Are you a student or just an ‘economic unit’?

A poem that the archbishop of Southwark ‘Peter Smith’ read really touched me during my ex-college’s 25th anniversary mass, so I thought I ought to share it. He also spoke about education and how it has moved away from its true purpose.

In this modern day we students are seen as economical units, to be trained, crimped and prepared for the workplace. However, this isn’t the only purpose of education.

I respect faith schools, as they provide students with an ethos (morals), they endeavour make them well rounded human beings and at the same time, they provide outstanding academic education (at least some do).

Society needs to take a step back from the buzzing world of technology and the constant ‘hype’ about economic growth, to truly understand what it means to be educated for life and not just for the work place. After all, we are humans and not robots.

Well, enough of my blabbing, an exerpt from the poem is below.

Opening Stanza from Choruses from “The Rock”

The Eagle soars in the summit of Heaven,

The Hunter with his dogs pursues his circuit.

O perpetual revolution of configured stars,

O perpetual recurrence of determined seasons,

O world of spring and autumn, birth and dying

The endless cycle of idea and action,

Endless invention, endless experiment,

Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness;

Knowledge of speech, but not of silence;

Knowledge of words, and ignorance of the Word.

All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance,

All our ignorance brings us nearer to death,

But nearness to death no nearer to GOD.

Where is the Life we have lost in living?

Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?

Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?

The cycles of Heaven in twenty centuries

Bring us farther from GOD and nearer to the Dust.

T. S. Eliot (1888-1965),The Rock (1934)

Thought provoking poem right?
To think that this was written so many years ago, yet it’s relevance is unwavering.

Thank you for reading! Do share 🙂

Thank you to all my readers! God bless you

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