Wendall Berry is a committed Christian activist who calls us to devote ourselves to a
particular place, to live our lives with attention to the land and to the people
around us. His commencement address challenges college
graduates to live fully into the commitments they have made during the past four
years. He also describes why a small, liberal arts college is a
better educational institution than a massive research school--which is where you are right now. See? Relevance!
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ReplyDeleteI will attempt to give reason to my strong disagreements with the vast majority of Berry's exhortation. For one, she focuses on STEM (Science, Tech, Engineering, and Mathematics) as the cancer plaguing education. This, in my opinion, is very faulty. She sees STEM as a way for corporations to weasel their way into education and universities. However, instead of assaulting the greed of the corporations seeking to control universities, she attacks the validity of an education based on STEM, and the technocracy she fears it will create. It is very obvious that she was not a major in any of the previous fields. I, too, am not. I am an English major, yet I still manage to see value in every single aspect of STEM. Without science, Man would be nearly blind, deaf, and dumb about the nature of the universe around him. Without science, we English majors would have almost nothing to write about. Technology is used every single day. Any one of you, my fellow classmates, must use technology to refute my point, which would unfortunately invalidate yours. Engineering is a field much too broad to defend in brief. There is Chemical, Civil, Electrical, and many other niche fields. Engineering is the route via which Man constructs his world. He builds cities, installs its lights, produces sustenance. Mathematics is one of, if not the, purest language humanity has. X = 2 in German, Russian, and Chinese is X = 2. With Mathematics, we can impart perfect truths. An education in STEM is not invalid whatsoever. What is invalid, something Berry addresses, is determinism. Of course determinism is a bad thing. Berry does not impress me for indicating so. STEM is not the problem. Faults of man are the problem. But since the faults of man appear in STEM, Berry decides that STEM must be the issue. She is wrong.
ReplyDeleteI found Wendell Berry’s Commencement address very interesting. Although I do not necessarily agree with his view that of the “STEM” course of study I chose to focus more on a few key points he brings up in the commencement. Firstly, he discusses education at a smaller school being more probable as they “can still function as a community of teachers and students, with responsible community life as its unifying aim”. This was a great line for me because even in the short time we have been here at Whitworth I feel that here- a community. When I thought about what I wanted from a college and its professors it was important to me that I have a relationship with my teachers, that they knew my name and I was not just a face in the crowd of students. The professors here at Whitworth make a sincere and honest effort to help us to the best of their abilities and that is all I can ask for. In addition to that aspect, in the end of the address he furthermore mentions what a career should be and should not be. I think this is a very important issue for us as college students because it is what we are working towards. I do agree that I do not want my career to be all that I am. I want my career to be what I do, not who I am. However, I think that if you have a career that you truly love it does somewhat define you and it plays a huge part of your life. I guess there is just a balance between being successful in and loving what you do while also not letting it become the only thing in your life. Wendell states “to give satisfaction, your life will have to be lived in a family, a neighborhood, a community […] meeting your responsibilities to all those things which you belong” so I think ultimately we want it all, a meaningful career as well as a life outside of it. Overall, although I did not completely agree with all aspects of Wendell’s address there were definitely aspects of it that resonated with me and that I appreciated.
ReplyDeleteThough I agreed with some of Berry’s main thoughts, most of his viewpoint seemed really cynical to me. It felt like he was bringing up a bunch negatives without showing any of the positives.
ReplyDeleteSTEM institutions aren’t all bad, but he seems to have a very anti-STEM opinion. He speaks about this collection of courses very negatively when in fact these courses are necessary and beneficial to society. He also implies that students cannot get a real or quality education at one of these STEM-centered research universities. He says it’s not “impossible to get something like an education” there. I think this statement is a little unfair or exaggerated. And I think it’s good to have different type of universities to serve different types of students’ needs.
Even so, I think he’s on to something. There does seem to be something missing in these large research universities. I think the problem lies in our definition of the purpose of higher education. Some would argue that it is just a system designed to take students in, weed through them, and spit them out into a career based solely on pragmatism and functionalism. They would say that lessons on character or moral behavior should come from family life- not an academic institution. The other side of this rather extreme view is that one of the primary goals of education is to teach a student morals and ethics and how to be a responsible citizen while preparing them for a fulfilling career.
I really liked what he had to say about the logic of success versus the logic of vocation. Society defines success by “climbing the ladder,” by getting promoted to a higher and higher position of power or making more and more money. And the logic of success says that success, in any career, is what is satisfying. This logic is completely false, however. So many highly successful people, using this definition, are unsatisfied or even unhappy. This doesn’t mean you can’t be successful and satisfied, but it isn’t the rule by any means. On the other hand, the logic of vocation prizes doing the work you were called to do, by God or according to your talents, and doing it well. This is what will bring a satisfying career.
Although Wendell Berry’s commencement speech is not your typical hopeful and encouraging graduation address, his message to the graduates of Bellarmine is one that faces reality in a very revolutionary way. In the beginning, Berry reveals his perspective of the education offered at a larger university versus a smaller liberal arts institution. He claims that the smaller schools offer a much more well rounded education due to the closer-knit community and focus on the whole student. In contrast, Berry argues that a larger-scale university is so research-driven that its students merely feed into the hustle and bustle of research progress, setting up the student for nothing but a life spent in “STEM” and striving for fiscal success. This type of university, Berry says, feeds into the American drive to gain profit and make a luxurious living. Berry quotes, “The lives of these ‘autonomous’ individuals will be ‘successful’ insofar as they subserve the purposes of the corporate-political powers, who will regard them merely as consumers, votes, and units of ‘human capital.’” Here, Berry shows that although a large paycheck may be attainable through this route, the worth of the actual person whose name is on that check becomes nothing more to their company and society as a number or a means to an end.
ReplyDeleteUpon reading this I thought: What kind of trade off is that? How could it be worth it to give ones life and interests for nothing more than a paycheck? How hopeless it must feel for a graduate to hear that their diploma might be leading them into a career that is part of this money-hungry game in our society. But then, fortunately, Berry gives a solution.
Berry points out that there are many people, “that work to reduce the toxicity, the violence, and the self-destructiveness of our present civilization.” Meaning there are actually people out there working counter-culturally to stop the superficiality of big business and bring meaning, purpose and fulfillment back into the work life of Americans. Following, Berry urges the audience to recognize the difference between our present society’s “logic of success” and “logic of vocation”. “Logic of success” being that mentality to get whatever job will lead to the biggest pay check even if it includes sitting at a desk, and “logic of vocation hold[ing] that there is an indispensable justice, to yourself and to others, in doing well the work that you are ‘called’ or prepared by your talents to do.” This conviction of Berry really stopped me in my tracks because it is such a revolutionary approach to the American perspective on careers. It is so true that our culture values way too often the money value of a job rather than the real value of a job—a value that might actually fulfill the employer’s soul and being. In this point Berry calls the graduates of Bellarmine to seek true satisfaction with their life’s endevors and careers and not just settle for the money, but rather to always ask the question of: what is this career path doing for my person?—because if it’s not bringing you sincere fulfillment, its not worth your time or life.
Berry’s commencement advises the young graduates to be wary of falling into a career-driven life style. America lives for a success. We are raised in a society where the goal of everything is to be prosperous. The American dream is to move up in society, to make the best out of your career. Berry points out that education today is composed with this idea, this dream, in mind.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe it is a bad thing that schools are focusing on being successful-is that not why we are going to college? To learn how to be successful in a certain field of study? Yet I do agree with Berry that college should offer more than the text books and lectures. I think there is a difference between the experiences you would get at a smaller university versus a large institution. One of the reasons I chose Whitworth was for the small community. Berry states that Bellarmine “can function as a community of teachers and students” because of its small size. I believe this statement is accurate. You are not going to have as close of relationships in a community of a bigger institution.
Community, relationships, and neighborhood are an important part of life to learn as well. If we cannot learn to live together, how can we ever hope to function in the world? Berry’s concern of the STEM system turning us all into career-focused robots is a bit dramatized. I do not think focusing on the fields of study that only prepare you for a sustainable career is crippling to the human race at all. I do think that having a close community in which to grow while we students are advancing in education is beneficial to how we shape our lives. There needs to be a way for students to find how they can live happily without the success of a career.
Reading Berry's commencement was almost a strange experience for me personally. Being an Engineering Major, I felt at times Berry was attacking us and feeling sympathetic for our waste of time. He doesn't see the necessity for technology and has no appreciation for it. What Berry doesn't realize is that it is because of technology we are where we are today in society. He may be biased toward fields outside of technology because of his own studies, but that doesn't make his argument valid. It is important that studies inside the realm of the STEM program be maintained and pursued. Our future depends on it! Whether one agrees or not, we now live in an age where we are absolutely dependent on technology and its services. It is the subjects in STEM that allow everything else to work. Also, majoring in one of the STEM choices is a very good proposition for students entering college. In America last year, only six percent of college graduates graduated with a degree in one of the STEM choices. Of the six percent that graduated, only nine percent of them are of ethnic race. There is a huge need for more Engineering and Science Majors in the work force right now, making the decision to go into a field of one of the STEM subjects that much smarter. For Berry to say it is plaguing our education system is ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I agree with most of Berry's commencement, I do agree with a couple points he made. Berry suggests that getting an education at a smaller school has more probability due to the fact that the school “can still function as a community of teachers and students, with responsible community life as its unifying aim." Going to a smaller school, such as Whitworth, may very well better your chances of recieving a good education. Larger universities can usually have a great number of people in their classes and average close to forty students per classroom. With that many people, it can be difficult to recieve a "personal" education. In my lifre, I have always found it easir to learn with I can connect with the teacher and they have the time to work with me. When too many people are in class, it is hard for a teacher to find time to help students one by one. When class sizes and small, a personal education is likely and proves to be beneficial.
The commencement address by Wendell Berry considers the idea that industrialized and impersonal education is not only unhelpful but completely damaging to students. In my opinion, Wendell Berry is pursuing an extremely important idea that should be addressed as often as possible in academic settings. As students, we are being primed for a society that doesn’t care about us. We are told to be “successful” individuals who pursue the “American dream” without any qualms about the destruction that decision could cause in our own lives as well as the lives of others. Everything is personalized and individualistic in our society. We have no idea where any of our stuff comes from and we forget that it could be by the blood of others that we get to wear the shoes we like. Wendell Berry states; “you are not going to discover that the STEM project recognizes the standards of ecological and community health, or that it proposes the real national security of coherent local economies or sustainable methods of land use. You will be told instead that you and your community are now ruled by a global corporate empire, to which all the earth is a “third world,” against which you have no power of resistance or self-determination, and within which you have no vocational choice except a technical and servile job which will give you a small share of the plunder.” We are, at a very young age, set against the world that we live in. We are told that we are lone soldiers fighting for the top and that anything in our way is fair game to be squashed beneath our greedy over-sized feet. The American ladder to “success” is fed from day one into the minds of students and most of us believe that we have to be a part of this broken system so succeed in life. Later, Wendell voices, “You will have to understand that the logic of success is radically different from the logic of vocation.” This idea fits directly into a Biblical view of success. Jesus’s idea of worldly success is far different from that of corporate America. I hope to be a part of what Jesus has in mind for the world and I agree with Wendell Berry that a part of that idea is to purposefully detach from the systems that are imposed on us and to pursue community and breaking down walls instead of individualism and the idea that building walls is both healthy and necessary. Jesus was all about breaking down fences and putting up bridges; I hope to be a part of that re-building process in the world.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you Hanna. Even though I don’t like his cynical attitude toward the situation, I think this is an extremely important topic to be discusses. We have to “refuse to accept the common delusion that a career is an adequate context for a life.” A career will never be able to fully satisfy us and make us feel successful, only God can do that. We can’t let the American Dream get in the way of God’s dreams for us. Careers are important, but in the scheme of things, it is so much more important that we are learning, and that colleges are promoting, “reverence or neighborliness or stewardship.” Everything we have is on loan from God and we are to be good stewards of everything we are blessed with, our relationships and our possessions. When schools are “preparing their students for responsible membership in a family, a community, or a polity,” they are helping individuals feel that they have a purpose in our society.
DeleteNow, I also feel that an education is often what the student makes of it and sometimes what works best for students is to be in a big school/STEM environment because they will be able to advance their knowledge in the way that works best for them. They can also hold onto their values in this environment depending on who they are as individuals. He said his opinion about what a respectable education was but that type of an education won’t be respectable to everyone. Some big universities do focus solely on being “civilizations entirely determined by technology” but not all of them have lost everything that “is good or worthy or neighborly or humane.”
However, I am incredibly thankful to be at Whitworth, a school that is so focused on promoting community and providing an education of both mind and heart. I feel that at this school, more and more students are coming to realize that they are important in society. Coming to realize that they are not just a number but they are God’s creation and they are here for a purpose.
Having already read previous works by Berry I knew beforehand his personal experiences and his biases. He majored in journalism and grew up on a farm and after school went back into farming for some time. He values the land and the traditions of farming and the importance of farmers. He does attack STEM education quite a bit but he feels that is part of the problem and I agree somewhat. The reason food is so processed and unhealthy is because of nutrition scientist trying to enhance everything and improve our lives. I feel that Berry is trying to convey a message of personal responsibility as in other writings by him he always ties the problem back to the people to take personal responsibility. I don't interpret the reading as an attack on STEM education and science, but rather how the focus of schools is shifting away from a community driven focus. Berry himself is an old school, family oriented man. He believes in the old ways of agriculture and the farming community. By condemning the new world and using such strong language to do so. While reading this I felt more accepting of his ideas and a little more open minded to his viewpoints. Berry is an educated mind and has firsthand experience with his values so his opinions whether you agree with them or not have some validity. I agree with Berry that we should think for ourselves, I too believe that money and a job do not equal success. The same as good grades equal great intelligence. Our sole focus of education should not just be focused on the career with the biggest paycheck but with learning and growing within the community around us, with our families. This is the value that Berry believes comes from an agricultural society and I believe he does have a strong case there. When is the last time you had a family dinner.
ReplyDeleteIn the Commencement Address given by Wendell Berry we see a graduation speech unlike many others. While most praise the achievements of the students and what they have accomplished, this address serves as a warning for how to not proceed to live your life. Although opening with a heavy critique of the large, state-school education system, the bulk of the speech is spent warning of the dangers of letting your “career” be your life. This mentality, Berry asserts, originates in the structure of the public universities of our country. He asserts that they are incredible impersonal, and teaches students to become slaves of the corporate cycle. Although he says that studying of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) isn’t adherently bad, he asserts that they are the focal point of these “utilitarian” schools that only want you there to learn and not be a part of the community. Berry is hesitant to deny that one can get an actual education at these schools, because they have all of the components necessary to teach and for a student to learn. However, Berry’s largest quarrel is with the level of impersonality that these kinds of schools all share. Rather than developing the individual into a better one, they act as though the student is just another cog in a machine. It’s a very systematic and practical method of education, but one that Berry, as well as myself, strongly disagree with. I thought that this quote did an excellent job of summing up Berry’s main point in denouncing large institutions, “STEM’s definition of humanity includes no suggestion of reverence or neighborliness or stewardship. Instead, people are encouraged to think of themselves as individuals, self-interested and greedy by nature, violent by economic predestination, and members of nothing except their careers.” Berry believes that these institutions set you up for failure in life, not in a sense of being “unsuccessful” in our worldy terms, but in the sense that your life becomes consumed by a specific “career” that you very well could be dissatisfied with. As a student at a small, liberal arts college it was very reaffirming to read this speech. I decided to stay away from a large public institution for many of the reasons that Berry mentions. And although I didn’t necessarily learn a whole lot of new information reading this transcript, it is always nice to have your life decisions reaffirmed.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to be honest and say most of the essay was a little confusing for me, but there was one thing that caught my attention. The part of Berry's essay that I found most intriguing was at the end, when he talks about lives based on work as opposed to things like family or a community. He states, "you must refuse to accept the common delusion that a career is an adequate context for a life." I agree wholeheartedly with this statement, as I have seen countless examples in my own life of people who have done just that. Those who focus solely on their careers begin to ignore the other elements of their lives, isolating themselves from the things that are most important. Of course there is the argument that jobs put food on the table, which feeds the family, so in actuality, the job is for the family. This argument has a lot of truth to it, as the reason for careers is usually to pay the cost of living. However, when the commitment to a career begins to take precedence over the importance of family and relationships, it becomes a dangerous obsession. Yes, people should have jobs and they should have fun doing them. But they should not sacrifice personal relationships for their careers. Berry goes on to say, "I can tell you further that you cannot live in a career, and that satisfaction can come only from your life." Not only is it damaging to the people surrounding work obsessed individuals, but a career based life is, in and of itself, simply not satisfying. There is always someone with a higher paycheck, a cozier office, even a better suit. The competition is fierce and never ending. A life based on relationships and family, however, is something unique. It's not surrounded by vicious competition, but love. And ultimately, love is the very thing that truly satisfies.
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