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Beyond memes

By GREG WALKER and KIM JOHNSON

GREG: In the last year, our little Lock Haven University has hosted dance consorts, music and some very interesting speakers.

Dinesh D’Souza and David Horowitz came to talk. And it appears that we have more on the way.

Philosopher Dr. Christina Hoff Sommers from the American Enterprise institute will speak about, “The War on Boys” on Thursday.

Sociologist Dr. Susan Ross from Lycoming College will talk about citizen soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan on the same evening, and Rabbi Yaakov Menken will talk about anti-Semitism on Nov. 27.

Our students have been busy.

KIM: I agree. It’s very healthy that they get exposed to various viewpoints and learn to form their own perspectives and opinions.

Particularly since LHU is a public university, I think it’s important that we welcome a variety of speakers for our students and community at-large.

Last month, Cabot Phillips came and gave a well-received lecture on liberal privilege. While here, he interviewed students about the caravan coming up through Mexico.

It was a nice surprise for Lock Haven University to be featured nationally on Fox News.

GREG: I saw the Fox News clip. I am sure people will have their own interpretations. This illustrates the true value of an old-fashioned liberal arts education. Our society is rapidly growing more complex and it is important for young people to be able to put themselves in the shoes of many different people and to see the world from their perspectives. In our discipline, we call this “Verstehen.”

It’s the German word for understanding. I don’t think we get enough of that — even in universities.

KIM: Right, I’m not sure that happens often, unless you major in Sociology, or another liberal arts major. I do think we are witnessing the professionalization of the university.

For at least the last decade, universities attempted to prepare students for the workforce by focusing on information that they will directly use for employment. Trade schools used to fill this niche for employers, and were very good at it. In the past, we sent our daughters and sons to college to become wiser citizens and more knowledgeable about the world around them.

GREG: You are right. “Professionalization” sounds great, but it is paradoxical. The more our social system expands, the more specialized “professional” niches there are to fill. But also the more that social system expands, the harder it is and the more necessary it is to wrap your head around the whole thing.

This is not specialized. This is general. This country was founded on the principles of self-rule and by people who had good, general educations. If our young people don’t learn to articulate precisely, if they don’t learn history, if they don’t get the scientific method; someone else will rule them.

KIM: Or “something” will rule them; probably something found in contemporary culture, like social media. It does seem that students today are pretty good at repeating information. However, if you ask a student to describe an opposite viewpoint, they often have trouble doing so with clarity. We say that we educate students to be critical thinkers, but I wonder how much of that is window dressing.

GREG: Kimberly, don’t criticize critical thinking! Hah. You are right again. We used to call it thought by “soundbite” or “bumper sticker.” But now the soundbites and bumper stickers are in our smartphones and in our faces constantly. Maybe smart phones lead to dumb people. I rather appreciate the speakers that have come to our university.

Whether they use good logic or bad logic, they are right there for our students to question.

Remember our student last spring who patiently asked the world famous David Horowitz a fairly simple question; Horowitz suddenly acted like a wet hen and could not give a substantive response. You don’t get that interaction with a meme on Facebook. The broader culture is swinging hard like a wild pendulum. But our students are well regulated.

KIM: Students and parents are rightly concerned that universities have increasingly become indoctrination centers. As a reputable state university, we don’t want students learning from professors with a monolithic view. I do think LHU hosting speakers from various viewpoints helps our students to be better, more well-rounded thinkers. You made a very good point about Facebook and social media not providing the important experience of being part of audience who interacts with a speaker.

This Thursday night we have scholar Dr. Christina Hoff Sommers visiting our university to give a lecture, “The War on Boys.”

GREG: Lots of interaction there I hope. How often do you get a sit-down-and-talk with such high-profile people?

Our students are lucky and we are too. Although we have reason to fear what is in our future, our students do not confuse adjustment with apocalypse. To me, that is the function of an old-fashioned, liberal arts education; to make civilization happen and to help it improve over that long arc of the moral universe and adjust to those improvements.

You can contact Greg Walker at gwalker@lockhaven.edu. You can contact Kim Johnson at kaj2955@lockhaven.edu.

IFYOUGO:

Lectures @ LHU

Dr. Susan Ross,

co-author of Deployed, 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Parsons Union Building #2.

Christina Hoff Sommers, author of “The War on Boys,” 7 p.m. Thursday, Ulmer Room 211.

Rabbi Yaakkov Menken on the Pittsburgh

shooting and the “Politicization of Anti-Semitism,” 7 p.m. Nov. 27, Parsons Union Building multipurpose room.

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