THE GOAL OF HIGHER EDUCATION

The paramount importance of education in transforming the society is beyond any question. The goal of education is as clear as it can be and in fact has been formulated about 2400 years ago by Plato in the 'Republic', namely, it is not putting knowledge into somebody's head but rather teaching them how to think and see for themselves.

If the principle is very clear its practical implementation is anything but set in stone. In fact the impossibility of defining a particular best way to teach is peculiar to all problems involving human interaction. It depends greatly on the cultural and individual expectations of the students as well as those of the teachers. In more hierarchical or conservative societies the teacher is endowed with inherent authority that guaranties students' attention. In more liberal societies, where the teacher has no special authority beyond his personality, s/he is put in the role of a salesman of knowledge soliciting students' attention. The essence remains the same however, as Woody Allen put it "the only way to teach people how to write is to expose them to great writing", the means and methods are chosen according to the circumstances.

Maybe it is not fair to dismiss the joint efforts of pedagogy, psychology and methodology of education in the statement "means and methods." However, for people who have spent more than 20 years in various educational institutions all this has become common sense. Underplaying the "means and methods" and their more and less recent manifestations, such as audio/video teaching aids, use of the computer and the Internet, deprives the student of opportunities to see and understand better. Overplaying them is all too often used to replace the lack of contents and distracts the attention. In general, the "means and methods" can improve learning applied properly and commensurate with the type and amount of material. Besides and unfortunately, the most important thing the rapport and the competence of the teacher cannot be learned. An attempt to fake it makes many a course circus and leaves many people dissatisfied.

The task of higher education is further modified by the fact that higher education is not for everybody. While primary and secondary education have as a task to give some minimum amount of knowledge to ALL students, without which knowledge these people would not be able to participate fully in all aspects of society, the higher education must ensure that all talent there is in the society has the opportunity to be developed to its full extent. Therefore, university programs have to be challenging enough so to be interesting and beneficial even for the most talented students. That changes the strain on the teacher from getting everybody involved to preparing deep and coherent presentation in which everybody finds what s/he look for. And as Nietzsche said that the best books were the unfinished ones the presentation must give clues and food for thought so the students do not consider the matter closed as long as they leave the room. Naturally, the transition from popular to elitary teaching happens gradually from low-level to high-level courses.

The goal of education is again best summarized through the words of Plato and I would restrain from offering any further comment in order not to spoil the impression: "after a long study and discussion under the guidance of an experience teacher, a spark may suddenly leap, as it were, from mind to mind, and the light of understanding so kindled will then feed itself."

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