In spite of the importance of the future as the place where we will all be spending the rest of our lives, education and society have traditionally paid a little deliberat attention.
Now rapid and radical advances in perceptions of the condition of “Spaceship Earth” and its human family are bringing a sense of urgency to the need for developing abilities to image, predict, and influence the future.
Fascination with the genius of Albert Einstein has produced great quantities of literature–biographical, scientific, and analytical–all given to the particular qualities of his mind and manner. Isaac Asimov wonders about the analysis of genius. (Lerner, 1973:Foreword) “Certainly, it would seem that in many fields genius is a law unto itself and cannot be restrained and confined by any limits drawn by words or logic… The final test of genius in a scientist is how deeply and powerfully he peers into the laws governing the universe as decided, not by ourselves and our feelings, or by a few experts and their feelings, but by the universe itself.”
Thus, the final test of genius in Einstein-the-scientist is better left to the universe to judge. Rather, this paper will be concerned with Einstein-tne-human-thinker, and will speculate, on the basis of evidence in the literature, regarding the factors and forces that combined themselves into the creative person, the creative process, and the creative genius of Albert Einstein.
There is growing evidence that William Blake and his work are becoming a cynosure of inquiry into the nature of man’s arts of imagination and discovery. Certainly there is much about Blake and his work that demands attention. Scientists and General Systems theoreticians are expressing a particular interest and excitement regarding the interrelationships between Science, the Arts, and their unifying principles. (van Berta1anffy, 1968) Writers from the scientific community (Brownoski, 1943) have, for a long time, been preoccupied with the personhood, the creative processes, and the uncommon works of William Blake as an illumination in their own search for understanding and discovery of the mysteris of the universe and man’s place in it. As society moves into new dimensions and a growth of human consciousness, attention to Blake’s work increases. The Tate Gallery in London recognizes his creative exceptionality with an extensive special gallery of his works. His art and poetry hold a somewhat mysterious, provacative psychic fascination for many students, including this writer. An exploration into his life and the intuitive genius of his work can provide clues to reasons for that preoccupation. Members of the disparate discipline of Science are joining in the scholarly curiosities regarding “The Man without a Mask.” (Bronowski,
1943)
A major contribution to the current attention to the study and understanding of the unifying principles of growth and change is a book published as early as 1973. In “Grow or Die” Land describes his unifying principle of transformation.
Transformation, according to Land, is a basic principle of the behavior of all living things and their fundamental common drift to grow and transform. The behaviour of persons, of organizations, or society and its institutions-all function according to those natural forces for evolutionary change.
There can be little doubt that education, along with the rest of society, is in a period of transformation. Certainly, one of the major factors in that process is the integration of Computer Assisted Instruction into existing strategies and patterns of learning at all levels. However, delays in the recognition and use of computers as an adjunct to established learning processes are, in many centers of learning, a regrettable reality. The natural inclination of human nature to resist change and to move with extreme caution and reluctance into unfamiliar territory is a well recognized condition.
This is a description of one example of self-directed entry into the development of “computer literacy” for both students and instructor in an Upper Division University course with the title, Futures Studies: An Overview. The course is offered at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, Minnesota, an alternative in Higher Education. In addition to a description of that example, it is an observation on the relationship of the Behavioral Sciences in the recognizing of individual differences in learning and thinking styles as they impact on computerized instruction. It is also a reminder of the difficulty of harmonizing productively the vagaries often characteristic of technologists with the defensiveness of some non-technological professionals. A history of success in traditional systems and a vested interest in the status quo can provide a fairly solid bulwark against the ready acceptance of the unfamiliar.
“There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune,
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat
And we must take the current when it serves
Or lose our ventures.”
Shakespeare
The study of the future as a timely and dynamic addition to curricula is gaining momentum. Futures Studies is defined as “an academic discipline about the process of change.” Educators in all roles and at all levels of learning are paying increased attention to its development and contributing to its rise. The familiar claim that twenty-five to thirty years is usually required for new educational research and theory to be translated into action in school settings seems to be giving way to a more immediate focus. Publication of Alvin Toffler’s “Future Shock” in 190 has raised public consciousness to an awareness of the convulsive nature of change in our time. Educators are responding with a greater sense of urgency to the need for a major shift in their perceptions of education priorities. “Back to Basics” is being rephrased to “Forward to Balance.”
(Editor’s Note: The following article by community faculty member Berenice Bleedorn is the first in what we hope will be a continuing series of articles and reports from faculty about events or issues in their disciplines, and topics of interest to non-traditional educators. We hope the articles encourage discussion and exchange of ideas among faculty, and provide a medium for faculty members’ works. Articles should be typed, doublespaced, and mailed to the Office of Learning Resources, attention Susan Rydell. Please keep length to within three pages.)
“The formula for the future is not in the stars, but in ourselves.” This was the recurring theme of the program on board the S. S. Universe traveling from Baltimore to Nassau for the Shipboard Conference on Globalistics: A Shipboard Conference on Preparing Educators for Alternative Futures, June 15-19. Odds are that Metro community faculty, by reason of their service to an alternative in higher education, have particular interest in the ideas presented and exchanged there.
First, a note about the setting. The S. S. Universe, affiliated with the University of Colorado, is designated for educational purposes by the Seawise Foundation. It operates year-round academic programs, including world cruises for Semester-At-Sea credit. Mr. C. Y. Tung directs the program. He and the ship’s crew are Chinese. They provided complete and gracious service to the 200 educators and government officials who participated.
Attachment: Description of proposed presentation …. Berenice Bleedorn
Universities representing alternatives in higher education are in a particularly strategic position to futurize learning at a post secondary level. An example of a University providing that “missing link” between education and life that is often not observable in traditional institutions is Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, Minnesota, an Upper Division, competence-based institution granting a B.A. degree. The Futures Studies Cluster in Metor’s Arts and Science Center has evolved from a single course to a program offering a choice of Futures courses each quarter.
“If anything is important, it is the future. The past i gone and the present exists only as a fleeting moment. Everything that we think and do affects only the future.”
…Edward Cornish
Educators and parents concerned with appropiate schooling for Gifted and Talented children and youth are recognizing the potential of Futures Studies as a new and exciting academic experience for all students, and most especially for bright, active minds. In spite of the importance of the future as the place where we will all be spending the rest of our lives, education and society have traditionally paid little deliberate attention to it. Now rapid and radical advances in perceptions of the condition of “Spaceship Earth” and its human family are bringing a sense of urgency to
the need for developing abilities to image, predict, and influence the future. In the words of Arthur Clarke (1973) … “We are living at a time when history is holding its breath, and the present is detaching itself from the past like an iceberg that has broken away from its icy moorings to sail across the boundless ocean.”