By Daniel Matthys
Christopher Dawson Centre Director, Dr David Daintree, last week had the privilege of launching the Dawson Society 2016 Speakers’ Forum with a captivating lecture on education.
A classicist with a lifetime’s work in education, Dr Daintree became the founding Director of the Christopher Dawson Centre for Cultural Studies, based in Hobart, Tasmania in November 2013.
Though the Centre established in Hobart has no formal affiliation with the Dawson Society of Perth, the shared namesake and the content of Dr Daintree’s address clearly mark a deep affinity between the two organisations.
Held within the familiar surrounds of Rosie O’Grady’s in Northbridge, the evening presentation, entitled Education as if People Mattered; Understanding the Liberal Arts, traced a history of education since mediaeval times and argued that a significant shift in the focus of learning occurred as the volume of knowledge increased far beyond what one person could possibly learn in a lifetime.
Speaking particularly with reference to his years as President of Campion College, Australia’s first Liberal Arts college, Dr Daintree was passionate, both in his critique of contemporary education and in his advocacy for a more holistic education. Such an education, according to Dr Daintree, helps to form a common culture or understanding of what it means to be human.
Dr Daintree’s presentation traced a history of education since medieval times and argued that a significant shift in the focus of learning occurred as the volume of knowledge increased far beyond what one person could possibly learn in a lifetime.
Dr Daintree’s presentation went on to highlight some of the costs to our culture that have accompanied the loss of common knowledge or learning.
Arguing further that modern education suffers from Teleopathy, literally ‘disease of the ends’, or a loss of understanding of purpose, Dr Daintree was nonetheless adamant that an holistic education, focused on the development of the human person, should find a valuable space in our culture.
The evening concluded with the announcement of the Dawson Society’s next event to be held on 12 April 2016, featuring Oxford bioethicist Dr Helen Watt, who will speak on the subject of Complicity and Cooperation in Evil: How Good People Contribute to a Culture of Death