Paideia and Virtue: The Saving Grace of Planet Earth

AJ Pruett

Prof. Walters

English 1C

4 December 2014

Paideia and Virtue: The Saving Grace of Planet Earth

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, in the fiscal year 2011 the United States only spent 2% of its national budget on Education. Alternatively, 21% was spent on Medicare and Medicaid, and another 20% on Defense and International Security. With these daunting statistics before us, it is apparent that the education of its citizens is by no means a priority to the U.S. government. This lack of education has taken its toll on the environment, as the level of education and intellect declines, the health of the environment likely declines at a similar rate. Considering the environmental disaster at hand, the focus we place on the education of our students will begin to play a more significant role then ever before. With our environment in its current deteriorating state, a new approach to our education system is vital in order to provide our children with the tools they need to make a difference in the upcoming ecological war to save our planet. We can provide the education to our students to become well-rounded individuals who take part and change the issues plaguing our environment. Using the ideologies of Paideia, we can impart on future generations the fundamental reasoning’s and practices of a healthy person, community and planet. Failure to adequately equip our students will result in further devastation to our already unhinged planet. By placing greater importance on eradicating the root of societies educational problems, we can then place a greater focus on the environmental issues at hand.

        The term Paideia was originally put to use by ancient Greeks to mean “the rearing and education of the ideal member of the polis” and while these words may be lost on today’s society, their meaning has only grown in significance. The ideal member of any populous is one who is well educated on a number of topics, as well as about issues in their community. Over the years the ideal member of the community has begun to take a back seat to the raging beast of consumerism. In a world where getting what you want at any cost is an acceptable practice, making decisions based on the good of the entire community becomes an archaic notion. This loss in human intellect, or even human nature, can be defined through a loss of virtue. As one of David Orr’s seven principals, Virtue, or the lack thereof, is one of the most precious aspects of a human being and has its bloodline in the health of the community. The health of the community, along with living within boundaries, and making sure our politics are aligned with the virtuous goals of that community are the three aspects that encompass the principal of virtue. To return our worldwide community to a balanced ideology of Paideia we must first focus on returning to Virtue.