“Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”
~Martin Luther King, Jr.
I could not agree more.
Just about every male in America between the ages of 22 and 35 owns a copy of the movie "Braveheart". Watching that movie amounts to some sort of masculinity ritual in many households. I’m thinking of incorporating it into a hyper-macho Bar Mitzvah when my sons turn 13.
Towards the beginning of the movie, set in medieval Scotland, young William Wallace, the protagonist, becomes an orphan when his father and older brother are killed in a battle with their British occupiers. At the funeral, William is adopted by his Uncle Argyle – who, I swear, is someone’s vision of what Ernest Hemingway would have looked like if he was born in Edinburgh in A.D. 1080.
Later, William is studying his uncle’s claymore, a gigantic Scottish broad sword. (Ladies, if you are ever stuck on what to get your husband for his birthday or Christmas, get him a sword. A real one. It’s a guaranteed hit.) Argyle indulges young William, allowing him to feel the sword's weight and power, before taking it back from him. What follows is one of the great lines in cinematic history:
ARGYLE: First, learn to use this. (Thumps William on the forehead.) Then, I’ll teach you to use... this. (SCHING! Removes the sword from its scabbard.)
The message is clear. A sword has weight, power, and strength. But that power will be useless at best, and destructive at worst, in the hands of someone who has not been taught to use it properly.
Education is much the same as the sword of Wallace’s youth. The power to use language eloquently and persuade people with words can be a blessing or a curse, depending on the man or woman who wields those words. A keen understanding of biochemistry can cure a disease, or create a weapon out of it. As educators, we must not be so open-minded that we assume that every application of knowledge is a noble one. Great evil can and has been wrought from a mind unfettered by moral concerns.
As an educator, I am committed to shaping not only the mind, but also the conscience.
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