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Copyright © 1997, Louis Schmier and Atwood Publishing.
Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 08:37:03 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Random Thought: What Is An Education?
A few weeks
ago, at the Student Union, some of my students threw a
curve ball at me. As I munched on a doughnut or two or
three, we were talking about the class and how much they
enjoyed it and got out of it. One of the students asked
why I have them do the "stuff" that they do:
the "getting to know ya" exercises, the music
at the beginning of class, the moment of silent
meditation, scavenger hunts, theatrical presentations,
creative writing, abstract drawing, game playing, chain
essays and the like.
"Did you know," she said in a
whisper as if someone was trying to overhear our
conversation, "that some other professors think what
you do is kindergardenish and doesn't belong in a
university?"
"Don't you care what other professors think about
you?" another chimed in.
I told
them that I did, but I care more about what the students
think since I am in what I called "the student
business" and have to be true to myself and my
beliefs. Beside, I added so few of my colleagues really
know what I do because they haven't sat in our class and
observe.
"Would you let them?" another student asked.
Before I
could answer, a third student jumped in, "They won't
because they'd be a guest and would first have to join
'our community' and sing!" Everyone laughed.
Then, came
the pitch. "Seriously," Sheila asked, "in
a nutshell, what do you think an education should
be?"
"That's a hell of a question." I answered.
"A nutshell? I'll need some time to think that one
over. Class time. Gotta go!"
We all got
up as I promised to have an answer by tomorrow. "A
bag of Tootsie Pops for each of us if you don't,"
Charles laughed.
"You're on," I shot back accepting the
challenge.
And, I've
been cursing Sheila since then. What was I going to tell
them. I was having trouble with that nutshell part until
I engaged in a neat exchange on a particular discussion
list. Today, I got the answer I want to give them.
I've
decided to tell them that when I answer their question,
I'm really revealing my values, my character, and
expressing my credo on which are founded my truths and
beliefs, and on which I base my attitudes and actions.
So what's
my credo? As I once told an e-mail colleague, its core is
the value of the individual worth of each human being,
that as an educator, a teacher, I enjoy and serve the
people who have been placed in my path. This value
translates into my techniques, my interaction with
students, my behavior. It a value which indicates my
strongest beliefs, on what I would be unable to
compromise, how I view the worth and capability of other
individuals, how I view my responsibility of treating
students in my daily encounters, which choices I make. I
guess I am revealing who I believe I am; what is my
relationship to others; what I believe about others; what
is my responsibility both to myself and those others.
Fundamentally, I believe that all individuals are
entitleed to respect, care, and deserve my best efforts
to serve them in their needs, their achivement of their
goals, and a deeper understanding and regard for
themselves. To believe otherwise, I would overlook their
worth and create innocent waste. I believe it is my
responsibility to help them find the material to fill the
potholes in their spirit, find the fuel to energize their
ability and light up their understanding of their
potential, help them rise above their own limiting
preconceptions, and challenge their limits. I believe it
my responsibility to do likewise to myself. I have found
that it is those times when my attitudes and actions are
congruent with my values that I draw affirmation, energy,
and fullfilment.
And so,
this is what I will tell those students what I believe an
education is not and what an education is. This nutshell
is going to save me, to their dismay, many a bag of
Tootsie Pops.
I do not
believe an education is a degree. To believe it is, is
probably the greatest weakness in our educational
philosophy. A grade is not a sign of an education. A GPA
is not an education. A curriculum of largely unrelated
classes is not an education. That is, "X"
number of minutes, "Y" number of credit hours,
"Z" number of core and/or major courses do not
constitute an education.
So what do
I believe an education is? I strongly feel that first and
foremost an education must be a transforming and it is
learning to face such growth, development and change. An
education should be getting a license to be endlessly
curious, to continually ask questions, not just getting
the degree for a job. It should be a means of becoming
less self-righteous and inwardly stronger, less arrogant
and more humble. That is, an education is the acquisition
of the ability to listen without losing your cool or
self-confidence. By this particular measure many of us
with many degrees, long resumes, and wide-spread
reputations are not particularly educated. An education
is getting someone to know how much they do not know and
learn how much they have to learn. An education
disciplines rather than just fills the mind; it trains
the mind to use its own powers independently rather than
being dependent on someone else filling it. An education
should develop hearts, not just minds so that people can
live noble lives as well as have productive careers. An
education should be, then, the development of character,
a quest for values, the raising of visions, not merely
the hoarding of facts and honing of skills. It should be
a the creation of a way of life--a way of looking at
people and things--not a problem or an assignment or a
job.
This is
what I am going to tell my questioning students what I
believe an education is not and is, and why they are at
VSU.
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