Rethinking Success: Education, Ethics, and the Future of America
Episode Overview
In this reflective episode of To Be and Do, Phil Amerson confronts the current moral and civic climate of America, with a focus on the shifting purpose of higher education, the role of public service, and the increasing divides in political and community life. Using recent political candidates and legislative trends as a springboard, the conversation explores what it means to foster both individual and collective character the episode highlights the urgent need for renewed civic engagement and moral consideration in public life.
Three Key Takeaways
1. The Changing Role of Higher Education
Phil Amerson critiques a recent Indiana Senate bill requiring public colleges to terminate programs leading to “low income earnings,” pointing out the growing trend of tying education solely to economic outcomes. He observes that this represents “a hunger in our society for something different than we've been experiencing recently” as education’s traditional focus on moral and civic development gives way to purely financial concerns 01:23. According to Speaker B, measuring education only by earning potential strips away essential elements of personal and civic growth.
2. The Erosion of Civic and Moral Formation
The episode warns of the dangers when economic concerns trump moral and ethical development. Speaker B laments the loss of educational experiences designed to foster character and community involvement, noting, “What does it profit a school... to gain the whole world and lose the soul of moral development?” 03:13. The host ties this erosion directly to broader concerns, from college culture focused on “bar crawls” to legislative choices, that prioritize profit or immediate gratification over deeper, long-term well-being and societal contribution 03:44.
3. A Call for Genuine Moral Leadership
Reflecting on political candidates James Talarico and Adam Hamilton, Phil Amerson stresses the importance of leaders who champion civic pride and moral fiber. Citing the biblical principle of Matthew 25, he asks listeners to consider how we treat "the poor, the immigrant, and the stranger" 05:54, insisting that public service should prioritize compassion, justice, and integrity. Phil Amerson closes with a plea for leaders—not just politicians but also artists, teachers, and community members—who are willing to dream big and work selflessly for the greater good 07:14.
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Phil Amerson [00:00:14]:
Greetings, everyone. This is Philip Amerson with the Belonging and Exchange podcast. I want to reflect some on what's going on in our society right now. A couple of people have asked me recently what I think of James Tirico or Adam Hamilton running for Congress. I know enough about them both to know that they're good men. And I think it's important. I know Adam is trying to run as a Democrat who's also an independent. I think he had to make a difficult choice.
Phil Amerson [00:00:46]:
He wanted to run as an independent but probably couldn't have been elected. I think it represents a hunger in our society for something different than we've been experiencing recently. I'd like to reflect a little bit on why I think we've gotten to this point. And I want to look at something that was tucked away in the big, beautiful bill that was passed by Congress a year ago. But it was made explicit here in Indiana by Senate Bill 199 that was voted on this year. And the Senate bill, Strange, strange, strange, requires public colleges to terminate academic programs that lead to low income earnings. In other words, everything is being tied to making money upon graduation, and very little is being tied to moral or civic development. It's really quite astonishing that education that used to be understood as a time of moral formation, character formation, or a place in civic life is now being displaced.
Phil Amerson [00:02:02]:
And in its place, it's simply, well, you have a job that will earn you a certain amount of money. Now I get it. Some students have carried a lot of debt. That is not necessarily the way to measure whether or not they're going to be successful in life. I think what's really going on, it's a hidden agenda, not so hidden to some. There's an asset stripping that's going on. We've got corporate raiders going in every area of our institutional life, government, education, culture. These are vulture capitalists seeking quick profits.
Phil Amerson [00:02:45]:
You strip out certain parts of education that may not offer people a quick earning potential or a quick job. I want to say to these vulture legislators, what happens if you gain the whole world and lose your own soul? I think that's where we're headed. What does it profit? What does it profit a school like IU or Purdue or Ball State or even the private schools to gain the whole world and lose the soul of moral development, of character formation, of teaching students to be civically proud, civically engaged? I was reminded of this recently it's happened now on three or four Saturday afternoons by the hundreds here in Bloomington, Indiana, students march in their T shirts. They're all wearing the same T shirt. And what's the T shirt for? It's for a bar crawl. Let's see who can get the most liquor in them in a day and they can go to five or six. The bars are all listed on the, on the shirt. And you can start here.
Phil Amerson [00:04:14]:
In some places, if you go at 1 o' clock in the afternoon, you only pay $1 for a pitcher of beer or 2 o', clock, $2 or 3 o', clock, $3. Now, I understand that Methodism is no longer anti.
Speaker A [00:04:34]:
All right, Phil, I'm on here now. This is where it cut off. So I'm going to put the five minutes or so from the later part here now of the end of your interview, of your talk here.
Phil Amerson [00:04:51]:
When was I hungry? When was I naked? When did I need a place of shelter? When was I an immigrant and you took me in? He realized that he was more likely to be effective trying to all the while be someone who welcomed both Republican and Democrat and also then independence into a conversation about how to redevelop a moral fiber for a country. He said, you know, I saw in the work that the Democrats have tried to do, not perfectly, not the way necessarily I would want to do it, but I saw there that there was more of a Matthew 25 spirit than is currently being modeled by the Republicans. If you think this is a political statement on my part, think again. It's a moral statement. How do we treat the poor? How do we treat the immigrant? How do we welcome the stranger? If you think that having what amount to concentration camps for immigrants who haven't perfectly been documented. If you think that having over 70 children who have suffered as immigrant children because of tear gas or other effects of arrests or struggles, if you think that's Christian, then God bless you, my friend. I would invite you to think again about what develops morality, what develops character. You know, they're good jobs that one can have to help enforce a police state.
Phil Amerson [00:06:53]:
Yeah, maybe that's what we need. No, it's not. No, it's not. We need artists and musicians and teachers and persons who will dream big dreams and work in communities and give up something of their life to serve others. That's what the Christian faith is about. So good on James Tirico and good on Adam Hamilton. And I wish there were several Republicans that could step forward and say, I'm going to do this on a Matthew 25 basis. I'm going to seek to have moral development as a core piece of what I'm about in Congress or in state legislatures.
Phil Amerson [00:07:44]:
Whoops. I maybe have stepped too far, but that's what's on my heart. God bless.
