A World We Dare To Imagine Post 1
Sometimes, I am feeling helpless in the face of world events. The world is full of lies, pain, suffering, and sadness that I learned of the worldwide news: racism is alive; someone express their opinion more careful than before due to they want to fit in others and not stand out; people in some areas have to endure the threat of terrorist attack; some people die of thirst and starvation, while the others are wasting food; Many companies claim that they care about their customers and focus on the sustainable development of the environment. Actually, they are more care about whether the company can be listed in stock exchange, or how to increased profitability and the rate of growth; As is know to all, some companies are even harm the interests of customers to save costs. (This Teen Said He Was Fired From McDonald's After Sharing Photos Of Mold In The Ice Cream Machine https://www.buzzfeed.com/tanyachen/teen-fired-from-mcdonalds-for-mold-pics?utm_term=.quxKAVL5Y#.nal3prxEZ).
So, my ideal world is fair, friendly, free and full of love, also without lies and deception. People treat each other with sincerity as well as protect the environment consciously and love animals. If we can truly love one another, the world will be no war, no terrorist attack, no famine, and poverty. I know this idea is very idealistic that difficult to achieve in the short term, but this is the world I dare to imagine.
There are some opinions propose that education is the best way to make the world better. I agree with this view, but I have a question: why are we being higher educated? Before I came to USC, I had studied in a university in China for a while, then I went to Boston and studied there for more than two years. I realized that wherever I am, most of my classmates include both Chinese and U.S students study for higher GPA, and seek an opportunity to enter into prestige companies. However, some of my professors fulfilled their teaching task mechanically. The higher education has made many of us become "sophisticated egoist", only small number of students take a time to think about how to benefit others or societies.
I think your ideals for our world are a great goal, but definitely not achievable realistically. You do bring up a good point in your last paragraph, unfortunately that is education inflation. In our parent's time, I am sure college was not a requirement for many jobs and getting anything above a BA degree was very difficult. However, nowadays having a BA degree is becoming more of a "norm" and expected to have a further degree to get into various different jobs.
ReplyDeleteGoing back to your main point, I think what you should focus on maybe is creating a better environment for younger children. Maybe fixing that educational portion to incorporate more love, compassion and understanding etc. could help establish a better world for all of us!
While a world founded on love is nice in theory, it is not only unrealistic but also impractical. In order for a society to be free to love, it must also be free to hate. Once you start trying to police or weed out one half for the sake of preserving the other you undermine that which you are trying to protect in the first place. I think people often affected by the horrors of the world, because they themselves have yet to realize the depth of their own inner horror. In Jungian Psychology this is referred to as "the shadow".
ReplyDeletePeople need to be free to make mistakes in order to learn, that's what's propelled our species through history. It's also important that people not be coddled to the point where they are no longer capable of being self-sufficient or independent, because independence and competition lead to innovation. Both those qualities, one could argue, stem from the darker and more complicated aspects of human nature. For example, Thomas Edison was a volatile manic depressive, yet look at everything he contributed in his time.
Moving on to your concerns regarding education, I think we need to get the business and bureaucracy out of the University system. Essentially, get out of the way of Professors and empower students to be responsible for their own educations.
I agree with your ideal world, but I also agree with James that this is unrealistic. There will always be people who lie, who are deceitful, who are inherently evil. I also completely agree with you about the way that schools are set up in the United States. Every student is so concerned with their GPA, their test scores, and how to improve their resumes. Maybe you could think of an organization or a way for students, parents, and teachers to emphasize to their kids that they are more than just their grades. I agree with Marcus that it comes from fostering kids at a young age to realize they shouldn't always be so concerned about their grades. I think that education is the best way to improve the world and help those in poverty.
ReplyDeleteWow what an amazing first sentence! Sometimes the world is overwhelming, but as we read in the blue sweater even the smallest improvements make a positive impact.
ReplyDeleteI think your ideal world would be a great place to live in but maybe not totally achievable right now. I think a good goal is to work towards that world. The problem is where to begin.
Education is the first step in learning ways to approach problems. Higher education has unfortunately become necessary to get a decent job, because companies won’t even let you through the door without some degree.
While it’s true people might not always go to school for the purist of reasons, I think there is still an opportunity for schools to help steer students in certain directions. They are not meant to feed students ideas, but to allow students to explore them on their own and find things they are passionate about. That is the whole point; have experts guide students through the issues that the world faces.