Coda

Abstract

This book has been about compassion, and specifically about compassion in the university - a place where it should flourish for all. It brings together contributors who are widely regarded in their fields and provides theoretical orientations while being grounded in the practical. It also has a cross-disciplinary, cross-cultural and international dimension that strengthens the overall argument regarding the need for higher education to reach out and extend its horizons. Its tone is intercultural, and the authors deal with issues both internal to and beyond the barriers of institutions of higher education if not the ideal of an educated person. In this, it differs from two recent books considering compassion in education that seeks to develop a notion of compassion in education in schoolchildren. Both Wilde's (2013) discussion of compassionate caring and Peterson's of compassion in education (2017) have much to recommend them, but approach the topic from different perspectives. Other priorities seem to dominate the actions of political and commercial leaders - priorities based on self-interest, anxiety, fear and manipulation. Meaningless concepts such as post-truth, alternative facts and fake news reverberate in discourse and are, I would maintain, a consequence of a weakness in our educational systems that has failed to provide citizens with sufficient critical reasoning to reject what these terms mean if they make no sense. The crisis in moral leadership across all education sectors and the lack of a moral climate in institutions are evident in all three books and are particularly disturbing at a time when human suffering seems to be on the increase.