Courses, Degrees and Certification Programs

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete."
~Buckminster Fuller

Scroll down for link to degree and course information.

A Case for Reinventing Education
University of Earth's byline is "education for a new world." As many have said, it is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. In a world gone insane, University of Earth (UE) is committed to building a new model for creating a sane new world and making "the existing model obsolete."  And it begins with reinventing education.

The cognitive nature of humans, that is, what we come to know, makes education the fundamental means in which a new model of society can be created. All other cultural and social institutions fundamentally depend on education. We must ask ourselves; can we create an educational model that allows us to live into our lofty self-anoited name, Homo sapiens sapiens, "the doubly wise ones, the ones who know they know?"

A principal characteristic that sets our species apart from all other species is our capacity to imagine, create and manipulate our environment, either constructively for the greater good or destructively for our personal gain. Truly a god like power. Can we finally become the wise ones, the ones who know how to be a "mutually enhancing presence" on the planet, as cultural historian Thomas Berry calls us to? At University of Earth we believe we can, and reinventing education is the key. 

The Power of Imagination
Imagination is our most powerful tool. As Einstein told us, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." There has never been a greater need in all of human history for us to develop our own unique creative imaginative genius in service to the greater good.  Without a well-developed capacity to imagine and create we will never create a sane world. And it is here that conventional education has grievously failed us. 

“Instead of growing into creativity in school, we grow out of it” 
~Sir Ken Robinson

Many scholars make the case that our current educational system “kills creativity.”  In the words a one high school student, “Being naturally creative, you asked questions like “Why is the grass green?” and “Are we alone?” — questions no wise man could answer. Then came school, a child’s worst nightmare… our methodologies in schools are demolishing creativity.” 

Scholar Mathew Fox tells us, "Learning is to the mind, what food is to the body. Both are essential for life." Fascination and the love of learning are natural for humans, and yet, our compulsory, teach to the test, educational system squeezes the life out of that natural inclination for most of our young students. For many, by the time they are ready to seek a career they have been groomed into social automatons. And forsaking their true life purpose and calling for careers within the dominant power structure. 

The Inner Genius
But in truth, each of us are endowed with a particular creative genius, sometimes referred to as "soul purpose" a genius that resides within us. The word education is derived from the Latin word Educere, which means to draw out that which is within. 
The world renowned poet, scholar, and college dean, Jalaluddin Rumi famously said, "We are each made for a particular work, and the desire for that work has been placed in every heart." 

At University of Earth we are dedicated to helping people of all ages find their true inner genius. By accessing that which is encoded in our hearts, we can find that “particular work" we are made for, our own creative genius. It is only here that we find personal meaning and a truly satisfying life.

Our genius is found most directly by pursuing that which fascinates us or our allurements. As cosmologist Brian Swimme points out, our genius is in our fascinations, it's what lights us up. 

Finding Meaning
Each of us can support each other’s genius by watching for what lights each other up, watching particularly for what interests light up another's eyes. 
We can then help others by telling them what we have witnessed, how they lit up, and encourage them to pursue their fascinations. Most importantly, we can spread the good news that we are each made for "a particular work," made for something meaningful, in a seemingly meaningless world.

If we are to create a world that works for us all, we simply must bring meaningful life purpose back to the people. As Victor Frankl discovered and reported in his classic, Man's Search for Meaning, having true meaning in life it is a matter of life or death. 

This is true education, true educere, encouraging and supporting one another in bringing out the unique creative genius that is within us.  In this way we can truly change the world. This is the model of education at University of Earth

"If you bring forth that which is within you, what you bring forth will save you.
If you do not bring for that which is within you
what you do not bring forth will destroy you."
~The Gospel of Thomas

 

For more information on University of Earth’s innovative educational model, degree programs, certificate programs and courses designed to bring out the creative genius in every student, click here. 

 

Furthering the Case for Reinventing Education

“When you take the free will out of education, that turns it into schooling.”
~John Taylor Gatto

Conventional Education as Indoctrination
Educator John Gatto writes in his classic, Dumbing us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Education. “The truth is that schools don't really teach anything except how to obey orders. This is a great mystery to me because thousands of humane, caring people work in schools as teachers and aides and administrators, but the abstract logic of the institution overwhelms their individual contributions. Although teachers do care and do work very, very hard, the institution is psychopathic -- it has no conscience."

Creating conforming, unquestioning cogs in the machine of corporate world power and domination is the goal. We have been deceived. It is time to walk away and create a new model. 

“Education is in a crisis worldwide."
~The Dalai Lama

The Deceiver is Corporate Education 
The "Corporatocracy," the marriage of Government and Big Business, now commands every aspect of modern society. As Cicero said, "Nothing is so strongly fortified that it cannot be taken by money."  And tragically that includes our educational system. Coopting our imaginations, corporate controlled education has undermined the sanctity of life on our beautiful planet.

What a student is allowed to get a degree in, what degree programs are accredited, what research programs will be funded, all are controlled now by corporations. No personal creativity or imagination allowed if it does not serve their goals. When you control education, you control the "story" of what a successful human is. If you can control education, you can control the world. 

“Neither a borrower nor a lender be.”
~Shakespeare

Along with education, indeptedness is the ruthless means by which the “Corporatocracy” controls the masses, it is also the means by which nation states now attempt to conquer each other. Using clever economic devices and deceit, indeptedness is the method utilized by multi-national corporations to seize the natural resources of impoverished nations. A heartbreaking saga.

Through ever increasing cost of living, indebtedness is the method that is used to sieze our lives. The current educational model has our youth mortgaging their future, or their parent's future, before they even begin their adult lives. Were we wiser, the ever-escalating cost of education and student indebtedness should have put the corporate model of educational out of business.

Not only does education today not prepare us for the future as Harvard’s educational guru Howard Gardner warns, it imprisons us in indebtedness to a system that is destroying the planet. It is time to walk away and create a new model.

Education is "Business as Usual" ~ "It's the economy stupid."
Business is the engine of an economy. Business degrees are the most popular undergraduate degree and MBAs are the most popular graduate degree in our “consumer factory” model of education. The creed is, make as much money as possible and buy as many things as possible, then you are a respectable and successful human. Disturbingly, some the most respected professors in the most esteemed MBA programs in the nation have taught that greed is good.

Following the 911 attacks President Bush in his infamous, "America let's get back to normal" speech addressed the nation saying, “…we must also work together to achieve important goals for the American people here at home. This work begins with keeping our economy growing. And I encourage you all to go shopping more.” Surveys at the time surprisingly showed Americans were more concerned about the economy than the threat of terrorism.

“It’s the economy stupid” was a campaign slogan when Bill Clinton was elected in 1992. As it turns out they were right, it is the economy stupid. Just as business is the engine of the economy, our business driven consumer economy is the engine of climate change and the extinction crisis. A recent study indicated that 150 species are going extinct every day, that's over 54 thousand species a year, extinct, gone forever. Why? It’s the economy stupid! We have failed miserably to bridle the causes of climate change. Why? It’s the economy stupid! As Upton Sinclair said, "It is difficult to get people to understand something when their salary depends on them not understanding it."  It is time to walk away and create a new model. 

Cultural Historian, Thomas Berry tells us that the four central pillars of society; education, economics, government & politics and religion must all reinvented. We must walk away and create a new way of living in the world! We must build a new model of education, of politics & government, of religion and economics. A model that answers the challenges of our times. A model that is uplifting and meaningful, a model that makes the planet and people destroying consumer model obsolete. University of Earth; education for a new world, is dedicated to helping create that model. 

University of Earth admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs.