Metaphors of the Market Economy and The Learning Community
Written by Ben Sippola
As a student attending Butler University and pursuing a degree
in the liberal arts, I am frequently asked the collegiate
icebreaker of "what is your major?" This question is most
always accompanied by its counterpart "what are you planning to do
with that?" After answering the first question with a liberal
arts major, this second question is usually asked sympathetically
or in utter astonishment that I could possibly spend four years of
my life studying biology, history, sociology, or literature.
However the question is not merely "what will you do with your
liberal arts degree?" Rather, it is "how will you make money
in the cut-throat market economy with the tools of a liberal arts
education?"
Previous to college these questions were omnipresent in my
thoughts. How am I going to make enough money to be
happy? However after gaining a liberal arts education, these
initial thoughts of "money making" have taken a backseat and have
been replaced by aspirations of becoming a member of the world
community where true value lies in the ability to see the world
from multiple perspectives and understand the intrinsic worth of
belonging to a society of life long learners.
My initial preoccupation with making money prior to attending
college is understandable. The discourse surrounding
contemporary higher education is dominated by the clichés and
metaphors of the market economy. Our student lives are
mediated through slogans like money doesn't grow on trees,
money is power, and another day another dollar. Time
is money and so is education. Students come to an
institution like Butler with the expectation that upon paying
tuition they are to be provided with the goods and services
necessary in the real world to make money. Thus,
admissions counselors are salespeople, professors provide goods and
services, and the student inevitably becomes consumer.
However, the university as a metaphor for the market place is
shallow to say the least.
To view the university as a place in which the individual is
either commodity or producer is small-minded. This idea does
not take into account the formation of relationships and the
invaluable communities that form between students and
professors. While money tends to come and go, relationships
and communities last a lifetime.
In promoting the true value of belonging to a community of
learners, Henry David Thoreau says it best. In describing
what the student gains through the educational commune Thoreau
states, "Tuition, for instance, is an important item in the term
bill, while for the far more valuable education which he gets by
associating with the most cultivated of his contemporaries no
charge is made" (1898). Thoreau makes the vital distinction
that the "more valuable" education comes through association with
one's classmates and professors. To view education solely as
a monetary exchange diminishes the college experience
entirely. I am certain that the conversations with my
classmates and professors throughout four years at a liberal arts
institution are the most valuable aspect of my education, preparing
me for a future in which I will be forced to form new friendships
and communities to be successful. It is the liberal arts
community that makes this type of learning possible.
You may still be wondering what "type of learning" I am
describing. I am talking about learning that emphasizes the
importance of community, a form of learning trained at a liberal
arts institution. With community comes the priceless
opportunity to not only learn from others, but also to learn about
others. To look outside one's self-centered mind is the most
critical skill one learns from a liberal arts education. The
liberal arts prepare the individual to analyze the world from
multiple perspectives, to take into account not only one's own
situation, but also the circumstances of one's fellow world
citizens. It is through this ability that one realizes the common
thread between all humanity and discards meaningless theoretical
ideas such as nation, race, ethnicity, and language. It is
only through communal learning that one can begin to understand the
interrelatedness of all humanity, the plights and struggles of
one's fellow men and women, and how to improve the world through
human interaction. The liberal arts education forces the
individual to look internally, discovering that as a human one
holds an inherent duty to act in a selfless manner for the benefit
of one's community members.
John Milton, arguably the most well educated man of the
17th century, stresses the importance of a learned
community. He states, "The chief part of human happiness is
derived from the society of one's fellows and the formation of
friendships…For what can we imagine more delightful and happy than
those conversations of learned and wise men" (797). As the
university is dominated by a series of clichés revolving around
money and happiness, there is one cliché that holds true.
Money does not buy happiness. As Milton highlights, there
is nothing more delightful than a society of friends and
conversations between learned and wise men. What Milton means
is that there is nothing more beautiful than people who can
converse intelligently about the world. In order for this to
happen, one must understand the world and its various perspectives
and viewpoints. There is nothing fascinating or astounding
about a solitary small town perspective. The world needs
liberal arts to provide the foundation for a desire to learn about
one another and to appreciate the many beautiful perspectives that
color the planet.
Communal learning is the basis behind the primal love of the
liberal arts education. It is why we love the Woods Lecture
and Visiting Writers series that Butler puts together every
year. We love to learn, but more importantly we love to learn
from each other. There is one last cliché that holds true in
the world of academia and that is you cannot put a price on
education. Another item you cannot put a price on is
belonging to a community. When the two are combined,
education and community, the product is Butler University.
Bibliography
Milton, John. The Complete Poetry and Essential Prose of
John Milton. 2007. 4. New York: Random House, 2007. Print.
Thoreau, Henry. "Walden." The Norton Anthology: American
Literature. Robert S. Levine. New York: W.W. Norton and
Company, 2007. Print.