Toward a More Complete Education

Picture, if you will, that it is June 4, 1998--Commencement Day. You have been contemplating the amazing amount you have learned over the last four years when you are suddenly paralyzed with fear. Immediately after announcing your name, your House Master says, "Sorry, folks, but that's a mistake. That kid's one requirement short of graduating!"

Relax, it won't happen. But if you're not careful, something worse might.

In his 1986 book Higher Learning, former Harvard President Derek C. Bok made a detailed assessment of the worth of a Harvard undergraduate education. According to a study conducted by Harold Bowen in 1977, Harvard teaches students a great deal of "substantive knowledge," and those students make "moderate gains" in verbal skills. Critical thinking tends to improve and students in quantitative concentrations show dramatic improvements in mathematical ability. More personally, seniors seem to know themselves much better than they did their first year, as measured by their own awareness of their "aspirations, abilities, and limitations."

Despite these successes, there was one important area in which students got a failing grade. To quote President Bok, "There is no indication that college has had much success in increasing kindness, sympathy, altruism, or friendliness toward others." In fact, students themselves did not report any noticeable improvement in "moral sensitivity or character" during their undergraduate years.

As if that was not bad enough, a U.S. News and World Report study of Ivy League students ("Inside the Ivy League," April 12, 1993) supports the conclusion that students in their college years engage in behavior not conducive to building moral character. Only one in four first-years reported ever having smoked marijuana, but 47 percent of seniors had done so. Fifty-three percent of first-years had never had sexual intercourse, while just 20 percent of seniors could claim the same. In light of this information, it was not surprising when The Crimson reported that Harvard has recently seen a dramatic increase in the number of cases of sexually transmitted diseases.

Failing to learn to be a more moral human being during your time at college will hardly keep you from graduating. But the implications of that failure could be far worse.

A cynic might respond that the world has quite enough morality already, and would be better off without the likes of Pope John Paul II, the Dalai Lama, political dissident Harry Wu, Alan Keyes '72 and representatives Christopher H. Smith and J.C. Watts advocating positions that may limit our "rights" of privacy and choice. But one look at the violent inhumanity that has recently shocked our nation shows that there is still some room for emphasis on old-fashioned "right and wrong."

A teacher recently told me that her seventh graders do not believe that "beating up" their classmates is wrong. After all, the 12- and 13-year-olds tell you, grown-ups always fight on their favorite TV program, "The Jerry Springer Show." Perhaps we should remember that Alexis de Tocqueville wrote, "America is great because she is good; if she ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great."

While the world may need every individual to be moral, the character of Harvard students is especially important in light of the leadership roles so many of us will eventually hold. Our fine alma mater has produced five U.S. Presidents and 28 Nobel laureates, and a quick look through the 25th Reunion Report of the Class of 1973 shows many of Harvard's shining stars. Benazir Bhutto '73 served as Prime Minister of Pakistan, the first woman to hold the position in an Islamic nation. Robert W. Decherd '73, a past president of The Crimson, heads A.H. Belo Corporation, a media conglomerate that runs five newspapers and more than ten television stations (none of which carry "The Jerry Springer Show," incidentally). These people represent a small part of the distinguished list of Harvard-educated leaders--a list that will include some of our own names.

The U.S. News article made another noteworthy observation: that "Ivy League students...have remarkably stable families." An astounding 86 percent of Ivy Leaguers were raised in two parent homes, strongly implying that our opportunity to study at Harvard may be linked to the stability of our home lives. Regardless of the make-up of our individual families, our parents sacrificed much of their own happiness to provide for our education, and even the financial aid that many of us depend upon is a direct result of someone else's altruistic desire to give up part of their own pleasure for our enrichment. We have reaped the benefits of what others have done; if we do not consciously cultivate our moral character, we are no better than free-loaders living off of others.

If any of this has made you interested in bringing your moral life up to par with your professional training, let me humbly offer a few suggestions. Next Sunday night at 8 p.m., don't watch "The Simpsons." Watch "Touched by an Angel" instead. More importantly, thank your parents for bringing you into the world and for sacrificing so much to keep you here. Find a code of morality, or perhaps reacquaint yourself with the religious tradition of your forebears.

As Samuel Johnson wrote, "Life, like every other blessing, derives its value from its use alone. Not for itself, but for a nobler end the Eternal gave it; and that end is virtue." Use Commencement as an opportunity to stop for a moment and examine your life, your personality and your conduct.

John R. Miri '98, a physics concentrator in Currier House, was associate business manager of The Crimson in 1997.