Rose plans seeds of education at Convocation
Campus Times
September 18, 1998
photo by Ian Gratz
Dr. Richard Rose, keynote speaker at Fall Convocation Friday, addressed
staff and students with his lecture entitled "Education as a means
to an end, or an end in itself." In his lecture, Dr. Rose dealt with
ethics in education and challenged faculty, staff and students to take pride
in their work, and to give back to the community.
Dr. Richard Rose, assistant professor of religion and philosophy, spoke
on whether education is a means to an end or an end in itself at the 1998
Fall Convocation in Founders Auditorium last Friday.
The convocation is a tradition at the University of La Verne.
"In a sense, it is a ritual," Dr. John Gingrich, dean of the
College of Arts and Sciences, said.
It is a kind of a replacement for the required chapel meetings in the
1960s. Since going to chapel is no longer mandatory for students, the convocation
is another way of getting together experienced and new members of the ULV
community.
Dr. Rose said that it was not a question of "either/or" as
to whether education was a means to an end but that it was rather "both/and."
"Education serves as both," he continued. "It enriches
and livens the individuals who attain it. Therefore, it can be seen as an
end," he said.
"In most cases, education does lead to greater opportunities and
can, therefore, be seen as the means to an end," Dr. Rose said.
He said, "education can take you where you want to go in life but
it also has value in and of itself, independent of anything else. Education
gives you satisfaction just because you have it.
He said, "education as an end in itself is the transformation of
the individual from ignorance to knowledge-from darkness to light."
Besides the meaning of the academics, Dr. Rose pointed out the importance
of personal growth and of living up to the ideals manifested in the mission
statement.
Students have to take a values and critical thinking class and are expected
to acknowledge diversity, be life-long learners and do community service.
"Don't keep what you have for yourself," Dr. Rose said. "Share
it with others and do your community service and you are reaching out to
other folk."
He said he had chosen the topic of the speech for two main reasons.
He wanted the audience to think about the issue before the speech, but especially
wanted to point out the dynamic relationship between the means and end.
The main question asked was whether achieving a goal -- receiving a degree
-- is worth cheating.
"While some may view academic dishonesty as a means to an end,
getting a degree and a job," Dr. Rose said, "the degree, which
is supposed to be the sign of the educated person, is really nothing but
a badge worn for show."
He said,"academic dishonesty is a problem because you never really
acquired the skills, the education, which will serve as the means to get
you to the end, that is a job that you say you want."
"I want to emphasize," he said, "that if you want to
get the most out of the educational process, that relationship will not
be compromised. If our desire is to create a better world for ourselves
and our families," he said, "then we must discipline ourselves
to abide by the highest ethics and moral standards today to ensure a better
tomorrow."
Not surprisingly, Dr. Rose received a standing ovation for his speech.
"I've always enjoyed Dr. Rose," LaVelle Wilson, senior and
assistant activities director of the Afrikan American Student Alliance (AASA),
said.
"He really put some ideas in our minds, as far as AASA is concerned,"
Wilson said.
"I'm glad that he's behind us a 100 percent with what we're doing."
Dr. Rose said after the speech, "the convocation is one of the
most important parts of the academic school year. It gives the entire community
an opportunity to get together and find a focus where we can be committed
to the ideals of the University, the ideals of education in general and
to state our commitment to service."
He said,"It's truly an honor to be chosen as the convocation speaker."
As far as the impact he hoped his speech would have on the students,
he said, "We need to make education a priority so that we can develop
into the types of individuals that can make a change later on. When you're
cheating, you're really only cheating yourself."
The convocation committee, which consists of members of faculty, student
services and the administration, meets in late spring every year to make
plans for the fall convocation.
The speaker the committee chooses has no given topic, but is asked to
speak from the "head and the heart" on anything he or she considers
important, said Dr. Gingrich.
"We think it is important to begin the new academic year by getting
together [and listening] to an intellectually stimulating speech,"
Gingrich said.
It was the committee's intention to have a speaker who is relatively
new to the University -- this is Dr. Rose's third year at ULV -- to establish
a contrast to last year's speaker, Dr. Peggy Redman, who has been at ULV
for 15 years.
