Treatise #1; The Intellectual Superstar, Sep. 2014

Dear readers,

Thank you for taking some time to come here to my blog. This post is the first of a series of seven, which I will be posting monthly from now until February.

I love to think. I started this blog because, as a thinker, I want to have the chance to share my ideas with other people. Thus begins the series of Seven Treatises.

I will also have other posts, particularly articles that I've written and saved away over the last couple years about specific people from history that I admire. And yes, I'll have some posts about me specifically, and the life that I live. 

In the meantime, I hope that you enjoy Treatise #1. Please, feel free to comment, and give me feedback. Anything that you agree with, or better yet, disagree with. That way, I can improve what I'm saying. 

Thanks, happy reading.

Dallin D. Shumway

Treatise #1; The Intellectual Superstar, Sep. 2014

United States High Schools are notorious for their pressure on students to strive for athletic achievement. I believe this to be a wonderful aspiration. School-related athletics do much good for the students that are involved in them. Working hard to achieve goals is one of the most fulfilling things that a person can do.

I’d like you to take a moment and think about all the sports movies that you’ve seen, particularly the ones about high school teams. The team sucks, and the coach doesn’t know what to do about it. Everyone on the team seems miserable. Then something happens; the coach is somehow inspired to get the team back on it’s feet again. He’s sick of the team’s bad reputation and wants something to change.

He tells them what he’s feeling, and they agree. They all start working harder, and before you know it, they’re winning games.

They get better and better. Just when things are starting to look really good for the team, a setback comes along. Many they lose their momentum somehow. Maybe they just have a really bad game, or maybe the start player is hurt, or maybe it’s something else. Everyone feels awful again, because they were doing so well, and now things look hopeless. But, the coach rises up, and encourages his players not to be afraid. He tells them that he believes in them, and that they can win games and regain their reputation if they really want to.

They keep trying. They start to regain their momentum, and before they know it, they’ve made it to the state championship. The game gets intense. It’s very close, and at first it looks like the team will lose. But, they don’t give up, and at the last minute, some miraculous play happens that saves the game for them. The announcers are freaking out! “What a miraculous play that was! I can’t believe my eyes!” The fans are screaming! They rush the field, and grab the player that made the play. They hoist him onto their shoulders in triumphant glory. The coach has a look on his face that says; “I’m the happiest man alive!” Those of us watching this movie leave feeling very inspired.

This the Hollywood portrayal of high school sports. While things don’t quite always go the way that I’ve described, there are sports teams out there that do have very similar experiences to what I just described. When these experiences happen to teams, the lives of the athletes, coaches, parents, and everyone else involved for that matter can be changed for the better.

School athletics help students to grow, learn how to do hard things, and experience the joy of being on a team where all the team members work hard.

But, all too often the emphasis that the American high school culture puts on school related athletics can damage the students that choose not to participate in athletic activities.

Let’s go to the hallway of any given high school in the United States. It’s late in the afternoon, and everyone has left the school. The custodian will be by soon to clean up.

Walk down the hall. Look at the cabinets on the walls. What do you see? Well, for the most part, I suppose that you would see sports recognition items; trophies, banners, and the like.

Now, what don’t you see? I’m willing to bet that you probably won’t see a whole lot of stuff that recognizes academic achievement.

At the National Prayer Breakfast in 2013, Dr. Benjamin Carson (author of Gifted Hands, and the first neurosurgeon to successfully separate cranially conjoined twins) described the high school sports spirit that I just talked about in the paragraph above. Then he asked this very important question; “What about the intellectual superstar? what did they get? A National Honor Society Pin? A pat on the head ‘there, there little nerd’. Nobody cared about them. And is it any wonder why the smart kids try to hide?”

Think about it. Kids all over America walk into their high school, and are immediately bombarded with the message that the only students that are noticed are the students that participate in athletic activities.

Now, before I continue, I want to give a little disclaimer; obviously not all schools fit the description that I just described. And even when it comes to the ones that do, I have perhaps exaggerated how much people really obsess over sports in high school. I’d like to give a shout out to all schools teachers, administrative officers, parents, and students who work for, and encourage a spirit of academic achievement and excellence, and give students recognition for their academic achievement.  

I also want to remind my readers that I believe in athletics and the wonderful things that they can do.

What I don’t believe in, are schools where the sports mentality that I just described runs rampant, and where students don’t think that it’s “cool” to be smart.

Let’s take a look at some of the problems that arise because of this kind of thinking. Later in his speech Dr. Carson said; “...What will maintain our position in the world? The ability to [make] a 25 foot jump shot or the ability to solve a quadratic equation? We need to put the things into proper perspective.”

Brain over brawn, right? Look back to the societies of the ancients. I’m not talking about Rome or Athens just yet. I want you to start even farther back than that. Think about the Stone Age (the time of the cavemen). Way back then, people survived by being tough and strong. Of course, you couldn’t survive without some brains too. You had to be able to out-smart nature and the elements, and maybe even other people, but all of that is minimal compared to the physical things that people needed to do in order to stay alive. All in all, the toughest, strongest guys were the ones that fared best.

Societies have risen and fallen since the Stone Age. Some societies were much better off than others. For example; Rome was filled with well educated citizens  that were able to make amazing developments: things like aqueducts, plumbing, and good roads.

Now, with that in mind, look at Europe during the Medieval Age.

Compare the two civilizations that I just described. Rome, for much of it’s existence, was a wonderful civilization. However, it was, of course, better off at some times than it was at others. All in all, Rome thrived for the first 700 years of it’s existence, 500 years as a republic, and 200 as an empire. These 200 years as an empire are known as the Pax Romana, Latin for Roman Peace. During this period, Rome was at it’s height. It experienced greater prosperity economically, militarily, and socially, than any civilization that had ever existed.

This period ended in the 200’s with what is known as the 3rd Century Crisis. Rome was never the same after that.

Rome was later divided in two on an axis that ran north and south, dividing the eastern part of the empire from the west.

In 476, the Western Roman Empire fell to the Germanic tribes, who then ruled it under the direction of the Eastern Roman Empire (now called the Byzantine Empire).

Now let’s move forward in time a little bit.

A person who lived in Medieval Europe was much worse off than someone who lived in the Roman Republic, or the Roman Empire during the Pax Romana. Look at the prosperity that the Roman’s experienced during the Pax Romana, and look at the state that the common folk of Europe lived in during the the Medieval Age.

Think about the education that the Roman’s had, vs. the education that the common folk of Medieval Europe had. It’s interesting to note that during the Medieval Age, the government took deliberate steps to prevent the commoner’s from getting an education.

The Christian church of the day had a big fat hand in the politics of Europe. It’s very easy to see why this would be a problem; by having the power that the governments of the time had, the Church could (and did) commit a vast array of atrocities in the name of God. Because the things that they did were “in the name of God” the ethicalness of said atrocities was much more difficult more people to question.

These atrocities were even more difficult to question, when one considers the fact that even though many of the things the Church of the day did were in direct violation of the teachings in the Bible, the common folk had no way of knowing it because the Bible was not written in a language that they could understand.

Although, there was one way in which they could know that the deeds of the Church were wrong, and that was their own sense of what was right and what wasn’t. This kind of mentality, that God is just, not cruel, is exactly what drove people, like the Great Reformers, to publicly question the practices of the government and the Church.

But it wasn’t just religious ignorance that kept the Medieval commoners bound under an iron fist of tyranny. Books in general weren’t available to the common populace. Being ignorant made it so that they weren’t able to stand up for themselves.

Think about it this way; a Medieval peasant gets up at dawn each day in a small, thatched roof shack, and goes out to spend the day working on a farm. The farm he works on is owned by the local duke. He spends all day working on the farm just so that he can have a little food to eat for his family to eat, and a roof for his family to sleep under.

Education is very expensive. His parents were unable to send him to any kind of school. He knows that he too will be unable to afford the high costs of education for his own children. He has accepted the fact that he, and the generations that follow him, will be doomed to a lifestyle of toiling for enough to eat, and a place to sleep, as a consequence of their inability to be educated.

One day, his neighbor’s son is killed, swept up in the local duke’s cruelty. This atrocity, of course, angers the boy’s father. Fed up with the dukes tyranny, the father decides to rise up in rebellion. He rallies his neighbors (including the man of whom I spoke in the last paragraph) around him. With pitchforks in hand, the men in the area angrily march towards the dukes home, swearing oaths that they will avenge the wrongs that the duke has committed. Fed up by many years of cruelty under the dukes reign, they are all glad to finally have their neighbors standing with them as they avenge the terrible wrongs that had been committed.

They arrive at the dukes home and lay siege to it. Unfortunately, the duke’s guards hold them off, and the local sheriff is alerted. Soon he arrives with a posse, and the little rebellion is quickly quashed. The men who have not already been killed are punished severely. Many are hanged, and their families punished along with them.

Why didn’t this rebellion work? Well, it was simply an irrational act of anger. No planning took place. A bunch of angry peasants jumped up and grabbed their garden hoe’s to go kill a duke. They had no idea what they were doing, they just blindly held on to a hope that they would be able to take a successful stand against the tyranny that they had watched plague the land for so many years.

The Medieval Period ended in the 1400’s. It was after this period was over that the Reformation began in the Christian church.

Martin Luther was born in Germany in 1483. He was able to receive a good education growing up. When he got older, he decided to become a man of the Church. In doing so, he was able to understand the scriptures, and see that many of the leaders of the Church were violating the teachings of the Bible. Luther left his mark on history by taking a stand against what was perhaps the most powerful entity of the time; the Catholic Church. He was the first person to translate any part of the Bible into a common language. By translating the New Testament into German from Latin, he suddenly made it accessible to many people who previously would have had no way of understanding the scriptures.

Luther gained knowledge. With that knowledge he was able to improve the world.

Galileo Galilei had a similar story. Although not the first scientist to make the claim that the Earth was not at the center of the universe, he was perhaps the greatest champion of that idea. For years and year he taught this, and other scientific theories, not all of which were consistent with the church teachings of his day. He taught his theories until the Church forced him to sign an agreement saying that he would not publicly proclaim that his theories were correct over those that the Church had adopted as truth.

In 1632 he published a book that presented his theories about the universe, as well as the theories that the Church proclaimed to be true together, equally. It was called Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. He tried to present the two ideas fairly, believing that if he did he would still be keeping his agreement. However, the Catholic officials who didn’t like him decided to use this book against him, by saying that it wasn’t a neutral book, that it did indeed argue too strongly for Galileo’s point of view.

He was tried in Rome and convicted of heresy. But, the pope at the time, Urban VIII, had been a supporter of Galileo. Heresy was an offense punishable by death, but Pope Urban did not want to see the famous scientist killed. He commuted his sentence to life under house arrest. Galileo spent the rest of his days in his home, where he died on January 8, 1642. But before he passed, contrary to the conditions of his sentence, he published another book called Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations Relating to Two New Sciences. He had it published in Holland, outside of the Church’s jurisdiction.

Galileo dared to think the unthinkable, and defend the indefensible. Luther, dared to stand up to his superiors and tell them that they were wrong. Both men dared to take the knowledge that they had gained, and use it to better the lives of others. Galileo Galilei and Martin Luther dared to tell the truth.

These are the kind of men and women that society needs. People who find truth, and then go out and change the world with it.

America was founded on this principle; that in order for a society to be free and prosperous it’s people needed to be educated. The Founding Fathers were men who came from all walks of life. They were doctors, lawyers, farmers, writers, etc. But all of them had one thing in common; a quality education.

They set up a nation where people had the opportunity to have opportunity. To pursue a great education, to make their way in the free-enterprise system, and to do what they wanted to do with their lives.  

Now, in our day and age, what are our schools encouraging students to do when it comes to education? Are the students being told that academic excellence is a worthy pursuit? or are they being told that they only pursuit worthy of notoriety is athletics? More importantly, what are their peers telling them? That it’s cool to work hard and get your assignments turned in on time? or that they’re wasting their time focusing on studies, and should spend it in other areas?

The American legacy is one of academic opportunity. Yet, the nation that the Founding Fathers left us, was consumed by a terrible evil; slavery.

The Christian leaders of the Medieval Age kept their people enslaved by keeping them ignorant. The slaveholders of America used the same tactic.

Around 1818, a black man named Frederick Douglass was born. He was born into slavery in the state of Maryland. Separated early in life from his mother, and thereafter from his grandmother also, he found himself serving Hugh Auld, the brother-in-law of his master, in Baltimore.

When he was about 12, Hugh Auld’s wife, Sophia started to teach him the alphabet, despite the fact that Maryland state law forbade teaching slaves how to read. Sophia, a kind-hearted woman, treated Douglass quite well. She treated him like one human being should treat another.

When Auld found out what his wife was doing he was not pleased. “Foolish woman!” he might have said, “don’t you realize that if you teach a slave to read, he won’t be content to stay a slave anymore. The idea is to keep him dumb and fat so that he’ll make a good slave!”

Douglass referred to this conversation as the “first decidedly antislavery lecture” he’d ever heard. He described in his autobiography (Narrative on the Life of Frederick Douglass) how he learned to read from the white children in the neighborhood, and from the writing’s of men with whom he worked.

One day, Sophia Auld caught him reading a newspaper. She rushed over and snatched it from him. Her face wore a look that said; “Uh, uh. Slavery and education don’t go together, so you’d best get used to the idea and say good-bye to reading.”

Well, suffice it to say, Douglass did not get used to the idea, nor did he say good-bye to his books. He continued secretly to teach himself how to read and write. Later in his life, he would often say; “Knowledge is the pathway from slavery to freedom”.

Douglass read and read and read. The more he read, the more he began to question the morality and ethicalness of the institution of slavery.

He was hired out to work for a man named William Freeland. While working for Freeland he taught other slaves to read the New Testament. In fact, he started a Sunday school. Word of what he was doing spread, and more and more slaves would flock to his lessons. In any given week he would have over 40 people attending his Sunday school.

But, Douglass’s weekly study gathering angered the slaveholders in the area. They hated the idea of their slaves being educated. One Sunday, during the study session, after Douglass had been holding lessons for about six months, they burst upon Douglass’s little congregation with clubs and stones, so as to permanently end the Sunday school gathering.

Hugh Auld’s brother, Thomas Auld (Douglass’s owners husband) was angered that his brother had let his wife’s slave develop a free mind. He took Douglass, and sent him to a man named Edward Covey. Covey had the reputation of  “slave-breaker,” and Thomas Auld wanted him to whip Douglass back into shape (no pun intended). That’s exactly what Covey tried to do. He beat Douglass regularly, and quite severely too.

Douglass was about 16 at this point. The beatings nearly destroyed Douglass psychologically. 

One Sunday, Douglass came in from the woods. He had run away to the Auld’s for the weekend, but was sent back to Covey’s on pain of a beating.

As he approached the house, Covey came out on his way to church (Covey was a Christian leader in the area). he talked politely with Douglass, and gave him instructions to go take care of the pigs.

This behavior seemed very strange, and Douglass wondered what to make of it.

Covey’s politeness was short lived however, for no sooner had Douglass started work in the stable the next morning, then Covey approached with a piece of rope in hand. Douglass didn’t have to be told what that rope was meant to be used for.

As Covey tried to catch Frederick and beat him once again, something exploded in the heart of the young slave, and he rose and fought back.

Douglass and Covey wrestled for two hours. Douglass fought viciously. He scratched Covey, and drew blood all over his body.

Finally Covey gave up. Not only did he give up the fight with Douglass that day, but in the remaining six months that Douglass spent with Covey, Covey never, ever tried to beat Douglass again. In fact, nobody was ever able to whip Douglass after that. He got into more fights, but he was never again whipped.

After his confrontation with Mr. Covey, it remained a fact for the rest of Douglass’s life, that the man who wished to succeed in whipping him, would also have to succeed in killing him.

Frederick Douglass’s life became one dedicated to the cause of freedom for black people.

What gave him the ability to dedicate his life to so great a cause? The answer is simple; it was the knowledge that he had, and the things that he chose to do with it.

He knew how the alphabet, and branched out from there by teaching himself to read. From there, he learned to think critically, and his desire for freedom was turned into action. “Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he’ll never go hungry.”

The knowledge of how to “fish” in Douglass’s case was his ability to read the alphabet.

And that simple tidbit of knowledge allowed him to be free, and allowed him to help his people become free.

In the case of Douglass, his knowledge was the difference between a simple wish to be free, which was felt by countless slaves of the time, and his ability to make that wish come true.

And so it is with our society. In time we will see that knowledge will be the key to our freedom and prosperity, or the key to our downfall.

I’m not necessarily saying that the high school sports culture is going to send our country to societal ruin. What I am saying, is that a society which rewards and recognizes physical accomplishment more than intellectual and academic achievements is a society sailing away from the shores of prosperity and freedom.

And so, dear readers, I urge each and everyone of you to look around you, and observe those you know who are working hard at academic activities. Maybe you have children in high school that are working to get their associates degree before they graduate, or a nephew that’s running for valedictorian. Or maybe you have young neighbors that are just working hard to keep their grades up, and get a good education.

Whatever the case, encourage theses students. Let them know that you see and admire their desire for academic excellence. Send the message that sports aren’t the only thing that people care about, and that it’s cool to be academically centered too.

Going back to Dr. Carson’s speech. He made this powerful statement;

“Why is it so important that we educate our people? Because we don’t want to go down the [same] pathway as so many pinnacle nations that have preceded us. I think particularly about ancient Rome. Very powerful. Nobody could even challenge them militarily, but what happened to them? They destroyed themselves from within. Moral decay, fiscal irresponsibility. They destroyed themselves. If you don’t [want] that [to] happen to America, you get out your books and you start reading....  you know, we can fix [this problem]. “

I might add to that, “If you don’t that to happen to America, you go out, and you tell all of the academic students that you know, that being mentally strong is just as cool as being physically strong.... you know, we can fix this problem.”

And please, do more than just encourage students to keep working hard at academics.  Spread this idea that I’ve shared with other people. It’s the individual action that makes the difference. Together, we can change the way that our society thinks; one student, one school, one community at a time.

Thank you for reading. Now that you have the knowledge of what I have shared, follow the example of Martin Luther, Galileo Galilei, and Frederick Douglass, and use that knowledge to make a difference.