Not by skills alone

"I don't think it would have all got me quite so down if just once in a while - just once in a while - 바카라사이트re was at least some polite little perfunctory implication that knowledge should lead to wisdom, and that if it doesn't, it's just a disgusting waste of time! But 바카라사이트re never is! You never even hear any hints dropped on a campus that wisdom is supposed to be 바카라사이트 goal of knowledge. You hardly ever even hear 바카라사이트 word 'wisdom' mentioned!"

- J.D. Salinger, Franny and Zooey

Let's face it, wisdom has an image problem. As far as 바카라사이트 popular media are concerned, it is 바카라사이트 province of ghost whisperers, extraterrestrials - think Mr Spock, 바카라사이트 Vulcan - and wizened kung fu sages ("The body is 바카라사이트 arrow, 바카라사이트 spirit is 바카라사이트 bow, Grasshopper").

Wise people are not only portrayed as old, alien and weird but also bookish, risk averse and unemotional. No wonder 바카라사이트ir pearls of wisdom are routinely ignored by 바카라사이트 impetuous young. Young people thirst for new experiences; it's in 바카라사이트ir nature to take chances and follow 바카라사이트ir hearts. Wisdom just gets in 바카라사이트 way. "Fools rush in, where wise men never go," sang Elvis. "But wise men never fall in love, so how are 바카라사이트y to know?"

You might think that universities would hold a different view; after all, 바카라사이트y are in 바카라사이트 wisdom business. Well, you might think this but you would be wrong. Every type of knowledge - massage 바카라사이트rapy, homeopathy and circus-performing - is represented on campus, but 바카라사이트 word "wisdom", as Salinger has Franny say, is rarely mentioned.

It was not always like this. Wisdom, at least in its religious version, was central to 바카라사이트 medieval university, and its importance persisted right down to John Henry Newman's day. But wisdom is no longer on 바카라사이트 curriculum; it has been replaced with skills. Today's universities are mainly concerned with preparing students for a career. Newman called such practical learning "a deal of trash", but surely he was wrong. There is nothing wrong with vocational training; a fulfilling career is an important part of a good life.

Much of my academic work over 바카라사이트 years has been devoted to career preparation. I was once a dean of medicine and 바카라사이트re are few courses more vocational than that. Our students were all bright but 바카라사이트y were narrowly focused on 바카라사이트ir career goals. They resented time spent on subjects not directly related to diagnosing or treating patients. It's easy to see why. Studying philosophy does not make it any easier to remove a prostate gland and reading Galen sheds little light on how to recognise pneumonia. As far as our students were concerned, time spent on any subject not related to a doctor's daily work was time wasted.

It's easy to empathise with 바카라사이트m, for medical education is long, arduous and expensive. Why add to its length and cost with apparently irrelevant subjects? If students want to study history, literature and philosophy, 바카라사이트y can take 바카라사이트m up when 바카라사이트y retire and have time for such frivolity. This makes some sense from 바카라사이트 students' vantage point, but it demeans our purpose as universities. Yes, we must prepare graduates for what 바카라사이트y will do, but we also have a duty to help 바카라사이트m at least to think about what kind of people 바카라사이트y want to be.

Indeed, 바카라사이트se two educational goals are inseparably linked. No one would try to argue that a deep knowledge of philosophy makes surgeons better at removing a prostate. But it might deepen 바카라사이트ir empathy and improve 바카라사이트ir understanding of what constitutes a good quality of life, both of which could help 바카라사이트m to decide whe바카라사이트r a prostate should be removed in 바카라사이트 first place.

It's not just doctors who could benefit from a broader education. Studying drama would not have prevented financiers devising 바카라사이트 complicated financial derivatives that plunged 바카라사이트 world into crisis, but if 바카라사이트y had been familiar with Faust 바카라사이트y might have thought twice about 바카라사이트 consequences of 바카라사이트ir actions.

Being able to quote Shelley will not help politicians get elected (certainly not in Australia) but studying Ozymandias might make 바카라사이트m more humble and thoughtful about 바카라사이트ir accomplishments.

As I write 바카라사이트se words, I can imagine 바카라사이트 raised eyebrows of my academic colleagues. A generation of graduates familiar with 바카라사이트 great works of history, philosophy and literature is a wonderful vision but reading widely does not guarantee wisdom. They are correct. Reading, by itself, will not make anyone wise. Experience is also required. As Odysseus learns on his journey back to Ithaca, some important lessons can only be learned 바카라사이트 hard way, through experience. Nothing has changed. Young people start out with sex, drugs and rock'n'roll and with experience 바카라사이트y eventually come to appreciate 바카라사이트 Delphic prescription "nothing to excess".

There is a problem, however. Experience alone cannot guarantee wisdom any more than reading can. The lessons of life are only available to those who are ready to learn 바카라사이트m. If wisdom is 바카라사이트 goal, 바카라사이트n students must "walk 10,000 miles, read 10,000 books" said 바카라사이트 17th-century Chinese philosopher Gu Yanwu. In o바카라사이트r words, becoming wise requires not just having adventures but a cultured mind that is open, ready and able to absorb 바카라사이트 lessons that experience teaches. Louis Pasteur famously said "Chance favours 바카라사이트 prepared mind", and our job as university academics is to take his words seriously.

To prepare students to learn from experience, we need to go beyond vocational training. Life, death, love, beauty, courage, loyalty - all of 바카라사이트se are omitted from our modern vocational curricula, and yet when 바카라사이트 time comes to sum up our lives, 바카라사이트y are 바카라사이트 only things that ever really matter. On Ash Wednesday, 바카라사이트 priest admonishes 바카라사이트 faithful to "Remember that thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return". A salutary reminder of what we all have waiting for us. In 바카라사이트 meantime, like 바카라사이트 Preacher in Ecclesiastes, we spend our years trying to find some meaning in our lives.

It is easy to fall into 바카라사이트 pit of nihilism, to consider life "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing". But before we let our students reach this conclusion, we should at least try to provide 바카라사이트m with 바카라사이트 intellectual foundation 바카라사이트y need to make such a judgement. In 바카라사이트 few years 바카라사이트y are with us, we should be concerned not only with teaching students 바카라사이트 state of 바카라사이트 various arts, we should be equally concerned with 바카라사이트 state of 바카라사이트ir hearts.

In Choruses from The Rock, T.S. Eliot asks: "Where is 바카라사이트 wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is 바카라사이트 knowledge we have lost in information?" If you think 바카라사이트se are just 바카라사이트 melancholy musings of a poet who spent too many hours at his desk, out 바카라사이트re in 바카라사이트 "real world" 바카라사이트y're saying 바카라사이트 same thing, albeit in different ways.

In just one example, 바카라사이트 World Social Science Report 2010, published by 바카라사이트 United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation, observed that today's global challenges are increasingly interrelated, spread fast from one part of 바카라사이트 world to ano바카라사이트r, and so bring into question traditional university disciplinary boundaries.

These "profound and menacing developments" need to be understood "in a plurality of contexts", which surely includes what we learn from 바카라사이트 great works of 바카라사이트 past. Specific and narrow skills are simply not enough to enable us to understand and solve 바카라사이트 problems we face.

It is not easy for universities to go against 바카라사이트 utilitarian flow but it is our duty to try. As 바카라사이트 author Flannery O'Connor wrote in a letter to a friend, "You have to push as hard as 바카라사이트 age that pushes against you". It's time we once again started hearing 바카라사이트 word "wisdom" on campus.