Emeritus Professor Ronald D. Simpson

“A Search for the Complete Education:
Balancing the Needs for Survival and Fulfillment”

Founders’ Day, January 27, 2003 at 3:00 p.m. in the Chapel.

Thank you Debra for that extremely generous introduction.  I am grateful to the University of Georgia, and to all of you, for the privilege and honor of being in this Chapel on this occasion.  We are here to celebrate the founding of this institution of higher learning, an event 218 years ago that changed the course of history in this great state.  Founders’ Day is a wonderful time for alumni, students, emeriti faculty and friends to be together with current faculty and staff.

I want to express my appreciation to Professor Sylvia Hutchinson.  As coordinator of the Emeriti Scholars program, she is a leader and role model on our campus and a significant force behind the events of today.

It is particularly refreshing to see the inter-generational mix in this audience.  Undergraduates are sitting next to some of the legendary teachers and leaders who are responsible for the remarkable rise in accomplishment and stature of this university. 

This event also demonstrates in several ways how our lives interconnect, spiral, branch, and then over time reconnect.  Many of us today are reuniting with former teachers, students, classmates and friends.  As a concrete personal example, there are many in this audience who have played a significant role in my life.  One group bears special mention.  They are former students I had the honor of working with as a young biology teacher at Sprayberry High School in Marietta and The Westminster Schools in Atlanta.  For some, this was 40 years ago --- but I remember them, and treasure them, as though it were only yesterday.   

When I received the invitation to speak, I asked a few close friends and colleagues what I should talk about.  Probably the most judicious advice I received came from my wife, Charlotte.  She said:  “I think you should talk about five minutes.”   This might be related to a confession our son, who is trapped in this audience, made a few years ago when he told one of his professors here that the worst form of childhood punishment for misbehaving was, in his words,  “the dreaded lecture” from his father. 

As we celebrate this grand occasion today, I invite each of you to reflect on your own lifelong education, thinking about where you have been, where you are now, and where you want to go in life from here.  I have titled my talk “A Search for the Complete Education:  Balancing the Needs for Survival and Fulfillment.”

During the first decade after receiving the baccalaureate degree I reasoned that I should have taken more courses in mathematics, English and foreign language.  During the second decade, however, I began to wish that I had taken more computer science, statistics and economics.  In my third decade post graduation I thought I should have taken more sociology, psychology, history and philosophy.  By the time I entered the fourth decade beyond graduation it was clear that I had not taken nearly enough courses in art, music and drama.  I am now  in the fifth decade beyond that B.S. degree and find myself wondering about another constellation of questions that go far beyond the courses I have taken, or the ones I wish I had taken.  For example:

“Am I spending time doing the right things?”
“If I knew that tomorrow was the last day of my life, how would I choose to spend it?
“Do I really know what is most important in life?

The last question reminds me of an old movie, “City Slickers.”  The central character, played by Billy Crystal, takes off on an adventuresome vacation with two pals.  They end up out west in a cattle drive and face many life-threatening situations.  Along the way they meet a rugged, but wise character named Curly (played by Jack Palance). Before he dies, Curly holds up one finger and tells these three cowboy wannabees that life is easy after you find that ONE important thing.  Of course, when they ask him what that is he says: “Oh, that’s for YOU to find out.”

So, I want us to examine together this hour a few ideas that hopefully will lead to a better understanding of how the life-long process of education unfolds and is deeply embedded into the process of life itself.  With a few analogies I will propose a framework that challenges us to think about the most important things in our lives.   I also want to examine the major threats we face as a human race and the implications these have for our nation and a new world order.  Finally, I hope that each of us today will have the opportunity to contemplate further how the human intellect and human spirit are shaped and refined through education, and how this can lead to increased prospects for fulfillment in our lives.  

Following my remarks I have requested that two reactors comment briefly on the topic at hand, raise questions, or contribute in whatever way they choose.  One person is a distinguished graduate of the University of Georgia.  The other is a current student in our Honors Program.  During my years of teaching I have always preferred an interactive learning environment, so I am grateful to these two people who have agreed to expand our discourse.

It is well known that the left hemisphere of the human brain is involved with the ability to understand the symbols of language, to speak, to think in linear and sequential patterns, to calculate using numbers, and to help store and retrieve information in concrete and logical ways.  Alternatively, we know that the right hemisphere of the brain is associated with the ability to detect spatial relationships, to process information in a more random fashion; also it contributes more to the creative and emotional side of human experience. 

A century ago it was thought that the left side of the brain was the “GOOD” side of a person and the right brain the “BAD” side.  Later on thinking about this evolved into the belief that people were “left brain learners” or “right brain learners” and that we should develop different teaching methods for the two groups.  Today we know that these earlier theories were too simplistic and misleading.  Knowledge from current research demonstrates that the two hemispheres of the brain work in highly collaborative ways while coordinating cognitive, as well as emotional, responses.

As we begin to examine the essence of what it means to be a fully functioning and balanced human being, I will tell you the stem of a joke and subsequently reveal three punch lines that demonstrate how our minds process stimuli and make sense out of information.

An Englishman suspects that his maid is drinking his whisky while he is at work during the day.  Finally he quizzes her one evening  “I notice that the whisky is down in the bottle.  Have you been drinking it?”  She quickly replies, “No and I’ll have you know I’m an upstanding woman from a fine English family.”

Punch line number one:  “He replied, I’m not as interested in your English parentage as I am in your Scotch extraction.”

Punch line number two:  “And a mouse jumped in her lap and she screamed!”

Punch line number three:  “The next time this happens you’re fired.”

Psychologist Robert Ornstein has written about how this and other probes have been used to determine which areas of the brain might have suffered significant damage in patients who have suffered serious head injuries from automobile accidents.  Since we know that the left brain has more to do with “text” and the right brain has more to do with “context,” let’s analyze the three punch lines.

Punch line #1, “I’m more interested in your Scotch extraction than I am in your English parentage” makes a play on words that is humorous to most people who have no brain dysfunction and are able to assimilate both the TEXT and CONTEXT imbedded in this joke.

For a person to think that punch line #2, “And a mouse jumped in her lap and she screamed,” is more meaningful or humorous,  suggests to brain specialists that there could be damage to the left side of the brain.  The person in this case lacks the ability to process the text, so that the nonsensical, but surprising mouse jumping in the lap makes more sense than the other options.

People for whom punch line #3 is most meaningful understand the cognitive nature of the text,  “You’ll get fired if you do this again,” but being unable to factor in context, they find no humor in punch line #1, nor does the startling aspect of “a mouse jumping in the lap” create any emotion.  In this case physicians and scientists would suspect right brain damage.

The important thing to remember is that the two hemispheres of our brain work in tandem, providing the capacity to organize TEXT in a logical and concrete manner, while at the same time giving us the ability to think in global, flexible and more abstract ways that endow CONTEXT.

The work of brain physiologists and psychologists over the last two decades has led to a change in how we define and place value on human intelligence.  The traditional definition of intelligence in our society has included thinking about IQ as a discrete, fixed quantity.  IQ test scores are based primarily on mastery of vocabulary and on the ability to solve logic and number problems quickly.   These important verbal and quantitative abilities also represent the skills necessary to score well on the SAT and many other so-called aptitude tests that determine who gets into college, medical school, law school and other post-secondary education programs.

Professor Howard Gardner of Harvard University challenges the classic definition of IQ by proposing at least six dimensions of intelligence, in ADDITION to verbal-linguistic ability and logical-mathematical ability.  His research confirms:

• visual-spatial intelligence,
• musical intelligence,
• kinesthetic intelligence,
• social intelligence,
• intrapersonal intelligence, and
• naturalistic intelligence.

Intelligence in large measure depends on survival values as well as cultural values within a society.  In other words, intelligence is  CONTEXTUAL and is defined by the value it has in a particular environment.  If Bill Gates had been born into a different society at an earlier time in history, would he be considered as intelligent as he is today?

Now, think for a moment of the character played by Tom Hanks in the movie Castaway.  He figured out how to survive on a deserted island after a plane crash.  He had to live moment to moment by his wits in order to survive—physically, mentally and emotionally.  If you saw that movie you will agree with me that the central character was highly intelligent.  In particular, he demonstrated high NATURALISTIC INTELLIGENCE.   He found ways to survive in that demanding physical environment.  Finally, he was forced to search deep within his psychological self and control the undulating emotions that accompany human isolation and boredom.   This portrayal demonstrated high INTRAPERSONAL INTELLIGENCE.

One of the marvels of science and technology is the computer.  We are all aware of the powerful nature of this tool and the many tasks it performs in practically all facets of human activity.  While the human brain and computer are different in many ways, comparing the two helps us understand how information is processed.

As you know, one aspect of the computer is “HARDWARE,” which refers to the storage capacity and speed with which information can be retained in silicon chips.  Massive data sets are entered into interconnected storage cells where today’s technology allows rapid retrieval.   The ability to store for future use huge volumes of information, and retrieve it efficiently when needed, represents a major breakthrough in modern civilization.

You also know that computers have central processing units that can search for select pieces of information.  This allows us to call up pertinent data sets needed to help solve problems.  This part of the computer, the “SOFTWARE,” represents the mathematical algorithms or “questions” that we ask of the computer. Viewing education as “text” has been the classic model for describing what takes place when one learns something.  The 3 Rs of reading, writing and arithmetic represented the “hardware” of a basic education for centuries.  The acquisition of facts, along with ensuing recitation has long been the primary yardstick by which the “educated person” is measured.  Often those thought to be the most intelligent were individuals who could display the most information.  People with the highest IQ scores have been those with the greatest storage capacities and the fastest recall.  Those who win on TV games like “Jeopardy” impress us with how fast and how much they can recall about literature, geography, history, science and popular culture.

I am relentless in the belief that being able to read, spell, write and speak properly is absolutely fundamental to any education.  I also think that it remains vital for today’s citizens to know how to use numbers properly and to be able to calculate with precision and accuracy.  

Possessing the ability to store the necessary facts and figures that are needed to function proficiently in our personal and professional lives, is not only desirable, but a necessary part of being an educated human being in today’s world.  A large part of our education should still focus on the facts that come from drilling deep into our various academic disciplines and subject matter areas.  But, having storage capacity and factual information is not enough.  Humans differ from other animals in that being properly “HARDWIRED” is not sufficient.  Moreover, knowledge has exploded to such an extent that we now face the problem of having limited shelf space, both in our brains and in our libraries.

Education is ALSO about “context.”  Being educated involves installing appropriate “software,” too.  Being educated means knowing where to go to find the information that is not available in our personal memory banks.  Being educated means knowing how to put things in perspective, and how to ask the right questions.  Being educated means knowing right from wrong and being able to establish priorities as well as meaning. Accumulating and storing “text” is only part of the equation.

Lee Shulman, president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, talks about education as two processes:  getting what is “outside” IN, and getting what is “inside” OUT.  Life today requires of educated citizens a broad and sophisticated set of skills that parallel the course content they already have and will continue to acquire.  The well-educated human of the 21^st century is not just a CONSUMER of knowledge, but a USER of knowledge, and in many instances, a PRODUCER of knowledge.  

Here I want to make a strong point:  The University of Georgia is a place where new knowledge is produced every day.  A fundamental role of a research university is that its faculty, staff and students are about helping not only to prepare for the future, but to assist in CREATING it. 

A recent publication by the National Academy of Sciences titled “How People Learn,” contains key findings that relate to our topic today:

First, the report urges us to realize that the act of learning is built on the initial understandings of students.  Students who possess preconceptions or misconceptions about how the world works often fail to grasp the new concepts being taught.  More often, says the report, students learn subject matter merely for a test, then quickly revert to their original and often faulty thinking.  Listen to what James Minstrell, a high school physics teacher, says:  “Students’ initial ideas about mechanics are like strands of yarn, some unconnected, some loosely interwoven.  The act of instruction can be viewed as helping students unravel individual strands of belief, label them, and then weave them into a fabric of more complete understanding.” 

The report goes on to say that superficial coverage of ALL topics in a subject area must be replaced with in-depth coverage of FEWER topics that will allow for key concepts in that discipline or profession to be better understood.  And the assessment tools we use for accountability must test deep understanding, not surface knowledge.

You recall our earlier reference to the right brain being heavily involved with context.  In “How People Learn” what many professional educators have believed for a long time is validated.  Research shows that for DEEP learning to occur students need an environment where authentic experiences occur.  They need a place where healthy interaction and collaboration with others is fostered.  A university, and ideally other work environments, should be learning communities where experimentation, healthy debate and an appreciation for logic and rationality represent the norm.

Teaching is not a one-dimensional act of disseminating information from a podium.  Rather, it is the complex, creative process of designing and activating circumstances that results in students taking responsibility for their own learning.  Great teaching is the art of assisting discovery.  Great teaching is also the art of motivating students to take risks and go beyond what is safe and comfortable.  Furthermore, teaching is a process that should assist learners in developing skills to assess their OWN progress, ending up with principles and values that are intellectually significant, as well as personally meaningful.

In a recent study on how people remember what they are taught, one group of students was given actual data sets from experiments on memory before hearing a lecture on how to organize this knowledge and learn it.  This group scored over twice as high as students in a second group who merely read the text before hearing the lecture.  The first group also scored over twice as high as a third group who worked much longer with the data sets and reading the textbook, BUT who did hear the organizing lecture.  In other words, the students who learned the most—who ended up with the greatest understanding—were the ones who were exposed to authentic data, but ALSO were assisted by an informed teacher who helped them organize the information with understanding for future retrieval and use.

I like what Mark Twain presumably said:  “The person walking down the street with a cat by the tail is having ten times the experience as the person watching from the sidewalk.”

It becomes clear from this and other scholarly reports that the PROCESSES associated with learning are AS IMPORTANT as the PRODUCTS of learning.   Thus, an education is incomplete unless it also includes proficiencies in problem solving, critical thinking, and the capacity for reflection.  The highly educated person is one who can think in the abstract as well as in the concrete.  I think you will agree that those who are frozen at a level of such concrete thinking that they no longer have the ability, or will, to consider alternative views, are not only an impediment to humankind, but a potential danger. 

One additional thing we understand is that for knowledge to become MEANINGFUL, and thus retrievable in the future, it must be associated with feeling.  Conversely, it appears that information stored without some association with emotion or affect, is treated as short-term memory and soon lost.  Just think:  you likely have forgotten the specific facts of an academic course you once took, a past event of some kind, or a relationship you had with someone years ago; but you never forget how you FELT.  That is why fieldtrips, study abroad programs, internships and mentoring experiences stay with us for such a long time.  A significant part of learning involves attitudes, emotions and other values that are the vital connecting points to the cognitive reservoirs of the human mind.  

Education is an enterprise designed to promote and support the intellectual as well as cultural, economic, political and moral conditions of its sponsoring society.  As we continue to search for context in our life-long education it becomes necessary to ask:  “What are the major priorities of life?”  After all is said and done, what things in our lives are genuinely the most important?  Unlike a lot of questions, this one has an answer.  For rational human beings and societies there are two supreme activities that are inevitably the most important:  SURVIVAL and QUALITY OF LIFE.  

We are all products of survival.   All living specimens today, including each one of us, are present as a result of their ancestors having acquired, over considerable time, the appropriate biotic potential needed to cope with environmental resistance.  If we accept the premise that survival is a top priority, AND that this relates to the enterprise of education, then we must ask the hard question:  “How real are the threats to the survival of life in our country—indeed the human race on this planet?

Experts in science, medicine and other disciplines were asked recently to speculate on how life on this planet might cease to be the way we know it today.  The greatest threat to our survival is a grossly overpopulated world where people are locked in a desperate struggle for a water and food.  Did you know that the population of the world has doubled since 1950?  How much longer can our society—and the world—ignore the fact that the staggering number of unplanned, unwanted and unwarranted births is the ultimate challenge for survival AND quality of life? 

Dan Maguire, author of  “Sacred Choices,” estimates that, globally, 70 percent of the water pumped from underground and diverted from rivers is used for irrigation, 20 percent is used by industry, and 10 percent goes for drinking, bathing and similar residential purposes.  SEVENTY PERCENT of that water is used to produce food, so if we accept the fact that we are experiencing widespread water scarcity in the years ahead, then we  also are facing food scarcity.  There are substitutes for a depleted oil supply, but there are NO SUBSTITUTES in the world for water.  The chain is clear:  water shortages lead to food shortages, and food shortages lead to political upheaval and human strife.  

Another threat is global warming.  Jeremy Rifkin, president of The Foundation on Economic Trends, paints a grim picture of rising temperatures which are altering the Earth’s gases and biochemistry, making it dangerous to breathe what we grew up believing was “fresh air.”  Rifkin says we have treated the environment as a means to our end, and in doing so are making the planet uninhabitable.

When James Hughes, director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases in Atlanta, was asked what the greatest health threat to human life is today, he did not mention AIDS, a disease that takes the lives of 6000 people daily in Africa alone.  Instead, he argued that influenza is the greatest threat to humans, pointing to the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918 that killed 20 million people worldwide.  While antibiotics have saved countless lives from bacterial inflections and diseases over the past 50 years, ever-changing viruses (for which antibiotics offer no direct protection) remain a worldwide challenge, not only for humans, but for many species of animals.  Some, like cattle and poultry, are major sources of food.

As if these biological and ecological challenges were not enough, we all realize that the sum of all fears is the threat of nuclear war and other heinous weapons of terror and destruction.  These go far beyond our imagination.  We live in a world when a computer can pinpoint a target, and a mere click can annihilate all plant and animal life in that region.

In his book “Longitudes and Attitudes,” Thomas Friedman, the highly respected foreign affairs columnist for the New York Times, suggests a new set of lens through which to view the world.  Building on events of September 11, this new framework, “globalization,” replaces the “international system” and the “cold war system.”

Earlier the world was divided into countries, segmented clearly by symbols such as the Great Wall of China, the Iron Curtain, and the Berlin Wall.  Globalization is characterized by a very different phenomenon:  the World Wide Web.  We have moved from division and walls to a system built on integration and webs.  The cold war system was built upon power structures among nation-states, balanced by two “superpowers,” the Soviet Union and the United States.  Globalization, by contrast, is built upon one dominant nation-state, America.

But, a second important power now exists among nation-states and global markets.  Friedman calls this phenomenon “supermarkets.”  These global supermarkets are made up of millions of investors moving money around the world with the click of a mouse.  The attitudes and actions of this “ELECTRONIC HERD” can trigger the downfall of governments and nations just as easily as bombs and military action can.

The third power balance of this new system is the newest and most relevant since 9-11.  It is the balance between INDIVIDUALS and nation-states.  Friedman calls this third set of global players “super-empowered individuals.”  Many of these individuals are quite wonderful.  Some, however, are very angry and some are evil.  Osama bin Laden declared war on the United States in the late 1990s by organizing bombings of two American embassies in Africa.  The U.S. Air Force retaliated by firing 75 cruise missiles at bin Laden’s bases in Afghanistan, just as though HE were a NATION-STATE.  The firing of 75 such missiles, at $1 million apiece, was the first battle in history between a superpower and a super-empowered angry man.  According to Friedman, September 11 was the second such battle.  Nation-states and America’s superpower are still important today, but to understand the new world order and our most imminent dangers, we must first realize that the supermarkets and the super-empowered angry individuals have become the newest threats.

From an educational standpoint, this means a new and different challenge.  Not only do we need to continue to preserve our heritage and maintain the scientific and technological superiority necessary to defend our citizenry, we must realize that as the one true superpower, it falls to us to influence a shift, in Friedman’s words, from “nation destruction” to “nation building.”  This will require additional investments in education. 

Yes, we are the only genuine superpower on Planet Earth at this time.  Yes, we are the richest nation and yes, our system of democracy and free enterprise has triumphed over totalitarianism and communism.  Our nation represents the most successful experiment of modern civilization where independent thought, freedom of speech, reward based on merit, and governance by democratic law stands as a beacon of hope for freedom and democracy in the world. 

But, I remember the words of the late great ecologist Eugene Odum.  I had invited him to address a biology class I was teaching several years ago.   He explained that life is easier during times of plentiful resources and rapid development.  He went on to demonstrate that the hard work associated with maintenance over long periods of time is much more difficult.    He also talked about the greatness of societies and nations being challenged from the outside as well as inside.  He paused and said (and I can clearly picture him saying this), “ I think our nation’s greatest challenge will be to keep from deteriorating from within.” 

Despite the greatness of this nation, and the personal pride to which we are entitled, perhaps the most serious threats to our future DO lie within.   We have become materialistic, egocentric, too drawn to our popular culture, and arrogant.  Many believe that the American work ethic is declining.  People of my generation are continually astonished at how much the hallmark of civil, friendly, efficient service has eroded in almost every segment of our society. 

We have also seen a plethora of top business and political leaders who have allowed greed for money and power to displace their moral obligations to serve their constituencies and the many lives entrusted to them.  This has hurt our economy and shaken the confidence people have in big business and in our government.

A recent study at the University of Massachusetts found that 60 percent of the American public lie compulsively throughout everyday conversations.  According to Robert Feldman, most people tell at least one lie during a 10-minute conversation.  Americans lie on their income tax returns to the tune of $200 billion a year.  At least one-third of all job applicants embellish, distort or outright lie on their resumes.

YET, despite all the hardships associated with survival, the ultimate challenge for people today may be achieving genuine happiness and fulfillment.   Psychologist Martin Seligman writes in  “Authentic Happiness,” that while the quality of life has increased dramatically over the past 50 years, statistics show we are less happy.  Depression is 10 times more common now and life satisfaction rates are down as well.  Research reveals that lottery winners are no happier after their windfall than they were before.

Seligman identifies three categories of happy people:

• those who become so immersed in their work or hobbies that the day is gone before they know it,
• those who have learned to enjoy the pleasures of life such as being with friends, laughing a lot, enjoying good food and being content and hopeful, and
• those who apply their strengths and virtues for greater good through charities, volunteer work, religion or politics.

And so, we work to survive, BUT survival is not enough.  We must also strive to be noble and virtuous and to appreciate that which is beautiful.  It is through learning how to experience fulfillment and joy that we ultimately realize a quality of life that will provide space for the highest things—for those things that ARE most important.

A friend of Samuel Johnson’s once declared “There is no beauty but in utility.”  Johnson replied:  “Sir, what say you of the peacock’s tail which is one of the most beautiful objects in nature but would have as much utility if its feathers were all of one color?”   Biologists might question this literally, but the wise Johnson’s point was:  some things in life should be appreciated simply for their beauty.  That is why we have a School of Art at the University of Georgia named for Lamar Dodd, a man whose paintbrush worked like a magic wand to produce images representing human thought and feeling.

A great American of the 20^th century was Stanford psychologist and former Secretary of HEW, John Gardner.  In his book, “Self Renewal,” he discusses ways we can all strive for renewal throughout our lives.   Gardner points out that renewal is a function of self-confidence.  Self-confidence, self-knowledge and self-development allow us to stay motivated, courageous and tough-minded.   While staying power is not an attribute celebrated by poets, it can be seen throughout history that those who persisted, finished.  

From the outset, we should teach our young people that life is NOT EASY.  In that context people learn to take failure and defeat NOT as an excuse to doubt, but a reason to strengthen resolve.  Fear of failure is the death-knell to both intellectual and emotional development.  Taking time to know who we are and to use feedback to improve ourselves is an integral part of personal and professional renewal.

Gardner also focuses on the importance of enjoying mutually fruitful relationships with others.  Fulfilled, self-renewing people are those capable of accepting love—and of giving it.  Those who cannot see life through another’s eyes or feel it through another’s heart are cut off from much of the world.  My favorite quote from John Gardner is this:  “Love and friendship dissolve the rigidities of the isolated self, force new perspectives, alter judgments and keep in working order the emotional substratum on which all profound comprehension of human affairs must rest.”

For today, let us think about how education fits into our lives, all the while recognizing that education is never over.  John Dewey once explained:  “Education is NOT a PREPARATION for the future, it is a WAY OF LIFE.”  Thomas Jefferson and others have referred to the United States of America, not in terms of governmental structure or boundaries, but as an IDEA.  Education too, is an idea—something created through human discovery that defies definition because it is as large as life itself.   Perhaps we should view “a complete education,” not just in terms of individuals, but in terms of community and the new globalization—for there will be no completeness until all nations on this planet commit to rationality and peace.

We agree that this process begins by each individual being exposed to and experiencing what I have referred to as “text.”  At least one-third of ones life is spent installing the “hardware”--  “getting what is outside in.”  Of course, along with “getting what is outside in” comes “getting what is ‘inside’ out.”  Being able to apply what we know at the right time and place is what I have called “context.”  Context involves an array of skills and proficiencies that call for integration of both the PRODUCTS and PROCESSES of education.  Context is being able to grasp meaning.  Context is the ability to see patterns and relationships that involve events across time and space.  Context is the ability to connect the dots, to think outside the box, so potential solutions can be weighed and understood at all levels of human endeavor.

And now, in closing, I mention the final element of what I consider a complete education.  This one may be the most difficult of all to attain because it requires the experience that comes with having lived for several decades.  This is why citizens in their 60s, 70s, 80s and beyond are so important to ANY society.  Within this third dimension of education we come closer to knowing ourselves, to understanding more fully our purpose in life, and to reaching an intellectual and emotional plateau that allows us to fully savor and enjoy the fruits of our labor.  In this dimension the joys of friendship, the pleasures of leisure, and a keener appreciation of beauty emerge. 

In the end, THIS dimension empowers us to believe in ourselves, to experience intimacy and, in turn, feel worthy of being loved.  This part of the complete education I call “TEXTURE.”  Texture is the part of a complete education that unites the INFORMED MIND with a CARING HEART.  Texture brings to education what ice cream brings to hot apple pie. 

While many of our contributions throughout life are significant, bring rewards and help others, in the end it is texture, that element of fulfillment and finish, that defines each of us as human beings.  

I will end my remarks today by sharing with you a short account that represents the text, context and texture of a complete education by the standards proposed here today.

Picture yourself driving along in your car on a stormy and treacherous night.  You pass by a bus stop and see three people standing in the cold rain and wind waiting for the bus:

• An elderly woman who appears to be very ill
• An old friend who once saved your life, and
• The perfect man or woman you have been dreaming about.

Which one would you offer a ride, knowing there can only be one passenger in your car?

Think about this dilemma: 

• You could pick up the elderly woman because she looks very ill     and could die
• You could take the old friend because he once saved your life and this would be the perfect chance to pay him back
• Or you could choose to be with your perfect dream lover whom you may never be able to find again

This question was supposedly used as part of a job application.  The person who got the job answered the question this way:  “I would give the car keys to my old friend and ask him to take the ill woman to the hospital.  I would stay behind and wait for the bus with the person of my dreams.

TEXT, CONTEXT, TEXTURE.