Friday, September 21, 2012

What is the value of education? In an age when trends point to data collection and analytics as necessary elements to measure student progress toward achievement, are we at risk of diluting the ultimate value of developing human potential to its fullest? Parker Palmer in The Heart of Higher Education does a brilliant job of talking about holistic education and the value of contemplative inquiry, which he defines as "the expression of an epistemology [theory of knowledge] of love that is the true heart of higher education.


"Education is a vital, demanding, and precious undertaking, and much depends on how well it is done. If it is true to the human being, education must reflect our nature in al its subtlety and complexity. Every human faculty must be taken seriously, including the intellect, emotions, and our capacity for relational, contemplative, and bodily knowing. An integrative education is one that offers curricula and pedagogies that employ and deploy all these faculties, delights in the interactions, and is spacious enough to allow for their creative conflict.
Values such as compassion, social justice, and the search for truth, which animate and give purpose to the lives of students, faculty, and staff, are honored and strengthened by an integrative education. But to be truly integrative, such an education must go beyond a "values curriculum" to create a comprehensive learning environment that reflects a holistic vision of humanity, giving attention to every dimension of the human self. Integrative education honors communal as well as individual values and cultivates silent reflection while encouraging vigorous dialogue as well as ethical action. The geometry of the human soul is dense with such antinomies. They are essential to our nature, and real teaching and learning must reflect that inner complexity." Parker Palmer in The Heart of Higher Education.