Humanism Discussion

     Humanism focused on studying ideas from antiquity rather than purely religious knowledge. The upper class became very intrigued by their ancient ancestors and held themselves in high esteem, feeling that they had a likeness to Plato, Aristotle, and other great thinkers from antiquity. The ruling class thought they could be better leaders if they spent years studying ideas from antiquity. Learning Latin was a crucial component of a humanistic education. Unfortunately, a humanistic education demanded years of rigorous study that middle and lower class people couldn't afford.
     I was surprised to learn that doctors and laborers were held in low esteem and were regarded as simple money making professionals. In my opinion, people who dedicate themselves to a trade are the bread and butter of a society. Academia couldn't exist if everyone was responsible for building their own homes and healing their own sick. It is atop the shoulders of laborers and tradesmen that the ruling elite stand, so I find their mentality towards the middle class quite conceded.
     However arrogant their outlook on laborers seems, I must admit I admire the value placed on eloquence, grammar, and language at this time. Our society could benefit from this mentality. We live in a time that enables us to publish our thoughts by the click of a button. It seems that the art of language is somewhat lost today. We rarely craft letters to our loved ones, because we can text or e-mail anyone in an instant. Instead of prioritizing and organizing our thoughts, we have the ability to post every mundane, insignificant detail of our life on Facebook without thinking it through. I believe we could all benefit from being trained to craft our thoughts and words with more care and precision than we often do.
     We have the ability to access the entirety of human knowledge on a device that fits in our pockets and we use it to look at cat videos, see what our friends are doing all the time, and fight with strangers. It's interesting to contemplate what Leonardo could have accomplished with a resource as powerful as the internet. But who knows, maybe his accomplishments were better facilitated in a time without such useless and tempting distractions.