Education at the Crossroads - A conversation with Deacon Brad Watkins and Dr. Jake Noland

The Topic

The year 2020 will certainly go into history as the year of unprecedented global disruption in which much that was simply unimaginable, or at least far off, only one year before suddenly became acute reality. Processes in almost all areas of life that were developing only slowly before the global crisis, radically changed overnight and presented us with massive new challenges. The world of 2021 is a very different world from the one of 2019.

One of these radical changes is the direction education has taken, seemingly suddenly. For years, there have been debates about the pros and cons of the ‘digitization of education’. Countless projects have introduced more digital content and the use of more electronic devices into educational institutions. Then came 2020 and within a period of mere days schools and universities around the globe had to completely shift their teaching, tutoring and mentoring online. This development is however only part of a much longer term evolving of education. Already for decades, one can observe in most societies that the transmission of (technical) skills has increasingly taken precedence over the growth in knowledge and wisdom, and that a focus on testing and grading has taken over from individual assessments and the formation of characters. It often seems that education has become, especially in capitalistic societies where the state sets the policies, a useful tool to create the next generation of consumers and producers, rather than young men and women who know what it means to be human and act accordingly; from that position setting forth to contribute to society. Human dignity is competing herev with technical absolutism.

This lecture and interview series will look at these challenges and formulate answers through conversations with educators – and not theorists on education – from around the world.

The host

Dr. Christiaan Alting von Geusau is a passionate educator at heart and by vocation.  He is a Professor of Philosophy of Law and Christian Education at ITI Catholic University in Austria, of which he is also the President and Rector. Christiaan is the founder and director of the Catholic Liberal Arts secondary school “Schola Thomas Morus” near Vienna. Dr. Geusau furthermore leads the International Catholic Legislators Network, an organization created to provide faith formation, education and fellowship to Christian leaders in public office. Apart from teaching at the ITI, he teaches courses for political leaders both worldwide and online. During his tenure at the ITI, he designed and implemented six new programs of study, amongst them a now very successful Liberal Arts B.A. program, attracting students from around the globe. One of his various publications “Catholic Education in the West: Roots, Reality, and Revival” calls for the Catholic laity to seize again the initiative in education. 

The guest
4 March 2021: Deacon Brad Watkins and Dr. Jake Noland