Saturday, January 12, 2008
Leading an enlightened life...
Posted by at 12:50 PM
Incase anyone still stops in here...
I had a friend from home who interviewed for a position at SJC... he had lots of interesting observations... enjoyed his time there immensely. He should find out in Feb/Mar if he will get offerred a position to be a tutor... (prayers appreciated for him!)
He asked me a question I thought I'd pose to the Johnnie community out there...
Would you feel that you would be wasting your education if you do not go to grad school, or strive to be a leader in politics, business, education, etc.? How content do you think the ordinary Johnnie is with simply being an enlightened individual, and hopefully living as a light in the darkness of the world? It seems pretty clear to me that institutionally, SJC does not promote *at all* a "success" ethic (in the American sense). But I do wonder whether the students will carry that burden anyway (b/c after all we and SJC are enculturated in America) without some intentional effort on the part of the institution to speak to this ethos. What do you think?
I had a friend from home who interviewed for a position at SJC... he had lots of interesting observations... enjoyed his time there immensely. He should find out in Feb/Mar if he will get offerred a position to be a tutor... (prayers appreciated for him!)
He asked me a question I thought I'd pose to the Johnnie community out there...
Would you feel that you would be wasting your education if you do not go to grad school, or strive to be a leader in politics, business, education, etc.? How content do you think the ordinary Johnnie is with simply being an enlightened individual, and hopefully living as a light in the darkness of the world? It seems pretty clear to me that institutionally, SJC does not promote *at all* a "success" ethic (in the American sense). But I do wonder whether the students will carry that burden anyway (b/c after all we and SJC are enculturated in America) without some intentional effort on the part of the institution to speak to this ethos. What do you think?
I might have a different thought on this if my parent's weren't graciously picking up the tab for SJC...
(if they weren't, I probably would have just tried to get a job (like LT did) at SJC and skipped the whole classes thing after freshman year.)
... but I don't think my education was wasted just because I'm a self-employed bum who only has a few pennies to rub together...
American capitalism provides the competitive vocational drive; SJC provides the cultivation of habits like self-examination and discernment.