learning as an experience

During the week three unlecture, Adrian discussed the current state of the educational process at university, and how this process is increasingly becoming devalued in the context of receiving an experience. After some discussion on education as a ‘transaction’ opposed to an ‘experience’, he threw up his arms and said that bearing this in mind, “it’s not your (the students) fault”.

I found this interesting. Part of me very much disagrees with this. For me being 22 years old, I understand that there is next to no point doing anything unless you are passionate about it. Passion will combine with knowledge in order to create something original, and discipline will also form from this combination. I think that it’s not so much a question of fault, but it certainly seems to be question of whether or not we are being fully accountable for our actions. How we choose to educate ourselves is no different.

Part of the problem is, we seem to be making very big decisions from a young age. I believe that being 18 years of age and choosing what you want to do for the rest of your life is no easy task. It took me years of experimentation to be sure of what I wanted to study. Yet there are many students which go to university anyway. They may be going there to make friends, they may be going there because their parents or teachers recommended or forced them to. There almost seems to be this expectation, that somehow the five subjects you choose for VCE will somehow develop the near perfect foundation for your human interests and ambitions, in which a university education will extend upon.

This comes back to the earlier point about being passionate about what you’re doing. Chances are, that if you have no motivation to think creatively, or more importantly, understand how your own personal creative process works, then you are in the wrong degree. On this point alone, it’s a matter of being accountable. I understand that people either have to learn this the hard way, or if they’re lucky, they’ll have supportive parents who are aware of this. But instead, many students seem somewhat pushed towards the degree by an array of invisible forces, that arguably really don’t know much about the beauty of individualism in education.

My own observations from my year and a half at RMIT have been that the students who ask the most questions in class, generally tend to be the most intelligent. The questions they ask lead to statements, and then a discussion. In the professional communications degree, the best students I have worked with were those who voiced their ideas constantly, and used the responses of the people around them to build those ideas and develop them into incredible pieces of work. It seems these students are onto something. The fact that you cannot be taught how to be creative — it is a self-learning process. A process that you must actively engage in order for it to work.

Without sounding self indulgent, I have been aware of this for the last few years of my life, and in return I have been part of some amazing projects. I have never surrendered my agency. I’m always moving forward. I have never once seen the role of the teacher and the student as anything other than an experience. I have never once felt it to be a transaction. I think the relationship between the master and the apprentice is a beautiful thing, which means I get upset if I feel I don’t have a good teacher. Thankfully this has been rare.

If we don’t enjoy what we do in life, our work will near always be subpar. It could have always been better. It just so happens that the people that can spot the difference are usually the people that are at the top of the industry. If you feel like your education is becoming that of a transaction, you need to do something about it. School doesn’t tell you this, and many parents won’t either. It needs to come from you.