“When did you first realize you were truly educated?”
In our last issue, we asked you The Big Question:
“When did you first realize you were truly educated?”
I first had a sense I was educated when I realized how much I didn’t know. Quite likely that happened at Lawrenceville, quite possibly around a Harkness Table in Jim Waugh’s [H’67 ’68 ’72 ’74 ’81 ’83 ’85 ’88 P’68 ’70 ’72 ’74 ’76 GP’12 ’14] honors English class. After all us hotshots took a run at explaining a piece of literature, Mr. Waugh would humorously scold us — he called me a “chowderhead” once. At the very end of the class, he’d share his insights — and they would blow us away.
That’s the best education. Learning what you don’t know — and exploring with others.
Jon Krieg ’81
* * *
When did l first realize l was truly educated? My battered copy of Kenneth Clark’s book Civilisation: A Personal View, a gift from former Secretary of State Dean Acheson following from our conversations and correspondence in 1971. We found much in common, starting with a gentlemen’s agreement that we would not discuss the catastrophic war in Southeast Asia in which he had played a major role, and I, as a former Green Beret, had a boots-on-the-ground minor role. We instead discussed the place of art and religion in the rise of great empires. Those conversations covering history, theology, and art were as exhilarating as can be imagined between educated men.
The second instance followed within a year in the vaulted study of the dean of King’s College London in which he, as my tutor, invited me to write a review of a book on medical ethics, deferring to my experience as a Green Beret medic, hospital chaplain, surgical tech, hospice worker, and emergency room operator; as we, Anglican clergy, avoided the catastrophic loss of his family in the Holocaust where medical ethics were obliterated by the Nazis. This great man and scholar was asking me to write about human goodness in the face of unthinkable evil began with the words of the ancient oath taken by all who undertake the care of the sick: “First, do no harm.”
I didn’t write the paper because l felt unworthy to attach my meager scholarship to his massive learning, but it meant the world to be invited. I walked out of Kings College into the Strand, took all my papers and notebooks and dropped them into a rubbish bin and headed home to Oklahoma.
Frank Williams ’61
* * *
This process started when I understood that my earthy existence was to prepare me for eternity. In my opinion, all of us should seek the answers to four questions that define our existence: origin, meaning, morality, and destiny.
The one teacher who has provided me with the best answers is Jesus. Once I committed my life to Him, I was indwelled by His Spirit, and the answers were revealed through His scriptures. Manmade religion and works could not save me. Salvation is attained only through having unyielding faith in Jesus’s promises, and His Spirit in me sealed me in Him. It is not a “blind faith,” it is “a reasoned response to revealed truth.” Only then did I realize that I was truly educated.
I could list hundreds of scriptures to outline this, but these few provide an outline: John 3:3-8; Ephesians 4:23; 2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 Corinthians 2:4-16; Ephesians 2:8-10; Acts 4:12; Romans 12:2; John 8:12; John 11:25-26; Hebrews 2:14-15; John 8:36
Eric Kennedy Swenson ’70