So much of the classroom is, and I believe ought to be, focused on the concept of increasing understanding and awareness. This is in contrast to the rote memorization and regurgitation of other people’s ideas. It is learning the applicability of knowledge that is most vital to a class environment.
But even if we take a concept-changing, mind-bending, thought-shaping class, it isn’t enough to just sit contentedly or dangerously self-righteous in that new awareness. Awareness means next to nothing unless it is acted upon. Every understanding of social justice issues, truth, and growth as a person is contingent more upon the habitual implementation of those ideas than simply possessing knowledge about that realm.
This is always the hardest part. Living something is always more difficult than simply possessing an intellectual understanding of how one should live.
Education, then, is absolutely a vital and important. We can take the knowledge and information that we glean to affect change. Yet, if we are looking for the betterment of individuals and society as a whole, education is merely the first step.
So your goal shouldn’t just be to increase your awareness. It shouldn’t be to merely increase your education. Rather, your goal should be to gather the tools, information, and passion to tear a corner off the darkness. It is a question of perspective. Can we change the status quo? Yes. But the road is long and filled with small battles and difficulties, not just one sweeping and far-reaching confrontation.
College has always been a time of energy. It is the cradle of movements, revolutions, and revolutionaries. But it is always easier to be passionate for a few days, weeks, or years. Tearing corners off the darkness is a slow and draining effort that requires a type of commitment and passion that exceeds even the mere pursuit of victory in a particular social realm. Higher education is a place to find your passion. But education cannot teach you how to commit to an idea or ideal. Awareness begs for concerted and consistent effort.
The danger, and I believe the wellspring of the term “ivory tower,” is when we replace the application and execution of ideas with the acquisition of more information. In many ways it is safer. It is easier for me to write a paper on nutrition, small business, race, truth, or ethics than to take the small and difficult steps in changing the fundamental processes of how I think and live.
The challenge of our educational experience here seems to be, at root, more about the regular application of what we have learned, rather than the mere collection of more understanding and “awareness” about the issues, injustices, and movements in our world. The fullest expression and even responsibility of increasing one’s awareness and education is to turn around and live it … as fully and completely as possible.
Originally published in the Willamette Collegian.