communication together with the avoidance of all forms of monopolies and ideological control of this field; freedom of research, sharing one’s thoughts, debate and discussion. …. The commitment to the education and formation of the person has always represented the first concern of Christian social action.
The Church opposes “ideological control” over means of social communication, which I take to include the social communication in a classroom.
I challenge all educators to look at themselves and to be honest…. are the new ideas to which you expose your students, an honest means of exploring the truth or an attempt to persuade, dominate or marginalize?
All ideas are to be held up to the light of truth. Even Plato knew this.
