In 1838 Ralph Waldo Emerson, part Plato, part Ichabod Crane, attacked the corpse cold rationalism of conservative and liberal alike in his classic Harvard Divinity School address, declaring, as any good Transcendentalist would, that: Truly speaking, it is not instruction, but provocation, that I can receive from another soul. What he announces, I must find true in me, or reject; and on his word, or as his second, be he who he may, I can accept nothing.
For Emerson, truth was discovered from deep within.
Not instruction, but provocation, lies at the heart of genuine education. From Socrates holding forth in the Athens marketplace to todays power-point-assisted-seminars, the classroom remains sacred space where opinions collide, interpretations vary, and learning prevails. When such intellectual provocation prevails, there is nothing like it.
Unless of course students and/or faculty are packing a piece, utilizing campus carry laws that usher guns into class, concealed in pockets, purses, or backpacks. When guns show up in school, provocation gains a whole new meaning. Learning is dangerous and transformative; it should never be life-threatening. After 42 years as professor, campus carry scares the Holy Socrates out of me.
When this century began, there were no laws permitting firearms on campus. As of 2017, eleven states offer such legal possibilities, including: Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Tennessee lets faculty, but not students, arm themselves. (Hopefully, faculty meetings are firearm free!)
Sixteen states ban concealed weapons on campus: California, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Carolina and Wyoming. (NC legislators are moving toward admitting 18 year-olds to concealed carry.) Twenty-two states leave the decision of on-campus weapons to the discretion of specific institutions.
Campus carry options were significantly impacted by the 2007 Virginia Tech Massacre when a student gunned down 32 students and wounded 17 in a horrendous killing spree. Many insisted that the gunman might have been stopped had students/faculty been armed. The shooting prompted schools to tighten lockdown policies, increase campus police, and expand use of electronic alert warnings.
American colleges/universities have long reflected the social realities of their national, regional cultures. Alcohol excesses and burgeoning opioid epidemics continue to wreak havoc, often with violent implications. Sexual abuses take heavy tolls on secular and church-related schools alike. Hostile ideologies and politics often foster physical danger at institutions left and right of center. Will concealed weapons save us or merely deepen the danger to life and limb? Is our society itself so ideologically segregated, and intellectual provocation so hazardous, that firearms are a necessary defense?
Advocates insist that the society is so violence-laden that citizens must arm themselves in every setting. Some suggest that increasing sexual violence is sufficient reason for females to take up arms. Others demand that Second Amendment rights be applied in every segment of society, colleges included. I fret over implied threats and symbolic implications. Should our syllabuses declare: Dont shoot! Youre all getting As?
What if campus carry is simply the most dangerous of an unceasing set of classroom distractions, including tweets, texts, Google, Wikipedia, and Face Book, diversions that thwart instruction and provocation, disengaging students from ideas that might form or re-form them? Whatever else the vulnerability of learning means perhaps it is this: try as we might to protect ourselves externally and internally, we can never insulate ourselves enough to escape the insolent idea, the banal diatribe, the suicidal bomber, or the AK47 sociopath.
For years, Ive thought (but never said aloud) that teaching means getting intellectually naked for the sake of ideas, and hoping that students gasp at the concepts, not the professors own conceptual weaknesses. Firearms that protect may become weapons that sidetrack from what learning must beour shared vulnerability to ideas and each other.
In Telling the Truth, the Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, & Fairy Tale, Frederick Buechner tells about a high-school class that had gone better than usual the day they studied King Lear. Buechner concludes: The word out of the play strips them for a moment naked and strips their teacher with them and to that extent Shakespeare turns preacher because stripping us naked is part of what preaching is all about, the tragic part. In my academic and ministerial experience, provocation and spirituality are intricately related.
So dont come to my classes or lectures armed for anything but learning. Leave your guns outside, please. Go ahead, make my day.
Bill Leonard is Dunn professor of Baptist studies and church history at Wake Forest University. Portions of this column were previously published by Baptist News Global.
See the rest here:
Bill Leonard: Don't shoot the teacher - Winston-Salem Journal
- Rationalism | Psychology Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia - December 12th, 2016 [December 12th, 2016]
- rationalism facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com ... - December 22nd, 2016 [December 22nd, 2016]
- Rationalism in Philosophy - January 3rd, 2017 [January 3rd, 2017]
- Rationalism vs. Empiricism Essay - 797 Words - StudyMode - January 5th, 2017 [January 5th, 2017]
- Logic: Rationalism vs. Empiricism - Theology - January 5th, 2017 [January 5th, 2017]
- Rationalism verses Empiricism - dummies.com - January 5th, 2017 [January 5th, 2017]
- Taking Liberties With Workable Liberty - Big Think - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Go for introspection, Left parties told - The Hindu - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Look back in anger, unplugged | Asia Times - Asia Times - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Food by the Book: Philosophy, love, steak - Muskogee Daily Phoenix - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Hypocrisy isn't the problem. Nihilism is - Los Angeles Times - February 8th, 2017 [February 8th, 2017]
- The separation of church and state - Helena Independent Record - February 8th, 2017 [February 8th, 2017]
- Don't become a pawn in the NHL's Olympic Games - Fear the Fin - February 9th, 2017 [February 9th, 2017]
- Australia's new political divide: 'globalists' versus 'patriots' - The Sydney Morning Herald - February 10th, 2017 [February 10th, 2017]
- Laura Akin: Overwhelming majority of the Founding Fathers were Christian - Modesto Bee - February 10th, 2017 [February 10th, 2017]
- Hecker reemerges with more text-based synthesis on two new releases on Editions Mego - Tiny Mix Tapes - February 10th, 2017 [February 10th, 2017]
- Fragile Lives: A Heart Surgeon's Stories of Life and Death on the ... - The Times (subscription) - February 11th, 2017 [February 11th, 2017]
- Hanson denies Liberal preference hypocrisy - SBS - February 12th, 2017 [February 12th, 2017]
- When religion rules social life - Daily News & Analysis - February 12th, 2017 [February 12th, 2017]
- Will science go rogue against Donald Trump? - Socialist Worker Online - February 13th, 2017 [February 13th, 2017]
- Valentine's Day and Romance - Commonweal (blog) - February 13th, 2017 [February 13th, 2017]
- Barnaby Joyce condemns WA Liberals' preference deal with One Nation - Camden Haven Courier - February 13th, 2017 [February 13th, 2017]
- Barnaby Joyce condemns WA Liberals' preference deal with One Nation - Warrnambool Standard - February 14th, 2017 [February 14th, 2017]
- Barnaby Joyce condemns WA Liberals' preference deal with One Nation - The Northern Daily Leader - February 15th, 2017 [February 15th, 2017]
- Barnaby Joyce condemns WA Liberals' preference deal with One Nation - Western Advocate - February 16th, 2017 [February 16th, 2017]
- Canadian architecture firm discusses design in the Midwest - Iowa State Daily - February 16th, 2017 [February 16th, 2017]
- Why sports industry sides with transgenders - WND.com - February 16th, 2017 [February 16th, 2017]
- Arrival - slantmagazine - February 16th, 2017 [February 16th, 2017]
- Americans 'plain dumb' - Hastings Tribune - February 17th, 2017 [February 17th, 2017]
- 'Modi combines Savarkar and neoliberalism': Pankaj Mishra on why this is the age of anger - Scroll.in - February 17th, 2017 [February 17th, 2017]
- Biography examines political motivations of Montaigne - UChicago News - February 18th, 2017 [February 18th, 2017]
- Barnaby Joyce condemns WA Liberals' preference deal with One Nation - Daily Advertiser - February 20th, 2017 [February 20th, 2017]
- Will the Science Community Go Rogue Against Donald Trump? - Truth-Out - February 20th, 2017 [February 20th, 2017]
- The Red94 Podcast: On the Boogie Cousins trade - Red94 - February 21st, 2017 [February 21st, 2017]
- Refugee resettlement study bill passes North Dakota House, Democrat calls it mean-spirited - Bismarck Tribune - February 21st, 2017 [February 21st, 2017]
- Refugee resettlement study bill passes ND House, Democrat calls it ... - Jamestown Sun - February 22nd, 2017 [February 22nd, 2017]
- P. Sridhar - The Hindu - The Hindu - February 22nd, 2017 [February 22nd, 2017]
- The Magical Rationalism of Elon Musk and the Prophets of AI - New York Magazine - February 22nd, 2017 [February 22nd, 2017]
- There is an Is - Patheos (blog) - February 22nd, 2017 [February 22nd, 2017]
- Letter to the Editor: Banning Immigrants on the Basis of Faith Has Hudson Valley Roots - Patch.com - February 23rd, 2017 [February 23rd, 2017]
- You Don't Have To Choose Between Alt-Right And Regressive Left - Huffington Post Canada - February 23rd, 2017 [February 23rd, 2017]
- Encountering Change: A Chaplain's Perspective - Patheos (blog) - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- Freemasonry Catholics' Deadly Foe - Church Militant - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- Modernism and Its Rages - City Journal - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- In Scorsese's adaptation of Endo's novel, a stark depiction of statism against religion - National Review - February 25th, 2017 [February 25th, 2017]
- Outcry over Dalai Lama threatens free speech | The Daily Cardinal - The Daily Cardinal - February 27th, 2017 [February 27th, 2017]
- When a guitar and Sarangi took over Qalandar's shrine - The Express Tribune - February 28th, 2017 [February 28th, 2017]
- Barnaby Joyce condemns WA Liberals' preference deal with One Nation - Whyalla News - February 28th, 2017 [February 28th, 2017]
- Review: 'Target in the Night' is punchy, graceful, ambiguous - The Daily Herald - February 28th, 2017 [February 28th, 2017]
- Meet the Group of Extreme Rationalists Bent on Cheating Death - Signature Reads - February 28th, 2017 [February 28th, 2017]
- Barnaby Joyce condemns WA Liberals' preference deal with One Nation - Eyre Peninsula Tribune - March 1st, 2017 [March 1st, 2017]
- Architecture's Pritzker Prize lauds Spanish trio for 'a strong sense of place' - The Globe and Mail - March 2nd, 2017 [March 2nd, 2017]
- The ideas election | The Indian Express - The Indian Express - March 3rd, 2017 [March 3rd, 2017]
- Serpents, owl men and demon dogs - BBC News - March 3rd, 2017 [March 3rd, 2017]
- Why America Can't Afford to Get Into a Trade War with China - The National Interest Online - March 4th, 2017 [March 4th, 2017]
- Reason, Creativity and Freedom: The Communalist Model - Truth-Out - March 4th, 2017 [March 4th, 2017]
- Pankaj Mishra's 'Age Of Anger' Is A Flawed But Fascinating Intellectual History - Swarajya - March 4th, 2017 [March 4th, 2017]
- Thomas Isaac budget: Split between populism and Marxist rationalism - Times of India - March 4th, 2017 [March 4th, 2017]
- Philharmonic program celebrates passion, youth - Albuquerque Journal - March 6th, 2017 [March 6th, 2017]
- Interview with Deo Ssekitooleko Representative of Center for Inquiry International Uganda - Conatus News - March 7th, 2017 [March 7th, 2017]
- Is Democracy Dying Before Our Eyes In America? OpEd - Eurasia Review - March 7th, 2017 [March 7th, 2017]
- SBCC Presents 'A Flea in Her Ear' - Santa Barbara Independent - March 8th, 2017 [March 8th, 2017]
- A French Surrealist's Eclectic Remembrances of His Cohort, Finally in English - Hyperallergic - March 8th, 2017 [March 8th, 2017]
- Junk restrictive faith-based laws: Mumbai atheists - Daily News & Analysis - March 9th, 2017 [March 9th, 2017]
- How to Use Imagination to Grow Your Business - Business 2 Community - March 9th, 2017 [March 9th, 2017]
- Martyn Lawrence Bullard's Sumptuous Palm Springs Hideaway - Architectural Digest - March 9th, 2017 [March 9th, 2017]
- Saturday (novel) - Wikipedia - March 9th, 2017 [March 9th, 2017]
- Abortion Debate Poisoned By 'Pro-Choice' And 'Pro-Life' Labels - Huffington Post Canada - March 11th, 2017 [March 11th, 2017]
- Stand on Tradition - The Weekly Standard - March 11th, 2017 [March 11th, 2017]
- The bewildered present-day world - The New Indian Express - March 11th, 2017 [March 11th, 2017]
- I watched Alex Jones give his viewers health advice. Here's what I ... - Vox - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- How James Ramsey of RAAD Studio, Carlos Arnaiz of CAZA, and BalletCollective turned design into dance - The Architect's Newspaper - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- Going overboard with cow protection - Kasmir Monitor - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- Anti-Intellectualism Is Just As Revolutionary As Liberalismand Much More Dangerous - Slate Magazine - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- Pakistani thought process - Daily Times - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- French president to the resistance: The world believes in you - Shareblue Media - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- Sophisticated Man Is Stupid - American Spectator - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- COLUMN: The statistical fallacy - The Auburn Plainsman - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- Modi governments greatest trick: Hate the intellectual - DailyO - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- A labyrinth is coming to Washington - Observer-Reporter - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]