A lot has been said about education in terms of its value to those who attain it. But it is a mistake to focus strictly on its payoff to the individual, whether in material enrichment (better job), personal growth (better person), or personal enrichment (a happier more fullfiled person). Everything good that our civilization is or can be is subsumed in the totality of our culture, our art, our science, our technology, our philosophy, our religion, our politics, our literatature, our economics--in short everthing you can learn about in school and by study. The power of that culture as a force for good in our civilization is predicated on its preservation, dissemination, and refinement. It is no accident that the restriction of education, and the supression, and even execution of those who provide it at the highest level, has been an element of some of the greatest cultural evils in history. It is also no accident that those cultures who advocated the spread of knowlege have, in the end, triumphed over those who tried to limit it. In this century, the Nazi's and the Western Communists States (to name two) brutally persecuted and exiled their intellectual community, resticted learning, and burned, banned and censored books. Now, reviled, they lie shattered on the scrap heap of history. Defeated by cultures who embraced intellectual pursuits education. It was by stripping away the greatest force for good in their societies, by denying the freedom to learn and think, that they unwittingly stripped themselves of the one essential tool they needed to make their societies enduring and great.

That is why I always shudder when I hear education discussed solely in terms of its value to the student alone, or when hear a student complain about having to learn something unrelated to their career. My cousin, who studied psychology, once decried having to learn algebra. "Why? I'll never us it!", she said. Why indeed?. Algebra is one of the great elements of the culture that made you. As such is is an integreal part of everything good that you are. If you believe that others both now and in the future should share in that benefit, you have a responsibility to take part in the dissemination and preservation that knowlege, and of as many of other elements of the culture that made you as you as you can. Learning about them is part of that. Granted life is short, and no one can learn everything. All of us will make decisions about which things we will give the most attention. However, that does not mean avoiding opportunities to learn based only on personal interest.

Starting with the Renaissance, and continuing through to today, the western culture that spawned us has been engaed in a great experiment to determine whether a culture is best served by education or by obedience to authority. That was the issue in the trial of Gallileo, and we see it played out everywhere around us. It is a struggle that touches us all, and we must all decide on which side we stand. The easiest choice is to stand for obedience. All that is required is for us to abdictate our responsiblity to educate ourselve as much as we possibly can.

On the other hand, every barber that troubles to learn algebra, every writer that bothers to understand the rudiments of science, every engineer that takes time to read Melville or Conrad, every housewife that take some time to read history strikes an important and necessary blow against the abhorent concept of blind obedience. They stand shoulder to shoulder with all of those who committed and sometimes gave their lives to the idea that knowlege and truth are the only masters that we should serve.

So do your homework.

Jack