Katrina and American Education

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By Garda Ghista(September 5, 2005) - This past week saw a Category 5 hurricane called Katrina hit the shores of Biloxi and New Orleans and completely submerge these two cities. The information is now available that very likelythousands are dead in New Orleans, as 60,000 people, according to New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, areunaccounted for. Tens of thousands more have been forcibly evacuated and rendered instantly homeless,with in many cases no possessions except the clothes on their back. Countless news articles have decriedthe fact that: (1) for five days no help came from the federal government, despite desperate pleas fromMayor Nagin and Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu; (2) when federal help came, the soldiers came armedwith rifles ready to combat the insurgents; (3) black people stealing was labeled by the media as ‘looting,’while white people stealing was labeled by the media as ‘finding.’ (4) The Red Cross tried to bring suppliesto the thousands of helpless, famished victims in the New Orleans Superdome, only to be turned away bythe military. (5) Chicago Mayor Daley offered to send food and supplies to the victims but, to hisastonishment, the federal government via FEMA refused his help; (6) The US Coast Guard brought plentiful supplies by boat only to be stopped by FEMA and turned away; but not without first cutting their emergency communication lines! (7) Cuban President Fidel Castro sent a letter to Mr. Bush offering food,medical supplies, and doctors to care for the sick and injured, and his letter was ignored; (8) VenezuelanPresident Hugo Chavez on Day Two (while Bush was golfing in California) offered to send food, cheapfuel, and medical supplies directly to the poor people stranded in New Orleans. His offer was likewiseignored; (9) On the ground reports told of grateful victims who declared that if it hadn’t been for the‘looters,’ they would have died of dehydration or drowning. (9) Just one month earlier Hurricane Dennishit Cuba full-force. The government was completely prepared and had already evacuated 660,000 people.In that evacuation process people remained with their own communities and with their own doctors so thatdoctors could continue to take care of their patients – hence there was minimal trauma and suffering andonly ten lives lost.How is it possible to separate the actions of the United States government leaders from the education theyreceived at universities in this country? What kind of higher education did they receive that taught them togive orders to turn away food and medical supplies? The US ranks right now as the only country in theworld with its leadership giving orders NOT to help the victims! Only the military was allowed to do this,and much too late! Or maybe the question should be, what kind of education did they NOT receive, thatthey felt it was okay to simply ignore for five days what went on down in the Gulf. In fact, we couldassume that rising public outrage and pressure, scathing articles from certain news outlets (the BBC hadfootage of black people shouting into the camera, why is nobody helping us?!) and fear of backlash wasthe only driving force to finally send military troops carrying water and food to victims and then buses toship them God knows where – as no previous plan appeared to exist for this situation. Cuba and Venezuelaare so-called third world, economically backward countries. But what do these two countries have in their educational systems that American schools and universities do not have, that led American leaders to showunbounded indifference to this major environmental catastrophe, which in 24 hours created tens of thousands of refugees and left tens of thousands dead? It shows a complete lack of philosophical or ideological knowledge, and complete ignorance of what constitutes a good life. This can be attributed toeither woeful ignorance or defective teaching in our universities.Let us put forward the supposition that philosophy is a core necessity of a sound, wholesome universityeducation. While definitions of philosophy abound, we will use here the simple, straightforward definition,which states that philosophy is a system of values by which one lives. It is also the love and pursuit of wisdom through intellectual means and using moral self-discipline. (

www.dictionary.com

) Philosophyis also the critical analysis of these values and beliefs.Author Allan Bloom declares in his book,

The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today’s Students

, that philosophy must be restored to its

rightful place as the leading and guiding force in universities. To this end, he says that core curriculashould be based on the Great Books, which incorporate the works of primarily Greek and Britishclassicists. He believes that the widespread relativism, wherein professors tell their students that all valuesand concepts are acceptable and may or may not be correct depending upon any one individual’s perception, is the cause of the present decadence and way of living. Bloom says that if young studentsreturn to studying the Great Books and make it the core of the curriculum, the problem of relativism andresulting moral confusion, amorality and decadence will be resolved.We need to analyze whether returning to studies of the Great Books will provide the requisite moralguidance that will create greater, more benevolent political leaders of America. The problem is that if weexamine those Great Books, they are rife with leading characters who exhibit gross immorality. The Greek gods were constantly having affairs! Hence, how are students going to learn how to be great and nobleleaders from the Great Books? Law professor Martha Nussbaum says that Bloom has preconceived valuesand selects only those philosophers from amongst the Great Books that ‘fit’ his preconceived values. Oneof his preconceived values, for example, is that women are not worth much, and certainly not worthyenough to study philosophy!Another of Bloom’s preconceived values is that only the most elite, the most aristocratic members of society should study philosophy. He believes that the general masses are incapable of understanding philosophical complexities. The common people do not have the right ‘natures’ to take on this subject.Clearly, Bloom is not a fan of democracy. Nussbaum counters this by pointing out that even in thoseancient days, many writers had to work while writing on the side. Today perhaps 70 percent of Americanstudents need to work while studying in university. Bloom further claims that democracy leads tomediocrity. A correct counter to this would be that his beloved aristocracy leads to degeneracy and moraldegradation!Bloom may be very much correct in saying that philosophy should return to being a leading force inuniversities. But then, using only the Great Books as textbooks means students will not get the requisiteunderstandings of morality – what is good and bad, right and wrong. Furthermore, the Great Books areentirely limited to Anglo-Greek civilizations and hence the philosophical understandings therein may beconsidered quite limited or embryonic from the perception of other cultures. There are no Chinese or Indian philosophers in the Great Books. Yet their contribution is immense. We need to consider the possibility thattheir contribution and depth of understanding of the purpose of life, their traditional wisdom regarding howto lead a good life, may be far greater than any Western philosopher represented in the Great Books. Wecan give as an example the moral tradition of Neo-Confucian philosophy. Confucius was not interested in‘being,’ ‘self,’ and other similar terms. He focused on one thought alone, which is: how do you lead a morallife? How do you create a moral character and a moral society? While Bloom’s hero, Plato, was abstract,Confucius was down to earth. While it is not clear to what extent Plato’s ideas were adopted as part of people’s lives in Western civilization, the ideas of Confucius were used as a means of governing the entireAsian society. They had real practical value and became part of mainstream thinking. His teachings, hisdeep wisdom, were used by both the Japanese and the Chinese for millennia after he died. Clearly, he had asubstantially more practical and beneficial effect on human beings than Plato did.Another example from China would be Taoism, which teaches non-egotistical leadership of communitiesand societies and control of oneself. Is this perhaps not badly required today in America?India is another country that has much to offer to the Great Books. It has its yogic and devotional traditions,reflecting a God-centered society as opposed to the matter-centered society of America. Shiva, Krishna,Patanjali, Tagore and Yogananda were all great philosophers and practitioners of yoga who are revered tothis day by the common citizens of India – even though centuries have passed since Shiva and Krishnalived on this earth. Kabir, Guru Nanak, Jnanadeva and more recently the Indian philosopher Shrii PrabhatRanjan Sarkar have made inestimable contributions to India’s devotional tradition. These traditions are for the most part completely unknown and hence not even valued in Western countries.

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