In the United States, striving for independence and maintaining our freedoms remain some of our highest espoused ideals. These values deeply infuse our culture, impact our worldview and influencing our daily actions, in ways that may seem so natural as to be beneath our notice. Even if we do not always agree on what constitutes freedom or the appropriate expression of independence, we tend to nevertheless nearly universally chafe at situations which threaten our sense of individual agency… the given norm. Part of what makes navigating this coronavirus so painful is that we may feel that we lack sufficient control over our lives. That’s hard.
While I am tempted to digress into a philosophical discussion critically examining the concept of “control,” in the midst of this chaotic and uncertain time, it is natural to desire to maintain some semblance of personal power and active choice. So instead, I will encourage you to latch onto an area in your life where you do possess significant agency. What if the quality of your educational journey were primarily up to you?
Some folks enter college with the idea that their professors serve to educate them. Ideally in an entertaining way, or perhaps an earth shatteringly thought-provoking manner. True, some of us are that fabulous. However, this model of the educational experience is based upon the old-fashioned understanding that the job of a professor is to transfer knowledge to their students. In this framework, the task of the student may be to take notes, memorize concepts, parrot information back to the professor. Probably forget it later on. This is what Paulo Freire refers to as the “banking model” of education, in his influential work, Pedagogy of the Oppressed. The professor deposits knowledge, which the students receive and return. Some people actually prefer this standard model, as this approach does not require much thinking or effort, either on the part on the professor or on the part of the student. One can simply go through the routine and “mail it in.”
Bollocks. That is not an education.
Whatever teaching model your professors actually use in their classroom, for your own sake, forget passively expecting the teacher to dump information into your head. Instead, charge into that classroom, even if it’s a virtual space, pro-actively looking to learn. Investigate! Explore! Search! Question! Read and prepare in advance to engage in conversation with your peers about the topics before you. Unpack the concepts. Wrestle with the theories and the practices to which you are being introduced, and decide what you think about them. Develop your own perspective, as you ponder deeply, and allow yourself to be challenged into reflecting in new and different ways. Savor your agency.
What you put into the activity of learning is exactly what you will get out of it. Academia provides you with a basic framework, or outline, which you color in and decorate as vibrantly as you choose. Decide to invest your heart and mind in the process, and I promise you, you will expand your worldview and be changed for the better. You, and only you, have the power and potential to make of your education a transformational experience. You may elect to thoughtfully undertake an enterprise that will shift who you are and how you act in the world. So, whether your instructors are mind-numbingly banal or soul-stirringly riveting, commit yourself to engage. Dive deeply into the material, read all the books and articles. Expand your horizons, by attending additional lectures and events “on” campus, when you still can, or by exploring the plethora of supplemental learning the internet has to offer. Make use of all the resources at your disposal. In other words, intentionally take advantage of opportunities that your professors, various college programs, and the broader world offer for your enrichment. Grab hold of that academic ball, and sprint with it.
Educate yourself.
Things the Professor Cannot Actually Say 