[November 1998 journal entry]
In a professional formation session with a young physician, he asked how at this point in his life – given the limitations and narrowness of the education he received in his religiously conservative upbringing, at a religiously conservative college, and at medical school – he should seek to educate himself. I offered the following markers from my life/experience. (1) Seek/form a covenant relationship (solidarity) with individuals dismembered – by disability, by illness, by disadvantage, . . . -- from the ‘normal’ spheres of society. Doing so creates perspective and uncovers unexamined/untested assumptions. (2) Maintain a perspective outside one’s own culture. (3) ‘Education’ -- ex duco (‘to lead out of’) -- necessitates separating from those who would teach/form you in an authoritarian manner. ‘Education’ is associated with personal responsibility. (4) Have the courage to subject your ideas to the unrestricted criticism possible in the ‘marketplace’ as well as to the self-examination of the ‘wilderness’. I am hesitant to consider seriously the ideas/views of those who fall short of or lack either of these experiences in their life journeys. (5) I recommend Fischer’s Historians’ Fallacies as a tool to sharpen and refine your ability to think critically.
In a professional formation session with a young physician, he asked how at this point in his life – given the limitations and narrowness of the education he received in his religiously conservative upbringing, at a religiously conservative college, and at medical school – he should seek to educate himself. I offered the following markers from my life/experience. (1) Seek/form a covenant relationship (solidarity) with individuals dismembered – by disability, by illness, by disadvantage, . . . -- from the ‘normal’ spheres of society. Doing so creates perspective and uncovers unexamined/untested assumptions. (2) Maintain a perspective outside one’s own culture. (3) ‘Education’ -- ex duco (‘to lead out of’) -- necessitates separating from those who would teach/form you in an authoritarian manner. ‘Education’ is associated with personal responsibility. (4) Have the courage to subject your ideas to the unrestricted criticism possible in the ‘marketplace’ as well as to the self-examination of the ‘wilderness’. I am hesitant to consider seriously the ideas/views of those who fall short of or lack either of these experiences in their life journeys. (5) I recommend Fischer’s Historians’ Fallacies as a tool to sharpen and refine your ability to think critically.
