Intellectuals of all Stripes Contribute to our Learning

Kurt Vonnegut had numerous opinions on the institutions that govern our lives. He was iconoclastic, of course. He did a rift on museums and the absurdity of calling out certain pieces of art as being more important than others. As an institution, I think sometimes schools mirror museums in terms of their self-importance. Or this feeling that things are important because we decide they are. Feel free to substitute the concept of education for museums in the quote from Vonnegut below:

The power of the museums is to say, “This is important.” The whole idea of picture framing, which is a big industry, is, “This you must look at.” You’ve taken a piece of the world and you’ve isolated it in a frame and it must be looked at, which is nice. But here we’ve got a big Dada show going on in the Museum of Modern Art and you must look at this. I’m wandering around all of New York and looking at this, looking at that. Maybe not looking at anything, but when you get into a museum, you gotta look at this. The arts are a practical joke. Artists are practical jokers. They’re making people respond emotionally when nothing is really going on. Which is fine. That is safe sex.

Then, of course, he talked about the absurdity of teachers trying to do too much with too little. 

The classes are too big. My definition of a utopia is very simple: classes of 15 or smaller – out of this, a great nation can be built. Classes have 35 students, for Christ’s sake. The class ideally should be a family. Let’s take care of each other. There’s a person who can’t get the hang of calculus? Someone should say,“Here, let me show you.” A class of 35? Poor teacher.

There are many inherent contradictions in education, as noted above. For example, the prices of textbooks continue to soar even as prices on tuition come under increasing scrutiny. I am tempted to write a required textbook entitled: "Why Textbooks are Unnecessary."!

Of course, there is the danger of becoming too relativistic -- we do need teachers to help us understand and contribute to our culture/education. There is Kenneth Clark, the former director of the Tate Gallery in London and cataloger and supporter of many great artist. Clark also wrote books and produced BBC productions on the history of art. Some see him as very European-centric and perhaps multiculturalism has made his view less representative, but Clark certainly played a seminal role in arts education.

Another example are cultural critics in the media. Terry Teachout, arts critic for the Wall Street Journal, had an article "Educating America," which listed books and videos that he felt were vital to understanding the American ethos. This list could be used to supplement curriculum or as a guide for independent study.

This is to say that intellectuals of all stripes contribute to our learning. Keep a lookout for those with a message.