Category Archives: William and Mary

Wisdom from the Dalai Lama

Education, William and Mary

I had the privilege of attending a talk by the Dalai Lama at the College of William and Mary today.  He was delightful with an infectious laugh and a simple message: the way to happiness lies in compassion and love. He encouraged and understanding that below what he called the secondary level of race, religion and gender, we are all human beings who deserve the same respect. He used education as an example: students are students with a yearning to learn no matter where they live or what they look like.

Another lesson important to educators was that people will always do things we don’t like but we should not judge the actor by the actions. He admitted to liking George W. Bush despite not approving of his policies of force and aggression.  Additionally, he warned about painting a whole group of people as evil or bad based on the actions of a few of them, using the 911 tragedy as an example. Muslims committed the acts but that does not lead us to condemn all Muslims. I wonder how many of us lump our students into certain categories based on past experiences, making it hard to see the student below the label.

A student-submitted question asked about technology and spirituality. He felt as though an enlightened soul could learn from all experiences and certainly technology could be used to further spirituality.  But he worried about looking to technology for all the answers and encouraged the audience to use their own intellect.

I purposely did not take any electronics with me so took handwritten notes rather than tweeting.  I wanted to concentrate on the message itself rather than communicating it to the larger world.  It has been a long time since I attended an event without the mediation of technology and I’m not sure I had any major revelation. I suppose I did concentrate more as I wasn’t multi-tasking by tweeting one major point while trying to keep up with the next one.

Musing About History

Education, history, thinking out loud, William and Mary

I have been doing more blogging over at In One Place, my mostly about reading blog. I’m participating in the 75-book-challenge at LibraryThing so I’ve been reading a lot in varied areas. Two recent books made comments that struck me as connected to ideas about education. These are not fleshed out ideas, but rather gut reactions: thinking out loud. Here’s the first one…

The Age of Chivalryis a National Geographic Book about the middle ages, moving from 300 to 1450 AD. The last essay in the book focuses on the Hanseatic League, which I certainly don’t remember from my history courses. Thank goodness for Wikipedia! There is a photo of the Cologne cathedral, which took nearly 600 years to complete (1248 – 1880) with a 300-year break in the work. I was struck by the sense of history, of shared community over time that led people to finish the work of their ancestors. I was reminded that each day I walk on a 300-year-old campus, literally in the steps of American giants. I’m not sure my beloved institution is joining the 21st century as quickly as I would like but they may feel a responsibility for defending those three centuries of tradition.

And that may not be a completely terrible thing. I don’t think our contemporary culture values the lessons of history or the connections created by shared traditions enough. Instead, we see them as outdated, old fashioned even. The builders in Cologne didn’t tear down the medieval cathedral; instead, they added to it, following the original plans but using updated building techniques. Even into the 21st century, Cologne is preserving history, deciding in 2005 to ban development around the cathedral. I know that some people see it as a monument to an oppressive, unappealing past and would be happy to leave it behind, but tradition and history still has something to offer, including beautiful monuments to the beliefs of our ancestors.

College Got What It Signed Up For

Education, William and Mary

Marc Fisher – College Got What It Signed Up For – washingtonpost.com

This is a bit off topic from educational technology and media, but I think this editorial does a good job of summing up what happened to Gene Nichol.  I am very disappointed in my college right now.  But, I am very proud of Nichol and his unwillingness to let the Board of Visitors shunt him off the field without at least a little fight.  I can’t help wondering what’s going to happen now?  Will the cross go back onto the altar?  Thus reversing the small step that Nichol took towards reaching out to non-Christian students?  Will the sex show go away?  Thus, reversing the small step that Nichol took towards offering a wider view of the world than many WM students have had?  And, finally, what about his work towards diversifying the campus?  Surely, the Board of Visitors can’t have a problem with that, right?

My biggest regret in this whole thing is that I was silent, not offering Nichol the kind of support that might have made the Board think twice before making their decision.