Always Use the Front Door

                In “Our English Syllabus”, C.S. Lewis discusses the difference between getting an education and learning and what the difference means for students who are studying at the university level. Lewis covers many elements of this topic throughout his nine pages. He starts by saying that “the purpose of education is to produce the good man and the good citizen” (81). Education prepares pupils for leisure and vocational training prepares men for work.  He continues on by saying that it is important to prepare students for leisure because it is leisure that distinguishes humans from animals. Thus, education prepares students for humanity. It is after pupils become humans that learning kicks in. Learning is a thirst for knowledge that only a select number of people possess. It is this thirst that will be quenched at the university level. Lewis spends the rest of his essay focused on the idea that an important element of learning is a focus on one subject. If a pupil is taking lots of subjects, he is still learning how to be human.

                I thought this essay was the most interesting of all the essays that we have read in class thus far. Lewis does not beat around the bush. He challenges his readers to find what they are really passionate about and “to absorb [themselves] in getting to know some part of reality, as it is in itself” (87). In class, we talked about this idea of “the pursuit of knowledge”. It was emphasized that, as we pursue knowledge, we need to tread carefully and make sure that we do not allow our joy in the pursuit of knowledge to destroy God’s creation. I found this concept very interesting. I was not sure if I agreed with it entirely when I was sitting in class, but one image that was brought up was that of someone climbing a wall instead of entering by a door, as in The Magicians Nephew. In this story, the witch climbs a wall into a garden to get an apple which will allow her to live forever. She purposefully destroys a beautiful creation in pursuit of something. This is a metaphor for humanity’s first sin. It was in the name of knowledge that Eve picked the fruit from the tree and ate it.

While this may have been more apparent to some, it took me a little time to stumble upon this connection, but when I did, it really hit me hard. Part of being a Christian is taking care of God’s creation. I know that some people who choose jobs in fields such as Biology or Medicine may encounter more situations where they are faced with the option to pursue knowledge while disrespecting creation; they will be more glaring than the situations I will encounter in my field of study. As a history major, I will have to be aware of the way that my words reflect the past to the people of the present. When I tell people about things that happened long ago, I must ensure that I am not portraying a certain person or group of people in a way that is untrue to what they were actually like. I think that, no matter what area of study we are entering, we must be aware of the dangers that we pose to creation in that subject.