Our English Syllabus

C.S. Lewis writes a good piece in his essay "Our English Syllabus." In this essay, Lewis talks about the differences of education and learning, and also the differences between education and vocational training. Vocational training to Lewis, "is for slaves," and he claims that vocational training prepares one only for work. Lewis maintains that a good balance between learning and education. A student at Calvin would see this principle at work, as this liberal arts college requires a large amount of core curriculum for graduation. Lewis also has harsh words for education, as he tells us that learning is not education. Lewis equates education to a short period of time, where we cram in vast amounts of information in the hopes of performing well on exams, and then receiving a diploma, upon which, much of that information is forgotten and lost. This is not learning, however, since it is just temporary immersion. Real learning is a life long pursuit of the answers to endless questions about the universe. However, not everyone is C.S. Lewis, a professor who has endless hours to sit and read and absorb knowledge. The harsh realities of life are that we have to get jobs and make money, and fend for ourselves. Which Lewis understands to an extent. He realizes that his ideal is unattainable, so he suggests a small piece of learning that can serve students in college. Lewis suggests learning a little bit of everything, while trying to understand the roots of these educational finds. Lewis gives the example of a tree, to illustrate his idea. Take a healthy, lush, green tree, and consider that all the knowledge you could hope to accumulate in life. However, you can't learn all of that in a short time at college, so you begin to whittle away at the branches and the roots, material that you don't necessarily need. You can whittle away like this as long as you do not take away from the trunk, the tap-root of learning. That must be saved forever. This is the best way to get as much information as possible out of a very short amount of time.

Lewis also takes the time to mention leisure. He takes the time to mention that education is important in allowing for leisure. There are two ways that this could be interperted. First is the fact that education will allow for the enjoyment of work, such that the work becomes leisure. The second interpertation is that working hard will create time for leisure. Let's take a look at the first idea. Certainly it is stressed that our enjoyment should be our first pergotaive in finding an occupation, such that the work is not tediuos and uninteresting. However, regardless of the job, at some point all work becomes difficult, tedious, boring, and frustrating. So surely, this could not have been wholly what Lewis meant. Let's explore the second idea. As Christians, we have already been instructed to take a day of rest, a Sabbath from our work. Likewise, after many years, we retire from our work, and spend the rest of our time for leisure. Does Lewis then hint at the fact that we should accumulate wealth in order to laze about in condos in Florida? No, rather I think Lewis means that we should have separation from our vocational studies, and education would create this leisure. To me this seems like a plauible and smart thought.