THE FUTURE OF MASONIC EDUCATION
This Short Talk is not "a prediction of things to come". Nor
is it a suggested program of Masonic education for constituent or Grand Lodges
to adopt. It merely presents a few observations about Masonic education and the
future.
Our ideas are like our children. We give them birth; we nurture
and develop them carefully. But they have the perfectly natural habit of growing
up and leaving home, to change and modify themselves in new environments and
unforeseen situations. Only in this vague and seemingly capricious manner may
these thoughts have any effect on the future.
Masonic education (in which term are included all our fraternal
activities to instruct, to inform, to teach, to stimulate, and to enlighten our
brethren) is at present largely in the hands of two principal groups; the@ may
conveniently (but not entirely satisfactorily) be referred to as the custodians
of the ritual and the committees on Masonic information or education.
Of the two, the custodians of the ritual have a longer tradition
of organized efforts to instruct members and officers of the constituent lodges.
Their objective has been clear and well-defined,-to see that the language of the
ritual is transmitted unimpaired to each succeeding generation. The greatest
weakness which has developed in this educational activity is the narrowness with
which "Proficiency" has been regarded. The outcome has been, generally speaking,
an almost exclusive emphasis on "perfect memorization" and on repetition of
movements precisely performed.
Ritualists should be equally concerned with understanding
and interpretation. The Middle Chamber lecture, for example, is a
prodigious feat of memory for the average officer to deliver unassisted. But
even when he can do it "letter perfect", it is dull and profitless if he
delivers that lecture without understanding its eighteenth century language and
without expressing by means of that understanding his admiration for
intellectual attainments and scholarship.
Furthermore, would not some skill with dramatic techniques
(phrasing, variation of pitch and tone, gestures, etc.) help him to put the
message across better? A definition of "proficiency" should include such skills
as well as perfect memorization. Members of the Scottish Rite have learned the
value of dramatic presentations of their ritual. They have much to
demonstrate to the ritualists of Symbolic Masonry.
One may meet an occasional iconoclast who says that "the
ritualists have had their day". There are also some "modernizers", who would
have us shorten the ritual and re-write it in language suitable to the Atomic
Age. Most of these commentators seem to evade the real issue involved in this
problem of Masonic learning - how to present the ritual so that it conveys
meaning and helps to inspire moral action by every symbolic seeker after light.
This is one area in which Masonic education will broaden its scope and extend
its researches in the future. (This, however, is not a prediction; it is merely
a personal hope! )
Masonic education in the hands of committees or officers charged
with imparting light on the history, symbolism, laws, etc., of the Craft, is a
more recent development, although it certainly is not new. The 1920's
marked the first big wave of organized efforts to educate Masons about their
fraternity beyond the actual ritual and lectures of the three degrees.
Masonic periodicals in the early twenties were filled with
contributions on this subject: "Masonic Education: What Should It Consist Of?";
"Why Masonic Education?"; "Scope of Masonic Education"; "A Lecture Course in
Masonic Education"; "Seeking a Definition of Masonic Education"; "Grand Lodge
Endorses Masonic Education"; "The Real Object of Masonic Education"; and many an
essay entitled simply "Masonic Education", one such having been written by the
famous Joseph Fort Newton, which appeared in the Masonic News
of Detroit, Michigan, in September, 1924.
The 1930's saw the establishment in many Grand Lodges of
standing or special committees on Masonic education, information, or culture -
or whatever term was chosen to avoid the word education. Among the
first fruits of the labors of these groups were instructional devices and
educational programs for lodge meetings, as well as leaflets and pamphlets on
the history and symbolism of the Craft. Candidate instructional booklets were
the natural outgrowth of these efforts, because the need for individualized
instruction was soon apparent. The last decade has seen an accelerating
production of handbooks and manuals for officers and committeemen, because it
has become obvious that in spite of all the Masonic information disseminated in
the past four decades, leadership has not been developed sufficiently within the
lodges, and without good leaders no program can be made effective.
This sketchy backward look may not seem appropriate to a
discourse on the future of Masonic education, but it may have this
value: an understanding of what has been done will at least suggest what we may
build on, what has been achieved, and what need not be repeated, as well as what
may have been lacking and to what we might apply our educational efforts in the
future. At this point, it seems safe to make one prediction, although it is
really only a statement of fact. As long as Freemasonry remains Freemasonry,
educational programs such as we have at present will continue, because the
individual member needs them.
A recent "new development" in Masonic education is the action of
the Grand Master of Washington, M.W. Brother George H. Bovingdon. He has called
upon every lodge in his jurisdiction to give sincere study and extended
consideration, including debate, to the address of the Grand Orator, John D.
Blankinship, which was delivered at Grand Lodge in Bellingham last June. "I want
this oration", announced the Grand Master, "to be the starting point for an
analysis in depth of Masonry in the state of Washington."
All lodges have been asked to plan a meeting at which the
oration will be the principal focus of attention Discussion panels are to be
appointed and one member designated to record a full synopsis of the panel's
presentations, the subsequent discussions, and a summary of specific
recommendations which the lodge may decide to make. All these materials, from
every lodge, are to be in the Grand Master's hands by October 30. What is
happening in Washington opens up vistas into new activities and objectives for
Masonic education.
Concerned over Masonry's declining influence and prestige, Grand
Orator Blankinship proposed a number of steps which Freemasonry should take to
recapture its vitality and effectiveness. Unfortunately, the least important
suggestion will probably receive the greatest attention, because he advocates an
extensive shortening and modernization of the ritual. "This job," he says, "is
too important to be delegated to amateurs who would be able to work on it only
part-time. It should be turned over to professionals, skilled in the
communication of ideas and adult education, who would work at it full time."
The antagonism which such a proposal will probably arouse may
draw attention away from more valuable suggestions which should interest every
Brother concerned with Masonic education. A few quotations from Brother
Blankinship's address reveal these.
"I think men want, and Masonry should give them, an
opportunity... for education, particularly in their relations to God, their
fellow men, and their institutions; and for a means to decide upon and take
responsible group action on current issues....... Freemasonry does not compete
effectively for men's minds and souls."
"We should concentrate on human relations, teaching our members
the duties which all men owe to God, to their fellow man (not just to their
fellow-Masons), and to their institutions, governmental, religious, educational,
fraternal....... Rather than retreating from the problems of mankind, Masonry
should advance upon them."
"Our objective should be to assist mankind in solving the
problems which beset him.... History has demonstrated that groups of men who
together think, out responsible answers to human problems wield an influence for
good far beyond their numbers."
"Let us make lodge forums for discussions of such questions. . .
. Let us bring the community into the lodge and at the same time take the lodge
into the community. This will require skill. Lodges . . . should be assisted and
advised by professionals employed by Grand Lodge. It will also require hard
work, but it will be worth it. Masonry will again play an active role as it did
in those colonial days about which we now boast."
Grand Orator Blankinship is really saying that Masonic education
should not be limited to Masons. He suggests that if Masonry is an educational
institution, it should be educating mankind, not merely Masons. The range of
activities suggested by that idea is enormous.
No thoughtful Mason should dismiss this suggestion before giving
it careful and extended thought, because one of the most important reasons for
the so-called "decline in Masonic influence" must be sought in the statement of
one fraternal critic, "Nobody's paying much attention to Freemasonry because
it's not saying anything worth listening to.'P
Such a commentator is not denying the value of Freemasonry's
teachings; he is trying to suggest that the Fraternity is not relating its
principles to modern knowledge, modern attitudes, the hopes and fears of modern
man. Masons repeat their ideals with zealous determination, but they don't
relate them to modern thinking and modern conditions.
This suggests that Masonic educators need to re-define their
philosophy of Masonic education in terms that show an awareness of the
prevailing intellectual attitudes reflected in the thinking of the articulate
voices of our time, in the arts, in religion, in politics, in economic and
social situations, in education, and especially in the communication
enterprises.
Generally speaking, many young people live in a spiritual
vacuum. They are encouraged to seek material wealth and luxury; but it is
exceptional to find them given conceptions of higher or nobler purposes in life,
of genuine patriotism, for example. The love of one's homeland and the love of
God are ridiculed far more widely than we realize.
He who endeavors to defend long cherished ideals, morals in
politics, literature, and art, or the ideals of a militant faith, is frequently
labeled a Fascist or a Nazi, an "enemy of democracy". Too much of the prevailing
mood of our time is cynicism and nihilism; many who would speak up against those
philosophies are denied access to press, radio, and television.
He who advocates a moral and spiritual re-birth of the world and
an ideological march against Russian communism runs the risk of being called a
"war-monger", a "mediaeval crusader"! The acceptable crusader must stick to
contemporary social programs, some of which are politically motivated and
therefore suspect.
Masonic teaching is basically a re-affirmation of the absolute
necessity of morality in all the relationships which exist and develop in the
processes we call civilization. Morality is a misunderstood word and is too
often limited to the concept of the relationships between sexes. True morality
grows out of a recognition that men must commit themselves to some fundamental
principles of action and behavior if the fabric of civilization is to have any
durability and meaning. Change there will be, from time to time, as light is
added to light; but without commitment to some standards of rectitude
and justice, there can be no faith in the value of cooperative efforts to build
a society which will fit a definition of civilization. The spiritual
tragedy of modern man lies in his fear that society has discarded such faith.
Freemasonry obligates men; it commits men to
some fundamental moral attitudes and principles. Whether it succeeds in
transforming a verbal exercise of commitment into a determined life-long pattern
of behavior aimed at moral steadfastness, impartial truth, and pure justice is a
question for Masonic educators to study carefully.
Therein lies the future of Masonic education, in the sense that
the "future" is an opportunity, an area for service and development. To
develop committed men is one of the essential purposes of Masonic
education because the world needs our re-affirmation as much as we do ourselves.
OUTLINE for a SHORT TALK
I. Introduction (2 paragraphs)
II. Instruction in the Ritual
A. Traditional objectives
B. Understanding and Interpretation
C. Dramatic techniques
D. Broadening objectives
III. Masonic Education and Information
A. Development of special committees
B. Their objectives
C. Their Importance
IV. A Modern Special Project
A. Washington's Grand Master makes special assignment
B. Grand Orator's suggestions
1. about the ritual
2. about Masonic education
V. Opportunities for Masonic Education
A. Loss of spiritual confidence
B. Denial of moral values
C. Freemasonry's tenets---a re-affirmation
D. Importance of commitment to ideals
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