Combat Mission #Ideas! ;)

As I close my eyes and drift away to a land where there is love, health, peace, and blessings. I wanted to take the time to think and reflect. 

     The truth is that every time I attend graduate classes, I feel as though I'm gearing up for combat. Not the physical type, but a combat that involves ideas, standing up for what you believe in, and also giving yourself permission to have your voice heard. In a group setting of course it is important to hear the voices of others, because this is a contribution to discussion and ideas. But we must never think that our ideas are of less importance. A voice, a story, a dialogue, and a discussion should be seen as a mechanism for building democracy, and democratic relations. It can also be seen as a field for combat because we take a stand for our ideas, we stand up for our story. Stories that are heard, fought for, and won, can be thought of as winning a war, because when a war is won, it is a nation, a nation's narrative that wins.

     I think that there is a war being fought at the Masters or even Ph.d. classes, because we are fighting for our ideas. We believe in our ideas, and we want them to win. If we ourselves don't stand up for our ideas, then who will? At a broader level such as the institution of higher education, I think that there is a battle being fought to keep university spaces, as a place where there can be open discussions and dialogues. A push to keep ideas thriving, and ultimately succeeding. The social sciences, humanities, liberal arts, and the arts can be viewed as under attack. There is this question of the economic value of these fields, as compared to the technologically driven, information technology, or engineering fields. While there may not be an immediate visible outcome that is produced within the fields that are being attacked, their value at the level of the long term goals for social innovation will eventually take place. We contine to need thoughtful human beings with a vested interest in the arts, social sciences, arts, and humanities. We can think of these fields from a historical point of view as well. 

     During the industrial revolution, there were attacks upon science because there were more demands on industry, growth, economy, and jobs. Science, arts and humanities had to fight against revolutions to  have their voices to continue to be heard. We can even think of the Greek scholar Socrates who poisoned himself as he was committed of corrupting youth, because of the ideas that he had. Today his teachings through the dialogues of Plato have been widely spread, and preserved across the Globe. So historically we can see that thought has always been something that humans have had to fight for. Even though institutions of higher education are fighting to keep dialogue and discussion alive, I actually don't think that there is a need to worry. We always need thinkers. And from the historical perspective, we know that in every era there is going to be a fight, or even an uprising to keep thought alive. 

     Having said that there is not a need to worry, I also think that it is about time that we begin to think of economic growth, development, and also the need for thought in a somewhat parallel level , from the perspectives of an educational institution. Meaning that we should think that instead of eradicating, and pushing down specific fields in education, because we prefer economic growth, but rather think that there is value for each. If there is corporate funding being received as the university who benefits? If there is a push for growth in the areas of technology, then who benefits? Both the students who are interested in the topics, and also the companies / corporations who want to learn from the knowledge economies. 

     I do think that technology has a large impact upon what is taught, and even the social molding of younger generations / students. For this it is quite obvious that there will need to be  some changes to higher education, and how knowledge is developed, and areas of interest. There is a necessity to develop skilled professionals, as well as new programs to meet the needs of jobs that will be created.  With all of the factors of skills, job development, technology programs, and development, there is still the need for thinkers who try to find creative solutions as to how to put these factors together, so that there is some type of synthesis. Every nation even the nations of the first world need skills development, workers, entrepreneurs, and also thinkers. The proportions may vary, but this is needless to say that ideas will, and should continue to matter, even if it does feel like a mission or a combat.  

Dedication: These words are dedicated to all human beings. Words and ideas are worth it, our story is worth being heard. May there always be love. Thank you for reading and hearing this voice. My thoughts to share with love & kindness! :) 

Notes: These thoughts were originally hand - written on October 18th, 2017. Image 1 - Web Link