What’s the right thing to do?

In addition to university admission policies, my students debated euthanasia, abortion, stem cell cloning, and other controversial topics. My course did not seek to teach students what to think about contentious issues; it was designed to show them how to think. Graduates capable of thinking for themselves are likely to make more enlightened contributions to the common good than those who blindly follow the opinions of others.

I am not naïve. A capstone course, by itself, can not ensure that students will behave wisely. For this reason, universities must also provide opportunities for Confucius' second method of gaining wisdom-imitation.

Universities and academics that expect students to develop practical wisdom must demonstrate it themselves. They must act as moral role models. For example, a university planning to spend a lot of money employing a celebrity architect rather than an unknown one can create a learning opportunity. Is paying the additional cost of a celebrity architect the best use of funds? Might it be better to spend the extra money commanded by the celebrity architect on scholarships, research, or staff salaries? Debating such questions in a university with transparent decision-making processes can provide an excellent opportunity for students to practice making wise decisions.

To complete their job of endowing graduates with wisdom, universities must also expose students to Confucius's third method for gaining wisdom-experience. Life can offer bitter lessons, but as Gu Yanwu knew, the road to understanding is long and winding. Universities can start graduates on the road to wisdom by providing opportunities to participate in clubs, sports teams, orchestras, choirs, and political and religious societies. They can also offer students work experience and a chance to study in different countries.

Why should universities do these things? Because lectures and book learning are only part of education. Living with other students, joining clubs and societies, volunteering to help others and playing on sporting teams are vital to working and communicating with others. By participating in extracurricular activities, students learn to keep their promises, be dependable, and meet deadlines. They develop tolerance and a sense of fair play. These are the building blocks of practical wisdom.

There is one more thing that students learn from undertaking experiences outside of the classroom; they learn about their capabilities. In ancient Greece, the entrance to the Temple of Apollo in Delphi had "Know Thyself" engraved in its entry. Lao Tzu, the famous Chinese philosopher, said that mastering the self is necessary for true wisdom.

How do students come to know and master themselves? One way is to put them in challenging situations. Universities hope that no student will ever have to face the terrible choices that confronted Andy McNab and Marcus Luttrell. Still, if they want students to become wise, universities must stop indulging them and allow students to face challenges-to fail, pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and start all over again.

By combining Confucius' three roads to wisdom-reflection, imitation and experience-universities can build a bridge of understanding between the classroom and the wider world. That bridge is called practical wisdom. A successful university is one that gets its graduates to the other side of that bridge.