Conclusion
Institutions purportedly dedicated to the life of the mind often suffer
their own peculiar version of the twineless baler problem. Ideally,
however, no institutions in modern society are better situated and
none more obliged to facilitate the transition to a sustainable future
than colleges and universities. If the public dialogue about sustainability
gets beyond symbolism and down to hard realities, it will be
because a much more fully educated and morally energized citizenry
demanded it. What would it mean for educational institutions to
meet this challenge?
For one thing, it would mean fostering, in every way possible, a
broad and ongoing dialogue about concentrated economic power and
the changes that will be necessary to build a sustainable economy. I
know of no safe way to conduct that conversation that would not
threaten the comfortable or risk losing some of the institution’s financial
support, a sensitive topic when the average cost of a college education
is becoming prohibitively expensive.
Furthermore, colleges and universities ought to equip students,
by every means possible, to think systematically, rationally, and, yes,
emotionally about long-term technological choices and how such decisions
ought to be made. That discussion, too, would raise contentious
issues having to do with the meaning of progress and economic
growth. And it would implicitly challenge the unbridled
freedom of inquiry, if the extreme exercise of that freedom undermines
biological order, democratic institutions, and social stability
that gave rise to it in the first place. Issues of “who gains and who loses
from unrestricted inquiry will press heavily on the university”
(Michael 1993, 201) and cannot be dodged much longer.
Finally, the cynical view, pawned off as “objective” social science,
that humans are only self-maximizers must be revealed for what it is:
half-truth in service to the economy of greed. Increasingly, the young
know that their inheritance is being spent carelessly and sometimes
fraudulently. I believe that a sizable number know in their bones the
truth of Goethe’s words that “whatever you can do or dream you can,
begin it, boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.” What they may
not know is where we, their teachers, mentors, and role models stand
or what we stand for.