måndag 14 maj 2007

Keep conversation in society alive…

Back home after a long day at work. A proud teacher listening to three of our students at the aesthetic programme at the gymnasium (high school) here during lunchtime. They had taken the initiative to these two school-concerts and played classical music, to my surprise, from Bach to Chopin, via Beethoven and Grieg. They had two concerts today on 40 minutes each which is fairly much for these students, but they did a very good job.

Now a summary in my fantastic English!! :)

Our former arch-bishop wrote about college-education inspired by meetings at the college of Lund he had joined and the discussions there (humanities and theology). They had discussed the demand or wish that the education shall lead to that the students are intersting to employ when they leave college, that what they have to come with from their education is “edible”. There the humanity sciences come in back-water he thinks if I understood him right.

But in our short-termed consumistic (consumers) culture this is a preparation for social suicide he means…

We need to talk about things above the market and money, and nature sciences… The existential stress will increase in the future, not only here but globally, he thinks… And in this world there must exist something else, above the materialistic… To cope with this we need something more. Maybe even more that we talk with each others? Here and there. Despite lack of time, the stressful life we live...

And there the humanistic sciences are important and invaluable. Maybe we ought to talk about where we want to go with this world (very illusionary to think in these terms, is it?)? Talk about other things than things and money and materialistic things… Don’t forget this other talk in our hectic world. If we don't this would lead to social suicide?

Even if we have to look forward and maybe also think in new patterns, the old Greeks have things to say even to people of today I think he means... He mentions for instance Platon here...

Evolutionary we are seen as bearers of altruistic genes, which goes over all boarders, family-boarders and calculated usefulness. Yes, I think children are born with this naturally...

And I will add that what I and my colleagues are doing is very important (as all other creative sublects are), or could be very important. Even more important than it is today? Human beings need that sort of “nutrition” too!! And our work is important in the respect that people ought to have opportunities not only to live their lives as passive consumers, but also can be active executors on all different levels and in all different genres.

There is a lot more to relate and find in the article, and different people would probably see different things in the text, and that is interesting and can give a lot, but I will stop here…

2 kommentarer:

Anonym sa...

You wrote:
And I will add that what I and my colleagues are doing is very important (as all other creative sublects are), or could be very important. Even more important than it is today? Human beings need that sort of “nutrition” too!! And our work is important in the respect that people ought to have opportunities not only to live their lives as passive consumers, but also can be active executors on all different levels and in all different genres.

I strongly agree.
Richard Grossman's excellent article* points out the need to have 'Voice' which means to be heard and have an impact. Not having Voice or impact can build up leading to outbursts like Seung Hui Cho, of Virginia Tech; Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold of Columbine.

Much of todays news and events make the individual feel they have less 'voice', so yes creative power is needed to have impact rather than be just a 'consumer'.
Bob

*Pointer to article is:
http://www.voicelessness.com/parenting.html

k sa...

Thank you for the pointer, Bob! Yes, I think you are right! People feel help- and powerless over all they see and hear? So maybe to have a voice is even more important today than ever before, and does this sound "fateful"?

But you need to scream to be heard in todays society? Or?

I will probably come back to this topic I think...

I don't have so much to add right now.

But "Keep conversation alive"!!?? Or keep communication alive? :)