Yet hope is not just feeling or striving, according to Macquarrie (1978:11) it has
a cognitive or intellectual aspect. ‘[I]t carries in itself a definite way of
understanding both ourselves and the environing processes within which
human life has its setting’ This provides us with a language to help make
sense of things and to imagine change for the better – a ‘vocabulary of hope’. It
helps us to critique the world as it is and our part in it, and not to just imagine
change but also to plan it (Moltman 1967, 1971). It also allows us, and others,
to ask questions of our hopes, to request evidence for our claims.
Education – being respectful, informed and wise
Education is wrapped up with who we are as learners and facilitators of
learning – and how we are experienced by learners. In order to think about
this it is helpful to look back at a basic distinction made by Erich Fromm
(1979), amongst others, between having and being. Fromm approaches these
as fundamental modes of existence. He saw them as two different ways of
understanding ourselves and the world in which we live.
Having is concerned with owning, possessing and controlling. In it we want to
‘make everybody and everything’, including ourselves, our property (Fromm
1979: 33). It looks to objects and material possessions.
Being is rooted in love according to Fromm. It is concerned with shared
experience and productive activity. Rather than seeking to possess and
control, in this mode we engage with the world. We do not impose ourselves
on others nor ‘interfere’ in their lives (see Smith and Smith 2008: 16-17).
These different orientations involve contrasting approaches to learning.
Students in the having mode must have but one aim; to hold onto what they
have ‘learned’, either by entrusting it firmly to their memories or by carefully
guarding their notes. They do not have to produce or create something new….
The process of learning has an entirely different quality for students in the
being mode… Instead of being passive receptacles of words and ideas, they
listen, they hear, and most important, they receive and they respond in an
active, productive way. (Fromm 1979: 37-38)
In many ways this difference mirrors that between education and schooling.
Schooling entails transmitting knowledge in manageable lumps so it can be
stored and then used so that students can pass tests and have qualifications.
Education involves engaging with others and the world. It entails
being with others in a particular way. Here I want to explore three aspects –
being respectful, informed and wise.
Being respectful
The process of education flows from a basic orientation of respect – respect for
truth, others and themselves, and the world. It is an attitude or feeling which
is carried through into concrete action, into the way we treat people, for
example. Respect, as R. S. Dillon (2014) has reminded us, is derived from the
Latin respicere, meaning ‘to look back at’ or ‘to look again’ at something. In
other words, when we respect something we value it enough to make it our
focus and to try to see it for what it is, rather than what we might want it to be.
It is so important that it calls for our recognition and our regard – and we
choose to respond.
We can see this at work in our everyday relationships. When we think highly of
someone we may well talk about respecting them – and listen carefully to what
they say or value the example they give. Here, though, we are also concerned
with a more abstract idea – that of moral worth or value. Rather than looking
at why we respect this person or that, the interest is in why we should respect
people in general (or truth, or creation, or ourselves).
First, we expect educators to hold truth dearly. We expect that they will look
beneath the surface, try to challenge misrepresentation and lies, and be open
to alternatives. They should display the ‘two basic virtues of truth’: sincerity
and accuracy (Williams 2002: 11). There are strong religious reasons for this.
Bearing false witness, within Christian traditions, can be seen as challenging
the foundations of God’s covenant. There are also strongly practical reasons
for truthfulness. Without it, the development of knowledge would not be
possible – we could not evaluate one claim against another. Nor could we
conduct much of life. For example, as Paul Seabright (2010) has argued,
truthfulness allows us to trust strangers. In the process we can build complex
societies, trade and cooperate.
Educators, as with other respecters of truth , should do their best to acquire
‘true beliefs’ and to ensure what they say actually reveals what they believe
(Williams 2002: 11). Their authority, ‘must be rooted in their truthfulness in
both these respects: they take care, and they do not lie’ op. cit.).
