Did you know that UBC Okanagan (formerly Okanagan College) dates back 47 years to 1963? I remember the excitement I felt as a seventeen-year-old attending my first classes on the KLO campus, September 1969. I was passionate about the pursuit of knowledge, and relished the opportunity to expand my intellectual horizons.
What I encountered was a rude awakening. Four of the five most consequential life questions were clearly being addressed: one, origin – where did we come from (science) two, identity – who are we (psychology) three, meaning, why are we here (philosophy) and four, destiny – where are we going (literature).
One question was not dealt with. From my vantage point, this lack became a serious flaw and a missing link in the educational dynamic. It had to do with the matter of morality and the question, “how should we live,” which has more to do with faith or religion. Eventually, the answer to that question became more important to me and I left Okanagan College to pursue a degree in Religion.
The idea of a university goes back a long time. For instance, the Hebrews had schools of prophets, and the Athenians drew students for close to 1,000 years, becoming a central metropolis for knowledge in the ancient world. The idea of teachers and students gathering to learn specific knowledge is not a new fad and fashion.
However, the modern concept of university is based upon medieval times, and emerges from the original Latin “universitas magistrorum et scholarium,” describing specialized “associations of students and teachers with collective legal rights usually guaranteed by charters issued by princes, prelates, or the towns in which they were located” (Wikipedia). Read the rest of this entry »
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