From: Student Pugwash USA <uspugwash@igc.apc.org>
Newsgroups: alt.org.pugwash
Date: 23 Dec 92 13:55 PST
Subject: Re: *Tough Questions-Winter 93 News
Nf-ID: #R:cdp:1758700047:cdp:1758700051:000:7698
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!uspugwash    Dec 23 13:55:00 1992


TOUGH QUESTIONS - WINTER 1993

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EDUCATING FOR THE WHOLE : MIND, BODY, AND SOUL
BY JOSE CAMBEROS

     Despite efforts at reform, modern society  remains a frag-
mented structure with deep social, political, and economic divi-
sions.  Because of its important role as a conduit for intellec-
tual, social and cultural values, educational reform is often 
considered a means for addressing these divisions.  As a result, 
we are presently focusing a great deal of attention on the need 
for education reform and improvement, usually by proposing spe-
cific changes in curricula, particular educational strategies, 
or various models for teacher-student interaction.  However, 
without the proper foundation, these reforms will not resolve 
the social crisis.

     A fundamental flaw of our educational system is the perva-
sive utilitarian (and materialistic) view that education is the 
means to a specific end, namely, the production of individuals 
capable of holding a career or profession that will provide eco-
nomic and material security.  Instead, a proper educational 
foundation ought to be concerned with cultivation of complete, 
whole human beings capable of productive, creative, and respon-
sible action within society.  In order to cultivate such indi-
viduals it will be necessary to adopt a categorical model for a 
holistic education which aims directly at the spiritual ideal of 
a unified mind and body.

     When refering to holism in education, the multi-talented 
individual or the Renaissance ideal of a talented polyglot is 
often evoked.  However, the essential features of these views 
reflect a hidden, special kind of humanity in which all our men-
tal, spiritual, and physical capacities are developed to func-
tion as a dynamic whole.  Thus, the foundations for an holistic 
education are built upon three unifying principles that are im-
plicit in all humanity regardless of race, gender, or culture.  
They are mind, body, and soul.  Therefore, the model for a 
holistic education contains three essential components, aesthet-
ics, athletics, and apologetics,  which aim at developing the 
capacities of the mind, body, and soul, respectively.

     Aesthetics is a form or rubric for intellectual activity 
designed to develop fully the formal and creative capacities of 
the mind.  It emphasizes unleashing fully the imaginative, cre-
ative, and intuitive powers of humanity through the cultivation 
of the capacities of the intellect.  This includes the tradi-
tional academic disciplines, with one fundamental and crucial 
distinction - all disciplines should be taught within their 
proper contextual, formal, and creative dimensions.  Hence, the 
history, philosophy, and technical mastery of the discipline 
should be included as part of the normal curriculum.  
Development of critical reasoning abilities and an interdisci-
plinary approach are an integral component of these ideals.

     Athletics refers to conditioning of the body.  It requires 
an understanding of its anatomy, capacities, and fundamental 
needs.  This component should promote an appreciation  and re-
spect for the beauty of the human body through physical condi-
tioning, current knowledge about health, nutrition, biological 
reproduction, and human sexuality.  Today, this important cate-
gory is not taken seriously enough and is lumped together with 
other extracurricular activities instead of being given its 
rightful position on par with the aesthetic category.  Simply 
put, a healthy body is a healthy mind and attitude.  
Appreciation and respect for the unique beauty of the human body 
increases the potential for the appreciation and respect for hu-
man diversity.

     Apologetics is a special category which seeks to address 
the need for communication, which lies at the heart of our spir-
itual needs.  We come to know our own soul only through the re-
flection we see in others.  This is only possible if we can com-
municate with them.  It seems that our present age has confused 
communication (verbal or otherwise) with the intellectual equiv-
alent of war.  Everything from intellectual discussions to ev-
eryday social discourse tends to become battlefields of argumen-
tation as if we were bent on humiliating our peers or loved ones 
by proving them wrong.  This is an extremely destructive pro-
cess.  Respect for an opposing view is the beginning of mutual 
understanding and true community.

     Education is capable of setting people free to enjoy life 
as well as derive a feeling of personal satisfaction by con-
tributing to the social whole.  Because holistic education is 
not a means to an end, but rather a dynamic process of lifelong 
growth, it promotes the ideal of continued cultivation and devo-
tion to the learning process.  Such devotion to the ideals of 
holistic education and constant critical concern for their prac-
tical implementation provides the necessary disciplined frame of 
mind to maintain unity of self and society.  Only when we under-
stand that society needs and values us do we impose the neces-
sary personal constraints to function properly within a commu-
nity.  Hence, a holistic education satisfies our spiritual need 
for individual integrity by imparting on us devotion to the 
unity achieved, of both self and society.

     Vocation provides us with the proper selfless nonmaterial-
istic motivation for a personal contribution to human survival, 
growth, and maturation.  When we undertake a particular journey 
of life, we manifest our creative and imaginative potential to 
their greatest extent when we feel that we are called to such a 
journey, which appeals to our power of volition.  Vocation does 
not tell us what we must do for materialistic survival as indi-
viduals.  Rather it grants us a more noble role in the survival 
of our species and hence satisfies our spiritual need to feel 
valuable within social communities.

     The model for a holistic education originates from the uni-
versal constituents of humanity:  mind, body, and soul.  The in-
tent is not engineering particular human products for the pur-
pose of material progress or worldly utility, but instead to 
catalyze what can only be called an awakening of the human 
spirit.  The message here is that we need to transform the way 
we think and feel about ourselves and the world from utilitar-
ian, materialistic, selfish concerns to a foundation of love--
love for life, for ourselves as part of the greater whole, and 
for the world.  The mind and body are one spirit.  We are nature 
and nature is us.  The next step in our evolutionary development 
must constitute such a transformation and fundamental change.  
Consciousness is both a great and terrible gift.  What we do 
with this gift is entirely a matter of our own choosing.  Let us 
choose with hope, honor, and dignity in our hearts.


     Jose Camberos received his Bachelor of Science degree in 
Mechanical Engineering/Materials Science and Engineering from 
the University of California, Berkeley, his Master of Science in 
Aeronautical Engineering and Master of Arts in the History and 
Philosophy of Science from Stanford University, and is currently 
a Doctoral candidate in Aeronautical and Astronautical 
Engineering at Stanford.  As a participant in SPUSA`s Seventh 
International Conference, Visions for a Sustainable World, Jose 
attended the working group on Educating for the Socially 
Responsible Use of Technology, contributing a research paper en-
titled `Implicit Gender Bias and Discrimination in the 
Intellectual Socialization of 20th Century Scientists and 
Engineers.`