May You Live in Interesting
Times
Wayne Patterson
Pacific American University and Howard
University
Beijing, China
December 14, 2002
Pierre Trudeau
• Prime Minister of
Canada
• 1967 - 1984
Norman Bethune
• came to live in China
and worked with Mao
Tse-Tung,
• Dr. Bethune was very
helpful in developing
health care throughout
China
“May You Live in Interesting
Times”
• in higher education today, we live in interesting
times.
• The role of higher education today is changing very
rapidly
• and is of greater and greater importance to each and
every one of us in trying to find the path
– to world peace,
– to the eradication of hunger and illiteracy, and
– to the elimination of such horrible diseases as
HIV/AIDS.
Howard University
• founded in 1867
• created specially to serve the needs in higher
education of Black persons who had
formerly been slaves
• about two kilometers from the White House
and the Capitol Building in Washington
• students from over 100 countries
• We are the only Historically Black University that is
classified at the highest level of research in the
United States.
• We offer PhDs in 33 fields, from medicine to
engineering, to science, to business, to law, to social
sciences, to humanities, to the arts, to dentistry, to
pharmacy, to social work, and to others
Jimmy Carter
• US President 19771981
• Nobel Peace Prize
recipient 2002
• quoted Ralph Bunche
in acceptance speech
Carter’s Quote of Bunche
• “To suggest that war can prevent war is a
base play on words and a despicable form of
warmongering. The objective of any who
sincerely believe in peace clearly must be to
exhaust every honorable recourse in the
effort to save the peace. The world has had
ample evidence that war begets only
conditions that beget further war.”
Ralph J. Bunche
• the first AfricanAmerican Nobel Peace
Prize winner -- 1950
• founder of the
Department of
Political Science at
Howard University
• Ralph J. Bunche Center
for International
Affairs at Howard
The Importance of Higher
Education to World Society
• solving complex problems
• explosion of information
• role of the Internet
• problem-solving ability more important than
specific knowledge learned
One Per Cent
• World Population Council: only one in every
100 people has the benefit of higher
education
• each of us bears a responsibility to contribute
in some way to those other 99% who haven’t
had the opportunity
The Enron Scandals
• “cult of the CEO”
• corporate takeovers and mergers have
resulted in fewer and fewer companies in a
given market, and therefore much less
competition and much more illegal
collaboration
The Root Cause
• hundreds of millions of dollars being spent
on presidential campaigns,
• politicians become more and more dependent
on their donors,
• reform efforts in regulating industry are
stifled.
Role Models in Industry
•
•
•
•
Ben and Jerry’s
Grameen Bank
Levi-Strauss
Cummins Engine
Ben and Jerry’s
• operates in an
environmentally sound
fashion,
• contributes significant
earnings to socially
beneficial causes
• www.benjerry.com
Grameen Bank
• probably known to
many of you as the
first experience in
microenterprise,
devised by Professor
Mohammed Yunus
• www.grameen-info.org
Levi Strauss
• when its competitors were all
engaged in using “sweatshops”
their production of clothing,
• Levi-Strauss sought out the
poorest economic regions in the
United States,
• built most of their plants there
in order to stimulate the local
economies
• www.levi.com
Cummins Engine
• Every year for many
years, it has led the
United States in the
percentage of its
corporate profits that
are donated to
charitable causes
• www.cummins.com
New Models for Higher
Education
• universities are no longer the sole player in the marketplace
• More money is spent in corporate training for advanced education
(Master’s and PhD-level) than is spent by universities
• growth of non-traditional programs,
– distance education,
– programs offered on weekends,
– programs offered for commuters on their buses or trains,
– programs spread over longer periods of time
• or concentrated in very short periods of time
– need for post-graduate education may continue throughout the
student’s life
Think Back
– think back to some of the people I have
mentioned in this address and how they diverted
from their original path in life, and their original
field of study:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Pierre Trudeau
Norman Bethune
Lester Wolff
Ralph J. Bunche
Mohammed Yunus
Jimmy Carter
Will one of you will become
known as the successful
businessman or businesswoman?
•
who also was able to contribute significantly
to our understanding and success in achieving
– world peace,
– eliminating hunger and illiteracy, and
– eradicating HIV/AIDS
Thank You
• Wayne Patterson
• wpatterson@howard.edu