If I could, I am all for personal study
plans, lists of books to read, and subjects I wish I could study more
on my own. I dream of the day when the school system doesn't exist,
and I can have a private tutor teach me, one who is a genius in
everything that I could ever want to know. I come from a unique background of a K-8 charter school that focus was on the inquiry method of education and who's motto was "nurturing a sense of wonder". Dante's Inferno is
my most recent study project, but it is a little difficult to study
on my own, and with all the other demands on my time. I read a book
for pleasure just last weekend (even though I am not an English
major), but I am not sure a fictional novel of King Arthur counts as
teaching me anything. I also can figure out what to write for a post
or two that isn't assigned. I am a learner, not just a school-er,
and I want to keep it that way. I do indulge in the luxurious
thinking about all the things that I still want to learn and
experience. So why do I still submit to the dictates of
professionals and credential-ers that manage my education? Why am I
following the prescribed path of my major instead of creating my own?
Why not throw off the chains and be amazing like Steve Jobs? Why
am I not a more independent learner? Why do I still struggle
with the credit hours and the assigned chapters and the homework
problems and ALL the SYLLABI ?!
Because I live in a system and society
that cares more about my degree and credentials than my abilities to
be a life-long learner (how do you test that anyway?).
And I want to survive in that system, in this society (though there
are some people I know who have chosen to live outside of it and good
for them for being braver than me). Because I cannot hope to become
an entrepreneur genius like Steve Jobs and create the Apple company.
I have to find another way. The way I have chosen is to willingly
submit to this system of study and learning, and covet the choices
and freedom in my education that I am allowed. Like being very
careful when I chose my classes and major so that I would love what
I do, things I would love to study on my own if I had time. Because
sometimes it is hard enough to understand and learn what you are
“supposed” to learn as a member of educated society without
adding the to-do of “create the list of what everyone expects you
to know with a college degree”. Because the reality of the system
that I have grown-up with (for generations) sets into my bones, and
kicks me in the pants when I try to think outside the lines.
However,
professors and credential-ers and my reasons to submitting to the
guidance of these two groups can sometimes differ. The majority of
my classes are subjects I enjoy, and am glad I am learning about, but
things I am not really familiar with at all. I don't have a starting
point or a reference to guide me through all the crazy resources and
significant information out there on a topic that is so broad. That
is why, for example, I submit to the guidance of my Judaism
professor, because I hope and expect that he will recommend good
texts and experiences for a beginning learner of the Torah and Jewish
life. On the other hand, I am not a big fan of chemistry (though one
of my goals is to love O.Chem by the end of the semester) and those
courses are more regulated because of standardized tests and a higher percentage
of the student body that takes the course. (I have literally heard, "you may not need to know this for this test, but it will definitely be a question on the MCAT".) They have a more
systematic feel than an expert-novice feel.
I completely agree: learning must have
structure to be effective. The syllabus started out a great tool of
providing that structure for collaborative learning and
“need-to-know's” but it has become a monster of scheduling.
Please, don't blame us students. I have inherited this system, and
don't assume that I love it, or think it is the best and only way to
learn. But it is the current institution that allows me to access
the majority of knowledge that I want with ease, and is a conduit for
learning. It is one way to satisfy the hunger for learning that I
have, and the most socially acceptable form. So when I get teachers
in this system that really teach, and build their classes around
structured freedom of study, I love them and thank them for a job
well done. When I get to choose the topic for my massive research
paper (within the field). When they want your questions and ask what
you are curious about and have always wondered (within their scope of
expertise). When your assignment is to experience an event in the
real world (related to something you learned). When they give you a
free day of blogging and you run for it because you are confident
enough that they are open to discussion of their ideas. That's when
you thanks your lucky stars and know you're about to experience as
good as it gets in this world of Institutionalized Freedom.
Good post Morgan, I think that it is important to realize that when we are being graded on something, we can not be in a 100% independent learning system. Otherwise I would go learn to ski and kiteboard and read popular fiction and and I would be learning. I find it hard to believed that I'll get many grades in college based on my learning of recreational activities and other unrelated topics. If I am to recieve a grade on "independent learning" then EVERYTHING I do would have to be considered. But since I am receiving a grade there has to be a syllabus or at least a non-mysterious criteria or rubric for what I am expected to do. Within those criteria I can wander as much as I want, but as a student being graded I need the boundaries.
ReplyDeleteWow. Lots of interesting thoughts Morgan. Mike, I would mention that if you change your major to RMYL you will be graded on your learning of recreational activities.
ReplyDeleteI was reminded in reading this of the video we watched in class about Hugh Nibley. At one point he talked about how absurd it is to say we are getting an education. Education is a lifetime accumulation of interesting things and following our curiosity. A degree is what we get out of time spent and assignments completed. I found this idea very intersting and think it ties in well to the discussion we had earlier this week with Mike's Hopi post on different forms of knowledge and the way different cultures value them.
All that being said, I took more out of Dr. Burtons post that he wanted us to be closer to fulfilling the follow your own curiosity than the just jump thorough the institutional hoops. While we are no longer two-year-olds constantly asking why without even listening to the response, I think we are benefited by some direction. Direction helps us to ask productive questions and learn things that society at least qualifies as meaningful.
Great ideas, you guys! Morgan, you are great to give such a thoughtful response to my syllabus post. I certainly hope I didn't come across as blaming the students. It's true, I want my students to take initiative and seize control of their education -- but that doesn't mean they cannot survive or make meaningful choices within traditional educational boundaries. You sound very practical in your thinking, and that's one sign of being a grown up (and taking responsibility for yourself). But over time you learn that the most practical choices -- the ones that give you personal satisfaction, professional opportunity, and the best ways to thrive in families -- have more to do with being practiced at setting and meeting goals independent of institutional expectations. If one fully submits to a system of education -- allowing a major, classes, grades, etc. to fully take up one's energies and attention -- you can find yourself left high and dry not very far in the future when no one is around telling you what to do and you have to rely on your own abilities to prioritize, gather resources, plan, and make something happen that needs to happen. Each of us must choose individually how and when to be independent and when to submit to structures (which can either liberate us or hold us back). I just fear that too few students can even conceive of creating their own educational goals, let alone make time for them. Institutions work until they don't. But you sound like the sort of student who makes good on every opportunity to customize her own education, and you've learned to find the teachers and courses that allow you to thrive.
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