Why do we have schools? To educate! Of course. That must be it, but if you peel back a couple of the layers and discover that Columbus really didn't discover 'America.'
We assume many things we are taught to be true. Columbus is only the outer layer of half-truths we are indoctrinated with. More information can be found by clicking on the title OR just google, education capitalism. This is not always the case, but seems to be pretty prevalent at the University of Florida.
The reason I say all this is because this class seems more like job training than a educational experience. Just like many other classes, we are supposed to fulfill a certain amount of requirements to get a certain grade. That seems to be the main focus and it is up to the student to make it something more.
Sure we are learning, but why do we need to learn how to complete a business proposal? I was excited about this course based on James C. Oliverio introduction to Digital Worlds, but my experience has turned sour. Maybe virtual environments just isn't the thing for me...
Anyone know much about modern-day train hopping? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQcxnKC5V4Y&feature=related)
5 comments:
Thank you for your comments, Bryan.
As Arturo and myself spent countless hours preparing to teach this class, one of the things we did was to consider the outcomes we desired in our students? How did we want them to think differently? What skills did we want them to acquire? What products should they produce?
One of the things we decided to do was to blend a real-world team work environment with research based outcomes. Learning to make a business proposal is an important part of that because that is what you do in the real world. You make business proposals in order to get corporate funding for your ideas. Moreover, you will not receive grant money in graduate school unless you learn how to write a good business proposal. So writing the proposal was not just a part of getting a grade. It was an integral part of what this course was about.
The blog and face-to-face participation were other carefully considered parts of our course. Communication is crucial in any professional development scenario, as is the cross-disciplinary fertilization that comes from sharing ideas with others from different backgrounds and cultures. As a result, the blog and face to face portions were included to help facilitate that process.
I could go on, but I think you probably realize by now that every part of this class was designed to produce certain outcomes in you guys, the students, and in the products you all produced.
Whether or not grades are relevant or useful measures of achievement really isn't my concern in this course. What is my concern is that as much as possible I tie the grades to meaningful outcomes for my students -- Something that I have obviously failed to do in your case. And for that, I am very sorry.
Bryan,
If college doesn't train you for employment (even if research is where you plan on residing), you're in BIG trouble! I have taught a course in the College of Journalism for many years that takes all the work they've done in their other courses and then applies it to "real-world" scenarios. I can't tell you how many students have corresponded with me, post-grad, grateful that they had gotten that experience as they found it invaluable in a. GETTING a job and b. SUCCEEDING in that job.
There's a fine balance between knowledge gained, and then being able to apply that knowledge in practical ways. One is somewhat useless without the other and is a bridge often failed in academia.
That said, I also think that as we've often heard from Dennis and Arturo, we often learn most from our failures. It may take a while to show up, but each experience gives us another perspective that will often pop up as an "aha!" moment later down the road.
my two cents worth...
It is true that a lot of what passes for education is in fact indoctrination of one sort or another. Try Kansas:-)
That is why I prefer collaboration as a way to educate myself by listening to what others have to say and by being very proactive in informing myself and sharing with others about the world we live in.
Since I was a little child I knew that Columbus did not "discover" America, simply because I liked to read everything I could get my hands on, unimpeded by outside or internal restrictions. And the contradictions made it even more interesting. I learned to make up my own mind and still be open to different POV's.
I know others have responded from an academic point of view so I don't need to expand on that. But my question is, since when job training, playing games, cooking or flying a kite is not "education"?
You can go as deep or as superficial as you wish in terms of education, when you simply look around, taste or smell things, find and compare patterns in nature and many other modalities of education that I don't need to mention here.
My personal preference is the heuristic experience. I like to solve problems by thinking about them, by comparing my experience in one field to inform another.
A basketball player could, if he/she wishes, apply the learned and embedded knowledge that the muscles have acquired through practice and direct experience, to have insights and solve problems involving gravity, elasticity, parabolas and almost any other thing imaginable that "experts" in their field might not even consider.
I know not many people do that and remain inside their boxes. I like to encourage my students to crack that box open and look to the scary world outside.
What you're experiencing is a very common part of the educational process. The time of the process where you begin to realize the educational Utopia you dreamed of as a highschooler is not what actually happens in college. That moment where sitting around a lounge discussing philosophy meets with that nasty electric bill. This is the time when a young student realizes that everything the profs have told them about liberal living and socialist societies are highly suspect as you haven't yet to see a homeless person living with any of your profs that insist we must help others. Maybe it's just anthropologists that get that last one.
The cold hard truth is this. You are not in college to "learn", you are here to learn how to keep up with a rapidly changing world in which you need not only the practical information about your field, but you also need to know how to find that information. Why do we write research papers - to show we CAN find information and condense it to a readable format. Why do we take test - to show that we are able to understand complex information. Why are we forced to take classes we have no interest in - so that we can prove we are able to work outside the box.
Once you reach college - you need to have some sort of career in mind - or at least and idea of what you think you'd like to do. college gives you a chance to explore different fields, while giving you the information you need to succeed in them. Honestly - if I was simply here to learn, I'd be wasting my time. I am here to met the requirements of the job I want to have one day, and I'm here so I can know the information I need to get that job and keep it. I can read all by myself - I do not need someone to tell me to read something. I do not need someone to teach me to write a paper. What I need is the down and dirty info - the connections, and those letters of reccomendation.
I think the problem is, that people do not realize that a 4 year school is merely a more prestigious form of trade school, a form which allows you time to explore your options, and time to broaden your mind in a controlled setting.
And yes, it is up to the student to make it something more - just like everything in life. You get what you give. In a relationship - if you only spend 1 day a month with your "friend" you will lose that friend, or have a loose relationship. If you only do what is required of you in your career, you will not advance. If you do not put in effort to experiement and research options - you will continue to do the same things over and over. That is the way this world works.
Learning takes place in preschool, elementary school, and middle school. High school is about getting you ready to go to college or ready for your job. College is about getting you ready for a better paying job. It is a rough place to be, I understand. I reached that point as a Junior in Undergrad. So I spent a summer shoveling dog feces, giving injections to animals, taking rectal temps, bathing them, giving them Lyme-Sulfa Dips, pickign fleas out of my hair, and being thrown up, shat upon, and peed on as a rule. I happily returned to college in the Fall, ready to write, read, and kiss anyone's butt I needed in order to get my degree. I suggest that you can learn anything you like on your own time - you are here to get the skills you need for a career (or to make your Mom happy). I know this has been harsh - but learning this lesson is harsh and there is really not too many ways to put it.
I want to start off by saying this is the best part of the class I've experienced, the responses that is.
There's a great book I just read that gave me a different idea of what education should be, not just a preparation for a job or the 'real world.' Education and the Significance of Life by Krishnamurti.
I don't want to be turned into a good little worker, with the hope of one day being able to do what I ultimately want to do. This reminds me too much of slavery. This also leads me to what I think is a more accurate title for jobs, wage slavery.
What we as human beings are capable of doing is so much more, but the direction we have gone in has been dominated by those with economic interests at the top of the list of their priorities.
There are places and times where people have lived happily with the basic necessities: food, water, and shelter. They may have actually lived happily with the basic necessities. If you don't believe me there's a pretty good explanation in the book titled, Ishmael. I am not advocating to go back to the cavemen and cavewomen days, but I think there's a great need to focus on the wellbeing of our environment, the people around us, and ourselves. There is the opportunity to incorporate technology into simple living. An example of this is Earthships.
It seems now we are more focused on things we want to buy and trends, without considering the cost to environment, the people's extremely low wages who make these things, and whether or not we really need these things.
What is after going to school to get a job? A mid-life crisis? Bliss? Why is it that the United States of America has one of the highest rates of suicide? Why do we have people who find going postal as the best option?
I believe there's much more than going to school to get a job. There's soooo much more to do and see. This, traveling and dreaming, doesn't see feasible when we are acting as individuals. If there was a community that was interested in other's interests just as much as their own, this traveling and dreaming would be much more feasible.
There's a small population in this world that seem to agree to some extent. They have created living arrangements that are called intentional communities. There are many different types. Of course the peace-love ones, the ones Dennis likes, AND some that cost no less than $200,000 to join.
This is where human capability can be realized, where people can work together to realize a common goal. This is in contrast to the rat race we live in, mainstream America. Someone can focus on what they would like to do, while also being a part of the community. Not being limited by having children or having to pay an electric bill. The community provides free childcare and free electric. There's much more than the free ride... and not all intention communities offer this.
If you are curious here's an online directory of these communities: http://directory.ic.org/
What do you hope to do with your piece of paper (degree)? What do you really want to do, not related or less related to electric bills and the 'real world?'
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