racially diverse elementary school class 

                                (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Bruce Cummins)

                                     

20. Recommendations

At this point in our argument, we can skip to the end. It should be clear that if we are to survive our current perilous times, reverse the damage we’ve done to our ecosystems, disarm our nuclear weapons, etc., we must instill these values – balance, courage, wisdom, freedom, and love – deeply into the next human generation. Teach the kids the logic of living by principles, not profits. 

Balance, courage, wisdom, freedom, and love. These abstractions, in their net effect, are strategies for species survival. The kids need to learn this by reason, supported with evidence. Learn the Moral Realist model. Then, we must teach by example, by embodying these principles in our daily behavior. Model decency and sense for the kids to see and learn. 

Be scholars, athletes, entrepreneurs, tradespeople, teachers, etc., guided by ethical ideals. Be the honest businessperson. The dedicated teacher. The loyal soldier. The conscientious tradesman. The kids see it all. We must never forget that.

The moral code this essay arrives at is mostly our familiar one. What this essay seeks to do is not to promulgate a revolution but to strengthen the resolve of decent folk everywhere. Our moral code is basically right. And we’re updating it all the time. Postmodernism is a lie, but now we know why it is. As a consequence of our understanding Moral Relativism, we can behave in ways that are more targeted and strategic so that we build a form of democratic pluralism that endures.

And if this Moral Realism model still sounds vague or unsatisfying to you, then ask yourself: How much did Newton’s model or Darwin’s change human lives? 

Could the social sciences, especially Economics, Sociology, Political Science, and History be made as exact as Physics or even Biology? I don’t think so. But they could use hard measures like gross domestic product, literacy rate, volunteering rates, business starts, and statistical methods that aim to connect these concepts with courage, wisdom, freedom, love, and balance in ways similar to the ways in which the evolutionary theory has shaped agriculture. We’ll get there.

As Newton’s model advanced Engineering and Darwin’s advanced Agriculture, Moral Realism will advance Social Science. Profound social change in as little as two generations. Conscious social evolution. Understand the theory, use it to guide the practical. Then, we have a reasonable chance to survive. 

Otherwise, we’ll do what we’ve always done. War. With today’s technologies, a final one.

 

21. The Bottom Line for Us Now

Education systems should be retooling now to build curricula informed by courage, wisdom, freedom, love, and balance. Before 2040, all the nations of the world should be offering in their public schools courses on Universal Values - Global Citizenship that are required study for secondary school graduation.

This is the only practical means by which the goal of human survival might still be accomplished. Not a World Workers’ State; it always turns into one more form of tyranny. But not robber baron capitalism either. It becomes oligarchy.

Balance. Democratic pluralism. It is built to survive – long term – in reality.

And let the kids see us striving to be moral. Physically fit. Venturesome. Scholarly. Courteous and patient every day. Let the kids see us striving to be these things. Difficult. Not impossible. Then they may evolve to go on to a higher destiny.

They may spread life to the stars.

                                     Buzz Aldrin during the first moon landing (July, 1969)                                                                             (photo by Neil Armstrong, public domain)