Education and Liberty

© Papazi Mouris, Flickr “greekadman”Creative Commons License

“Ideal conversation must be an exchange of thought, and not,
as many of those who worry most about their shortcomings believe,
an eloquent exhibition of wit or oratory”

~Emily Post, American Etiquette Pioneer

A new study in the journal Psychological Science concluded that happy people talk more, and have more substantive conversations. While this study solely reveals the correlation between happiness and conversation, not a causal link, I find it interesting that it is not mere conversation that the happy have, but substantive conversation.

If education is didactic and does not foster behaviors that allow for the clear and purposeful exchange of ones own ideas than there is no opportunity for the students to practice what the happiest people do: have meaningful fulfilling conversations!

See the links below for more information on the study:

Happy People Talk More, and With More Substance

Can You Talk Your Way to Happy?

Substantive talks better than small talks for happier life

“Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

We must make the building of a free society once more an intellectual adventure, a deed of courage… Unless we can make the philosophic foundations of a free society once more a living intellectual issue, and its implementation a task which challenges the ingenuity and imagination of our liveliest minds, the prospects of freedom are indeed dark. But if we can regain that belief in power of ideas which was the mark of [classical] liberalism at its best, the battle is not lost. ~F.A. Hayek, Studies in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, p194

If children are allowed free development and given occupation to correspond with their unfolding minds their
natural goodness will shine forth. ~Maria Montessori

There are certain moments in my life where I feel like the world is telling me something. Times where so many of the conversations I have , ideas I am thinking about and articles I read converge, that I can’t help but listen. This is one of those moments.

We all know that how we educate children needs to change, that the public school system is not  “working”. (I go further, and believe that it is inherently incapable of providing a truly valuable education that respects the individuality of the child.)

Most of the discussion of education has been negative statements, statements of what we don’t want. So what is the vision? What do we want out of education? What would be the very best outcome for society?

Now I don’t presume to know the Answer, but I will propose an answer (and I am curious to hear what you think!): We want innovators. We want creative problem solvers, critical thinkers. That is where the continued progress and prosperity lies. We want people who see a problem, and are empowered to fix it, or at least give it an honest try. We want people who see a need, and want to fulfill it. We want entrepreneurs. This call is universal. It goes beyond industry and sector, it reaches the very source of prosperity for all people, in all countries. A country of inspired innovators is a country of prosperous, perhaps even happy, people. The wonderful Maria Montessori said in chapter one of her book, The Absorbent Mind, “If help and salvation are to come, they can only come from the children, for the children are the makers of men.” The next question becomes what is the best way to develop the habits and insights of those “makers of men.” How do we inspire that wonderful quality of “tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.”? Again, I do not presume to know the Answer. It is and always will be an evolving process but I have some ideas…

My current work is inspiring. I am honored to be in the company of a man working towards this: my boss, Jeff Sandefer, is an entrepreneur who, in addition to his many other contributions towards the cause of liberty, is making huge strides in how we approach higher education. The Pope Center for Higher Education put out an excellent article today regarding his prediction of the collapse of the US higher education system. As I work with him to develop a primary school curriculum we are making progress towards changing the very model of elementary education. Exciting times.

Here you will find an excellent speech that he gave on education.

Rachel’s last post about music and the market reminded me of this most fabulous article by Leonard E. Read called “The Miraculous Market.”

Leonard Read was one of the greatest advocates for peace and human freedom.  His advocacy for these principles was founded on a deep gratitude for human beings and the creativity they express.  Read’s works are a great example of what Maria Montessori believed should be an integral part of education: inspiring gratitude for human beings and what they have achieved through social cooperation.  In To Educate the Human Potential, she writes:

It is hoped that when this sentiment of love for all subjects can be aroused in children, people in general will become more human, and brutal wars will come to an end. But a love for science and art, and all that mankind has created, will not suffice to make men and women love one another. To love a beautiful sunset, or look with wonder on a tiny insect, does not necessarily awaken a greater feeling of affection towards humanity, nor does a love for art in a man beget a love for his neighbour. What is very necessary is that the individual from the earliest years should be placed in relation with humanity.  There is no love in our hearts for the human beings from whom we have received, and are receiving so much in bread and clothing, and numerous inventions for our benefit.  We take and enjoy all that is done for us without gratitude, like atheists who withhold their gratitude and love from God.  Perhaps we teach the child to thank God and pray to Him, but not to thank humanity, God’s prime agent in creation; we give no thought to the men and women who daily give their lives that we may live more richly….Every achievement has come by the sacrifice of the sacrifice of someone now dead….

Let us in education ever call the attention of children to the hosts of men and women who are hidden from the light of fame, so kindling a love of humanity; not the vague and enaemic sentiment preached today as brotherhood, nor the political sentiment that the working classes should be redeemed and uplifted….

“Free the child’s potential, and you will transform him into the world” ~Maria Montessori

“Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.” ~Victor Hugo

I have recently been powerfully affected by two musical experiences.

The first is a joy. Her name is Susan Boyle, and she is an inspiration. The second is one of the most beautiful collaborations I have witnessed and it is a testament to mankind’s love of beauty.

Britian’s Got Talent, a popular television show, debuted this unassuming 47 year-old spinster this past weekend. And she blew us all away. The YouTube Symphony Orchestra called for “professionals and amateur musicians of all ages, locations and instruments to audition for the YouTube Symphony Orchestra by submitting a video performance of a new piece written for the occasion by the renowned Chinese composer Tan Dun.” The winners are performing at Carnegie Hall tonight.

Both are absolutely world class musical compositions and yet both are a direct result of the actions of business projects: The state-funded British Symphony Orchestra did not give 12 million Britons and another 6 million online viewer access to that beauty. A television show did. All the symphonies in the world could not source the talent on the scale of that composition. But YouTube could.

There is a very interesting research being done by Professor Stephen Hicks in Rockford College, IL. (HT: Marsha Enright) His current book project is The Fate of Art under Capitalism and he makes the following observations:

1. Artists have never had it so good as over the last century—the number of practicing artists has skyrocketed, as has the amount of money we spend on art, as has the number of media and genres, as has the quantity and quality of artistic raw materials, and so on.
2. The last century has been relatively capitalism-and-business friendly. (I know what you’re thinking, free market friends of mine.)
3. Most artists, especially those in the artistic establishment, are anti-capitalist and anti-business. (Picasso is representative, in word if not always in deed, here in 1918 speaking of his dealer Léonce Rosenberg: “Le marchand—voilà l’enemmi” [“The dealer—there's the enemy”].)

See the full article (with cartoons!) here

It is only because of the relative freedom of our society that we are able to enjoy these delights on the scale that we are able to. The joy and beauty of the arts is no longer limited to wealthy and the privileged. Even those of the lowest means can purchase a violin and lesson books for less than $100, access the wealth of human experience from the touch of a few buttons, and come to experience beauty of human expression. That is a something that no government could ever make possible.

*Update: At the tech blog Gizmodo, there is a beautiful article about audiophiles and how an expert listener experiences the world, “This is the detail that matters: Audiophiles are basically synesthesiacs. They “see” music in three-dimensional visual space. You close your eyes in Fremer’s chair, and you can perceive a detailed 3D matrix of sound, with each element occupying its own special space in the air. It’s crazy and I’ve never experienced anything like it.” It is a truly wonderful read: Why We Need Audiophiles

“If the idea of the universe is presented to the child in the right way, it will do more for him than just arouse his interest, for it will create in him admiration and wonder, a feeling loftier than any interest and more satisfying.” ~Maria Montessori

“We are perishing for want of wonder, not for want of wonders.” ~G. K. Chesterton, quoted by Leonard Read, in I, Pencil.

Last night I had an amazing conversation with my incredibly precocious 12 year old neighbor. Our conversation brought us to the idea of being self-sufficient, and what I would, or wouldn’t be able to do without the help of others. I was inspired to bring out I, Pencil, a short essay by Leonard Read, founder of the Foundation for Economic Education, and read it with him. I went and got a pencil, simple, yellow, out of my desk, and we sat down together.

“I, Pencil, am a complex combination of miracles: a tree, zinc, copper, graphite, and so on. But to these miracles which manifest themselves in Nature an even more extraordinary miracle has been added: the configuration of creative human energies—millions of tiny know-hows configurating naturally and spontaneously in response to human necessity and desire and in the absence of any human master-minding! Since only God can make a tree, I insist that only God could make me. Man can no more direct these millions of know-hows to bring me into being than he can put molecules together to create a tree.” I, Pencil, Leonard Read

If you have never read this essay, I highly recommend it, I especially recommend reading it with your younger friends. My neighbor became so engaged! He began thinking of all the different people involved, and how we really aren’t very self sufficient at all. If we can inspire young people to see the wonder in the world around them, not just in nature, but in their own clothes, and plates, and pencils, in the simple things we can take for granted…if we can do that, we can begin to engage them to appreciate the “millions of tiny know-hows”, and once they appreciate them they will be prepared to protect them.

2-minute video of Milton Friedman paraphrasing the I, Pencil story (the essay is better, of course )