Teachers and Values
Undoubtedly, most of us view ourselves as some complex combination of chemist, and in wider perspective, practitioner of science; faculty member, and i n broader context, contributer to higher education; and teacher, in larger sense, monitor and developer of the intellectual endeavors of students. I t is an interesting, but vulnerable combination, rich in opportunities and challenges, but encompassing so many components of what so many social critics feel is wrong with the society, that it is hard to escape the feeling that what we do in our work can make a real difference in where the society goes from here. A brief look a t what some of our critics are saying will illustrate the point. More and more, the forces of anti-science are diminishing their assault on scientists themselves, and are directing their attacks a t the nature and quality of the knowledge produced by science. [See, for example, Theodore Roszak, "The Monster and The Titan: Science, Knowledge and Gnosis." Daedalus. Summer. 1974, n. 17.1 The latest enlightened view is that science dominates thk age with a doctrine of despair, that is, with knowledae and an a ~ ~ r o a to ch understand& that leads inexorahlffrom phenomena of great substance and great human meaning-the beauties of sunrise and sunset, the incredible potential in the human personality-to explanations, models and metaphors that reduce these and all other phenomena to meaningless descriptions; descriptions of an inhuman universe out of which man emerged only by chance, and in which his living mind, with its concepts of good and evil, of hope and beauty, is estranged and-inharmonious. The contention is that this reduction of things of value and beauty to meaningless, mechanistic descriptions breeds despair; and despair is a secret destroyer of the human spirit. Having created this climate of despair, science now is asked to ameliorate matters hy providing the element of knowledge missing from its explanations and models, namely, the sensualistic, value-choosing, judgment-hegetting factor-that vital component of knowledge "we take with us into a crisis," for example. Never mind that art, music, philosophy, religion and other facets of our culture provide opportunities for acquirine this element of knowledee. - . and overlookine the fact that none of these areas is expected to make any accommodation to complement or to socialize scientific knowledge. - . science alone-according to the argument-must restore the missing dimension, and thereby~.provide purpose and . . meaning for a drifting and contused rociety. B y somerhing less than the strangest of coincidence$, the critfcs of higher education are making the same kinds of noises. Earl J. McGrath, former U.S. Commissioner of Education r T b e Time Bomb of Technocratic Education," Change, Sept. 1974, p. 24) in calling for a reorientation of college education because "the values, which are the mortar of every civilization are slipping through our fingers before our eyes," cites a portion of an address by Walter Lippman
speaking to the American Council on Education in 1966 as an apt analysis of our situation: . .. modern men are haunted hy a feeling of heing lost and adrift, without purpose and meaning in the conduct of their lives. The is that the modern void. which rethesis which I am outtine.. to vou , suits frwm the t k s l and inrrrrate procesi of emancipation and nttwnaliantian, must be i i l l d , and that the univrr~irmsmustfill it. McCrath's ~ o i n tis that higher educatim-not just i t s . science component-must provide the missing dimension in our education, which he sees manifest in the vacuum in our moral and social values, and in the present confusion in reaard to who educators are and what they stand for indivi&ally and collectively. As reinforcement, he quotes a product of the German educational system who also was a victim of its most inhuman expression: 1 am absolutely convinced that the gas chambers at Auschwitz, Trehlinka and Maidanek were ultimately prepared, not in same ministry or other in Berlin, but rather at the desks and in the lecture halls of nihilistic scientists and philosophem. No matter how flawed or over-dramatic the arauments. there is a ring of truth in the contention that something im: portant is missing in the knowledge most of us have been professing. And there is good reason to believe that we have in our Dower the wherewithal to substantially mat- improve ters. Somewhere deep inside ourselves, where all the cynicism, and arrogance, add shallow self-interest are set aside, we recognize not only that students look to us to be their intellectial heroes, b i t that we once pledged in solemn oath to ourselves to play this role as best we can. Because we have been there before, we know that when those students who count us as their teacher are confronted with a learning situation, they proceed as they think we would want them to proceed. We know that they look upon our competencies as the com~etenciesthev " hone. to acauire. and uDon our values asLthosethey would prefer to embrace. In matters of iudement. thev tend to reflect on how we would choose: in crisis the; liklly will attempt to approach problems by the means we would deem most appropriate. Therefore, if we think solving the wave equation is more exhilarating than watching a sunset, they will he inclined to think . . . . If we act as if iron is more important than gold, or gold is more important than nobelium, or nobelium is more important than the philosopher's stone, they will tend to act . . . . And if we find ultimate happiness in power, or winning, or creativity, or in the beauty of understanding and appreciating nature, they will he moved to
.... But more significantly, if we truly believe that man is able to identify and comprehend the basis for reality and harmony in nature because he is sensitive to and attuned to that harmony, then perhaps, through us, our students will see that this same awareness and sensitivitv also can enable them to enjoy nature's beauties, to appreciate its subtleties, and to help themselves and our civilization become more harmonious with it. WTL
Volume51. Number 11. November 1974 / 695
