Can higher education help our students lead “morally significant lives”? This weeks’ New York Times op-ed highlights a thought provoking current debate on the purposes of education: academic and commercial success v. moral excellence. What is the purpose of college? Or, for that matter, what is the purpose of kindergarten?
At Providence, we believe education can and should be about both “the acquisition of specific knowledge” and “introspection, observation [and] connecting the head and the heart.” Guiding students to want “what it is that’s worth wanting” is integral to our aims long before the college years.
Dr. Patrick Egan, Dean of the Upper School