Not only is the twentieth century drawing to a close, but the economic, political, and cultural aspects of civilization on this planet are undergoing dramatic changes. Work as we have known it is rapidly disappearing. The old concept of starting with a company right after graduating and then continuing in the same company with promotions, raises, and a growing pension fund until you retire no longer applies. Now the average graduate may expect to have six to eight different careers in the course of his or her life. Job security is out.
Marketable skills are in.
Life, it seems, belongs to the aggressive and the imaginative who are willing to discard their past in order to scramble for the future. Increasingly, history in the form of usable tradition is seen as no longer relevant. We are living in a time of great transition also with regard to knowledge. A friend of mine, Dr. Art Preisinger, is a professor of religion at Texas Lutheran College. He told me recently that the term papers students write today are almost completely lacking in narrative development and logical presentation.