Aristotle was confused too

Title

Creator

Wenz, Leonard

Language

English

Source

The Cabletow Volume II (New Series No. 3) January 1960

Year

1960

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

the character of great masons when they are dead? I propose that every mason must instill in the mind of his wife and everyone of his children his irrevocable will to live and die a ma son; that never would be tolerate vul ture, hyena, or jackal in sheep’s cloth ing or priestly robes to wait and pounce upon his corpse when he is A Aristotle was By LEONARD Our present confusion as to what education is all about and what it should be is not anything particularly new. Aristotle himself did not know exactly what it should be and could not arrive at anything definite. He was uncertain whether it should be directed to the cultivation of the in tellect or to thc development of the character. In his Politics, he wrote: "... there is no agreement as to what the young should learn, whether w’th a view to the production of goodness or the best life." Looking at education as it was, he found it in confusion for there was* “... no certainty whether education should be training in what is merely useful as the means of livelihood or in what tends to promote goodness or in disciplinary studies." It was Aristotle’s duty to synthetize and put all knowledge in order—and he had more complete command of the knowledge of his own day than any one who ever lived before or since. Jn a series of texts covering the whole field from natural history to ethics, he left a monument to order and system which continued to Bacon’s era. But education was too much for him and dead or dying. Finally, I propose that each mason make a testament incor porating these conditions as a part of his will. My brethren, in fond memory of brother Rizal, I, as your Grand Master, want to hear your opinion. I now ask you: Do my proposals meet with your approval? A A Confused Too WENZ, 32° KCCH he left it in confusion where it per sists today to haunt the architects of modem education. In present day America, there is hope that we may yet clear up the con fusion. Alfred North Whitehead once said: "...in conditions of modem life, the rule is absolute; thc race which does not value trained intelligence is doomed." In recent months, the American people have begun to re-leam the truth of Whitehead’s statement. For years the nation has taken trained intelligence for granted and even worse, shown contempt for it. It seemed to have an emotional distrust for the human mind whenever it functioned above the high school level. This anti-intellectualism discouraged many from entering the field of education, and persecuted and harrassed those already in it. That millions are now recognizing the mis take before it is too late is most for tunate. As someone has said, never in our history have we been in a better position to commit ourselves whole heartedly to the "pursuit of excellence" in every phase of our national life. —Reprinted from. THE NEW AGE, June 1959, p. 350. Used by permission. 110

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