In the Catholic Peace Weekly, a professor writes about artificial intelligence, Internet thing, (Internet of things) big data, all connected with the fourth industrial revolution-- cyber-physical systems and what they will mean for colleges and universities. We have already been affected with repercussions from the new wave influencing every area of our lives.
Colleges which have been the leaders in learning are now in the middle of the changes and reform. Ironically the knife of change is aiming at these schools of higher learning. The synonym for knowledge online is Wikipedia. Online we have the spread of popular free lectures on MOOC (Massive Open Online Course). Deep Learning (machine learning) evolving new learning is putting pressure on the colleges to come up with new paradigms.
Artificial intelligence and 'Internet thing' join together with marketing and education are in a position to take away jobs from college graduates. The old pyramid like systems of the past, ignoring the middle classes and slimming down is what we are seeing. Colleges still are working with the old fashion textbook model of learning when society is looking for a creative workforce. We don't have harmony between what our colleges are producing and what society needs.
Moreover, with the widespread MOOC, we have the ability to hear first class scholars with translations, all free on the internet: a vast treasure of knowledge open to all. At one time what was the prerogative of our universities is no longer the case. Consequently, we have the schools of learning wanting to be more in harmony with the demands of society in their course of studies: mergers, educating for cooperation and creativity, problem-solving.
However, if this reform is only of structures, they will not withstand the encounter from the 4th industrial revolution. With the continuance of the four-year bachelor's system, colleges will not produce graduates society requires: no harmony between demand and supply. The need is to educate for the practical world that they will be entering.
An English inventor James Dyson is investing his money in an engineering school. Dyson Institue of Technology will open this year in the fall. Unlike other schools, there is no tuition, and working together with their teachers, students will be given a salary. What they produce will be sold and with the profits, the running of the school. The professor sees this as a sign of the future and the direction the colleges need to go.
Colleges are no longer the ivory towers of learning. Colleges will no longer be the only ones educating those entering society. Without this change in the curriculum, the present colleges will disappear.
The dilemma, however, will be the education for the workforce in answer to the demands of society or the search for maturity and wisdom. Fortunately, the internet world and cyberspace are able to supply the demands of individuals who want an education in wisdom.
'Oh,
My Papa' is a Korean documentary film on the life of Venerable Aloysius
Schwartz who began his work as a missionary priest in Pusan Korea in
1958. His Korean name was So Jae-gun. An article in the Kyeongyang
Magazine by a movie critic and teacher gives us an understanding of the
priest's work under the headings of mission, love, courage, practice,
and hope.
The
film was made from old photographs, materials uncovered from the past,
memories of those who knew the priest and the places where he worked.
There is no exaggeration, embellishment, monetary desire or
dramatization, only the use of the microphone and camera to show us the
life of the priest.
He
was ordained in 1957. He had a strong devotion to our Blessed Mother
and while in Belgium for his studies often went to the shrine of Our
Lady of Banneux also known as the Virgin of the Poor. He took the teaching of Mary to work for the poor as his mission in life. The destruction of the Korean War left many widows, beggars, street children and great poverty.
His
sister is quoted as saying that while in the States giving talks to
raise money for his work he met some specialists in fundraising which
made his raising of funds in the States successful.
His
love for the poor and his work for the missions enabled him to build
schools for the poor but he realized that the children needed a mother's
love and founded the Sisters of Mary in1964. The homes for children
have spread to 6 countries and in 10 different locations with over 20
thousand children. He was the recipient of the Magsaysay Award for International Understanding in 1983.
His
life was lived in voluntary poverty. His house his clothes his manner
of life was one of detachment and his community of sisters appreciated
the sign that his life was for the community.
He
wanted his children to someday live a life of hope and be able to join
society as mature healthy citizens. Hope was given to many and many aspired to work for the good of society. Life is given to us to hope. Without hope, a person is already dead. Many did not see the children but that is why many sing with great joy: Oh, My Papa.
He was diagnosed with Lou
Gehrig's disease which slowed him down but he continued working. He did
wonder if he was working to accomplish his own will instead of God's. He began the work but he left it up to God to continue. It was his unfinished symphony: all was left to God.
For
Fr. Aloysius the Gospel was the message of love. We are to put this
love into practice. We don't want to package it up but to spread it to
others, for this is the way we become one. God is full of blessings and the message that Venerable Schwartz left us.
View from the Ark of the Catholic Times introduces the readers to a
parish priest's reminiscences of his love of books during his early
years of schooling. He remembers the joy of reading and would read
everything that came his way. Comic books introduced him to the fanciful
and the world of imagination.
Books on great men gave
him a longing for the impossible (?) and the classics and literature as a
whole such as Ivan Turgenev's First Love allowed him to dream. During the 80s
when the society was chaotic, he read Korean history. Since there was no
object or reason for the reading it was a smorgasbord. He
was young and not able to connect what he read with the life he
was living.
If there was one thing that he learned
later on from his reading was that not everything that hits the eyes is
all that there is. Many are the books that left him with an
understanding of life and one in particular was The Little Prince by
Antoine de Saint-Exupery.
With money life is
comfortable. Science and civilization have modernized our lives, machines
have advanced greatly our way of living and made it comfortable.
Buildings are tall and strong. Traveling with computers we live with
illusion and the way smart phones are evolving is difficult for us to
imagine. Schools of higher learning are being build continually,
increasing the educational level of the citizens. The GNP continues to
rise but so also has the debt of the citizens.
Development of the country has been great but young people find it difficult
to find work. We give a number index to even some of the highest values
in life. Profit is a standard for our society. Materialism and wealth are
put at the center. Technology has become so omnipresent
that without machinery at our disposal we can do little. Money is what makes everything work together.
Something
that looks good on the outside is also good to eat is a phrase from the past. What we can't see, the tendency is not to want to see: life,
dignity, respect, love, faith, truth, justice, friendship, sharing, authenticity, purity, and the like.
He concludes his
article with a meditation on the words of the fox to the prince at the end of the fable. The fox gave the prince a
very simple secret to remember: "you are only able to see correctly
with the heart, what is essential is invisible to the eyes." The prince not wanting to forget what he
heard repeated to himself: "What is important you do not see with the
eyes."
A professor emeritus, a man active in diocesan work writes in the Catholic Times on the high waves buffeting the ship of state and the society in which we live.
Comparing our times to persons on a battered ship is a good analogy for the times. In Korea the captain seemed to have turned over the ship to a personal friend; the passengers, hearing of the news, were overcome with anger and with candles in their hands, wanted the captain and supporters removed.
With the coming of the new year, we have the impeachment of the president, political turmoil, economic depression, fear of earthquakes, nuclear fear from the North, US THAAD missile system placement in Korea, fear of what president Trump will mean for Korea, and the population problem.
In the coming year, the number of those over 65 years of age will be larger than those under 14. The professor emeritus says this is not seen as a problem by many. He quotes a population expert who says that on the Richter scale this would be an equivalent reading of 9.0: a catastrophe in economics, politics, and society.
This aging population and drop in the birth rate will not only impact society but also the Church: schools will close, people fired, jobs harder to find, production and consumption in the country restricted.
The Korean Institute of Health and Social Affairs has reported that 8 out of 10 students from 14 to 18 years of age do not think we have a just society. Collusion between Business and Government, corruption, and conflict between management and workers will continue to increase.
Choi Soon-sil Gate is far from settled. Her daughter entered a prestigious college and was later expelled because of allegations she received special treatment. Incidents of this type give credence to an unjust society. One questionnaire that was mentioned showed that half of the respondents do not see the children bettering their lives in our present society. This makes a desire for a family all the more difficult for the young.
He concludes the article by lamenting the blind spot many of the Catholics have on matters of justice and peace. We have on many different occasion received communications from the Bishops, heard parish sermons but the parishioners have little interest. More lamentable, however, we hear talks on justice and peace and label it leftist and Communistic. He hopes the new year will see a change and find the Catholics as leaders in the movement for a better society.
Catholic News Now Here has an article on the publication of the recent government house census that was conducted in 2015. The number of those with some form of belief has diminished greatly from the past. This is similar to what is seen in other countries. Statistics show that in 2005 the number of believers was 52.9% of the population but in the latest census the number was 43.9%. The majority of Koreans have no formal association with any religion.
Catholics have in recent years seen more Catholics listed in the government census than the Church's own statistics but this year we have a big change and a shock. The number of Catholics has been reduced to 7.9 % of the population from 10.8% in 2005.
19.7% of the population belongs to Protestantism which is an increase from 2005 where it was 18.2%. Buddhism in 2005 was 22.8% and in 2015 decreased to 15.5%. The largest religious group are the Protestants and the total number of Christians would be 27.6 % of the population.
The method of making the census this time was different from the last. A priest member of the Bishop's pastoral research center is quoted as saying it was more accurate than the past. Not surprising that the numbers are lower than the registered Catholics in the country. Many of those baptized while in the military, he says, don't even remember being baptized and many don't even remember that they are Catholic but all these have parish registers and are counted as Catholics.
He feels that the last religious census of 2005 was not reliable. The Church has aged faster than the society at large. In the 2005 census when the homes were visited canvassers would be dealing with the elderly family members and he guesses, would inflate the number of Catholics.
Many may get the impression that Korea is an atheistic country with such a large number of no-religion but the no-religion in Korea are not like those in the West. Shamanism is very much part of the culture. Korea has a very small number of those who call themselves Confucian but the culture has been strongly influenced by Confucianism. You have those who do not consider Confucianism a religion. Any census that attempts to determine the number of religious believers is always going to have problems.
We will no doubt have the atheists uniting in the future but Korea is still a very religious society with a strong feeling for the unseen and the spiritual. This will undoubtedly change since the whole world is at the fingertips of our young people.
The census shock was necessary for the Church to begin to look again at the work of evangelizing and the pastoral work of the Church.
We begin a new calendar year. A time for resolutions and for
Christians the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God. A good time to
resolve to live in the manner that Mary showed us by listening to God's
word in our hearts and consciences and living it in our daily lives.
We
are made to be happy and for many of us the hope is not the reality.
And yet that is what we need to expect and desire. God gives us the
graces; we believe we are the temples of the Holy Spirit but
fail to remember the meaning. Despite the many
problems, sickness, the situation in which we find ourselves and the
craziness that is all around, we are called to live with joy, a gift of
the the Holy Spirit.
A Korea priest who spent some
time in Lima, Peru, as a missioner writes in the Catholic Digest about
his experience in living in a poor area of the city. On the day before
the New Year the people are busy making life-like dolls for the New
Year.
This is the summer season and you hear the words from open doors:
'bring more clothes' as they prepare to make dolls out of old clothing.
if you ask what are they dong, they will answer preparing to burn the
old year.
At midnight they shoot off fireworks and burn
the dolls which symbolize all that was negative in the past year: the
bad things, the sins, all that made for unhappiness they burn and hope for a different and joyful new year.
He
reminds himself, now back in Korea, how in the pastoral work he
uses his own yard stick to determine what is right and wrong with often
clumsy results and fails to acknowledge the problems which follow from
this.
He remembers the Peruvians and their dolls and
wants to begin the New Year with the burning of all that was bad: the
wrong judgments, improper emotions and begin a completely new year.
"God
does not tire of being merciful and forgiving us." These words of Pope Francis begin to resonate with him. He concludes the article by hoping
to live like a person who has been forgiven. To meet every person as if
coming for the first time, meeting all as if he has never been hurt,
and see all occasions and persons with hope. Isn't this a way of living with joy in our hearts? Happy New Year!
Recently we hear besides 'Well-Being' the phrase 'Well Dying' but the fear expressed by an article in the Catholic Times is that these phrases may be used actually in opposition to what we hold as Catholics especially the phrase 'Well Dying'. One can easily understand this as a euphemism for assisted suicide.
Words can be made to say whatever the speaker wants them to say. When life becomes cumbersome and the person's quality of life is no longer seen as of value many feel it's common sense to end it. We are not obligated to take extraordinary means to prolong life unless one chooses to do so but life always has value and ordinary means to sustain life are necessary.
Gravely ill patients without hope of recovery will be allowed to die by choice or with the consent of a family member is a law in Korea that will take effect in 2018. This, of course, will easily be used in ways that were not intended and we will have the acceptance of assisted suicide. The well dying law does not legalize assisted suicide but only the rejection of life-sustaining treatments when there is no hope of recovery.
However, sadly, there are many who for one reason or another are living alone and die alone only to have their bodies discovered many days after death. Here we have a failure on the part of society to concern itself on the dignity of life for all its members.
According to Ministry of Health and Welfare in 2015 those who died alone numbered 1,245. This number is gradually increasing. Half of them had no family. Nuclear families and one person families is a reason for this situation and a problem that society needs to face. One person families continue to increase which means the problem will remain.This problem is not the same as the 'well dying' issue except in that we have a devaluation of life and this is shown when we have persons dying alone and the bodies discovered later.
Since society is getting older we will have more people living alone. Not that it is limited to the old but we do have an increase of those living alone and the possibility of dying alone. In one of the centers concerned with the elderly, their studies show that over 1/4 of the old people living alone have no contact with society.
The words 'death alone' and 'death from unconcern' will continue to increase. This was the topic of an article wishing to get the church and society involved in searching out those living alone and find time to share feelings with them. The breakdown of solidarity and rampant individualism in society needs to be addressed by those with faith.
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