Day 4 - Our English Syllabus

Education. A system in society in which people are further disciplined, set to standard, and developed to better equip people in society. For an average person like me, I view education as a frustrating but necessary step in developing one's basic understanding of the world, its functions, and events. C.S Lewis in the article "Our English Syllabus" introduces education and LEARNING, making various distinctions between the two. Once again, an average person like me would not see the distinction between the two, because is it would seem obvious that learning follows education. Therefore, learning is simply something derived from education - right?

C.S Lewis does not quickly fall into this assumption. He first observes that both education and learning contribute to the human flourishing. Humans, C.S Lewis observes, are different in comparison with animals in a sense that animals are wired to engage in a single activity without being distracted by leisure. This extra leisure for the humans gives them room for development to become more "human". Therefore humans need education to become part of "humanity". This statement made by Lewis may seem comical to many, because in a more literal sense, aren't we all humans already? What C.S Lewis means by such "becoming human" statement is that as we develop knowledge, we come to reason more and develop insight in our own capabilities, thus, making us "human".

Once something starts, it eventually has to end at some point. As you grow up mentally and physically, you become more mature and understanding - growing independent as you reach adulthood. Noting this growth, C.S Lewis states that our education has to end sometime - we must grow out of our own education and seek learning. Not only is this fully educated person independent and fully human, C.S Lewis states, this person has a strong enough educational foundation to pursue knowledge for the sake of learning. Whether his fellow colleague studies the same material or not, it does not matter. What matters is that the person is free to study or learn anything he/she wishes, rather than having to follow the system and study a bit of everything.

This coming of age and independence of education can be applied to us Calvin students as well. The time for us to pursue our own knowledge varies among people, but it should all begin sometime at college. Why? C.S Lewis states in the article:

"It follows that the university student is essentially a different person from the school pupil. He is not a candidate for humanity, he is, in theory, already human. He is not a patient; nor is his tutor an operator who is doing something to him. The student is, or ought to be, a young man who is already beginning to follow learning for its own sake, and who attaches himself to an older student, not precisely to be taught, but to pick up what he can."

It is not truly important that a person has to begin to learn by himself/herself during college. What is important is that the person recognizes his/her limit on the amount of education received and continues to educate or teach himself about things separately. True learning should take place within our own pursuit of what we seek to learn. As college students, we should begin to seek the things that apply to each of us on an individual level, and begin to grow and blossom as we use the seeds of education given to us during our younger years.