Automation, a curse or a blessing?

Maria Montessori’s basic theme: teach me to learn, should be the central theme of each ‘study’, ranging from nursery school to higher education. Students should not primarily acquire factual knowledge, they should acquire the discipline of studying in stead. A teacher ought to stimulate the process of wondering; the wondering that sees to it that one continues to (re)search. That is what has to stimulate the creative mind to continue to ask questions. Of course a common framework or language is necessary to be able to understand each other, but above all a teacher should ask questions more than he or she provides answers. We can find this both in Socrates’ dialectics and in the Kena-upanishad, which discusses knowledge acquisition.

The specific characteristic of higher education (university level) is the fact that the subject matter is placed in a wider context. On the one hand insight is acquired concerning the subject matter in question, and on the other hand an overview is gained of the knowledge domain and the place of the subject in the whole system (‘universalis’). A profusion of formulae, complicated language and difficult argumentation certainly are no proof of ‘universitality’.

NOTE: The discussion about the improvement of the quality of the way in which professors practice knowledge transfer is a good thing. It mustn’t, however, lead to the creation of a well-oiled conveyor belt along which knowledge is mechanically poured from one person into another.