This week, we begin to catch a glimpse of where that idea that thinking and college was the path to success and power. Look at paragraphs 4 and 5 for this week.
4. Thinking is the true business of life, power is the result. You are at all times dealing with the magical power of thought and consciousness. What results can you expect so long as you remain oblivious to the power which has been placed within your control?
5. So long as you do this you limit yourself to superficial conditions, and make of yourself a beast of burden for those who think; those who recognize their power; those who know that unless we are willing to think we shall have to work, and the less we think the more we shall have to work, and the less we shall get for our work.
That final phrase seems to support getting a college education so you can think and not have to work; however, it’s incomplete and out of context. If colleges taught the kind of thinking we’re learning in this course, the theory that getting a college education was the secret to success might hold some water.
I have done post-Master’s work, but the older I get and the more experienced I become, the less respect I have for a college education as an indicator of someone’s likelihood of success in any particular endeavor. A college education has become merely an indicator that someone could be a good worker. The diploma means they showed up within a prescribed number of times and turned a prescribed amount of work in for evaluation and did so in a manner that earned a satisfactory assessment. This tells employers the job candidate might be counted upon to show up for work on a regular basis and complete assignments to company standards in exchange for a paycheck.
There’s no indication that the person will be innovative, resourceful, or demonstrate initiative. And for the vast majority of companies, they are just fine with that. Go back to paragraph 4. Has anyone who has taken college-level coursework been challenged to achieve anything in paragraph 4? I wasn’t. No, without learning paragraph 4, the value of college education that paragraph 5 would seem to encourage will not appear. Most of today’s college graduates are glorified ditch-diggers who rarely have to muddy their hands or clothes.
No, the true power of thought can be employed with, dare I say it? I will. An elementary school education. If we would teach these principles to children that young — and I’m saying we should.
I’m not saying formal education should cease after elementary school, but I believe if we taught children these principles are part of their reading, writing, and arithmetic basics, they would fare more favorably with the subsequent formal education they did receive — whether if was academic or trade-related.
I’m always encouraged on the webcasts when I hear about parents employing what they’ve learned with their children. I’m thrilled when I see high school-aged participants engaging in the course. Teach children to think and engage the Silence. They will emerge with Power and make the world a better place, one mind at a time.