Power struggles are the present malady of Portuguese institutions both public and private and they are paralyzing them and the country. This is a direct consequence of democratization of university education. Of all the great mistakes of Portuguese public policy over the last thirty years the democratization of higher learning is probably the worst of all.
Calling it a mistake is an exaggeration. It is part of the process of blind immitation of Protestant institutions that has been taking place in the country during the same period and for which we are dearly paying now. "Knowledge of truth" is something that is supposedly available to all in the Protestant tradition. In the Catholic tradition it is reserved to a few. Thus a Catholic country's university system is at its best when it is elitist and at its worst when it is democratic.
In the Protestant tradition truth is available to all men and is found out by the common people. It is a duty of the common people to bring it to all those who have missed it. In the Catholic tradition truth can only be reached by a few, those who seek truth. Thus, in the Protestant tradition education should be brought to all the people, whereas in the Catholic tradition education is a privilege reserved for those who seek to be educated.
Thus, I think Joaquim is quite right in the debate that is taking place in the posts below. Universities should not be brought to the people in Santa Marta de Penaguião or wherever else. It is the interested people who should seek the Universities wherever they are, and they are usually located at the traditional centres of knowledge which, in Portugal, means Lisbon, Coimbra and Porto.
Not only Portuguese universities should be few in number and located in the major traditional centres of knowledge. They should be highly selective as well, making university learning only available to the very best students, regardless of birth, family name or economic condition. For if you make higher education available to all, namely to those who are recognizably under the top, sooner or later each one of them will feel that he can be a bishop, if not a pope, in his own parochy. This will destroy all institutions in a Catholic society.
Calling it a mistake is an exaggeration. It is part of the process of blind immitation of Protestant institutions that has been taking place in the country during the same period and for which we are dearly paying now. "Knowledge of truth" is something that is supposedly available to all in the Protestant tradition. In the Catholic tradition it is reserved to a few. Thus a Catholic country's university system is at its best when it is elitist and at its worst when it is democratic.
In the Protestant tradition truth is available to all men and is found out by the common people. It is a duty of the common people to bring it to all those who have missed it. In the Catholic tradition truth can only be reached by a few, those who seek truth. Thus, in the Protestant tradition education should be brought to all the people, whereas in the Catholic tradition education is a privilege reserved for those who seek to be educated.
Thus, I think Joaquim is quite right in the debate that is taking place in the posts below. Universities should not be brought to the people in Santa Marta de Penaguião or wherever else. It is the interested people who should seek the Universities wherever they are, and they are usually located at the traditional centres of knowledge which, in Portugal, means Lisbon, Coimbra and Porto.
Not only Portuguese universities should be few in number and located in the major traditional centres of knowledge. They should be highly selective as well, making university learning only available to the very best students, regardless of birth, family name or economic condition. For if you make higher education available to all, namely to those who are recognizably under the top, sooner or later each one of them will feel that he can be a bishop, if not a pope, in his own parochy. This will destroy all institutions in a Catholic society.
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