Déjà Vu from Brooks

It’s not what you ask of your life, it’s what your life asks of you?

When I was reading this article that we were assigned for discussion, I realized how many of the claims and statements made throughout it reminded me of many concepts we discussed during this semester.

David Brooks
Picture from Josh Haner/The New York Times

The first paragraph of this reading reminded me of one of our very first discussion conversations this year. We said an LSA degree allows for a more broad degree so you are able to figure out what you are actually interested in and then after you are able to specialize. A liberal arts degree allows us to explore various disciplines and develop an interest in multiple different subject areas. In Louis Menand’s article we were introduced to the different theories of higher education- attempting to distinguish what the genuine purpose of higher education is. Is it a sorting mechanism or a place to learn and increase our knowledge? The quotation in this first paragraph exclaims the following:

“The aim of a liberal education” the report declared, “is to unsettle presumptions, to defamiliarize the familiar, to reveal what is going on beneath and behind appearances, to disorient young people and to help them to find ways to reorient themselves.”

Plato's Apology
Photo from Amazon

This quotation from a report from a faculty committee at Harvard seems to be supportive of what we discussed to be a Theory 2 perspective. That is, supportive of exploration among multiple disciplines to expand our knowledge rather than attending school to receive “good grades.” When I initially read this quotation, I thought of our Conventional Essay #1 assignment and Socrates. How do you think that Socrates would react to this statement? I believe that he would fully endorse this idea of encouraging children to question established beliefs and to independently discover. As Socrates said, “the unexamined life is not worth living”… and this quote exemplifies that concept. I continued to make connections to Socrates as I read on- “[children] should break free from the way they were raised, examine life from the outside and discover their own values.” This excerpt immediately made me think back to Plato’s Apology.

As the article progresses, it introduces the idea that instead of encouraging students to break the habits that they are taught to follow and create their own path, institutions persuade them to conform to the historical promises passed down through professions:

“Each of these institutions comes with certain rules and obligations that tell us how to do what we’re supposed to do. Journalism imposes habits that help reporters keep a mental distance from those they cover. Scientists have obligations to the community of researchers…”

This is a turning point in the article because we as readers are now exposed to an opposing idea about institutions. Brooks is explaining that we are in debt to institutions. He continues by describing the fact that now knowledge is limited and we lack the ability to have our own independently created identity. Brooks then writes, “The connection is more like a covenant” when describing the relationship that a professional has with the institution he/she is associated with. This phrase of course made me think of Hobbe’s Leviathan and our discussion about covenants and social contracts…

Socrates
Photo from philosophy.com

There are many other excerpts from this article that made me think of other readings we read this semester, but another quotation that made me think about Socrates was this:

“Institutions do all the things that are supposed to be bad. They impede personal exploration. They enforce conformity.”

Brooks makes the claim that these institutions that we value so much are the possible reasons that we are not each our own individuals seeking a unique life. Do you agree with this final quotation? What do you think Socrates would think about this final statement? Do you think participating in the institution of higher education is conformist?