A student’s parents should tell those students what not to say. Unless those students are saying something that is oppressive or harmful to others let them talk. Don’t squash their academic freedom unless they’re being a bigot – bigotry is not a freedom, it’s a character defect.

I totally agree with you. I would find guns on campus a distraction and it would definitely lower my ability to learn and retain material. Students would feel on edge constantly, it wouldn’t make anyone feel safe. that’s not the way you want a classroom environment to feel. Professors would also be on edge – there would be a lot of negative repercussions to having guns on campus.

The title of your post brought me here. It is something I always ask myself and that pushes me to learn more. I think that will drive you too to keep improving.

Good point Francisco. I think that difference between knowledge creation or learning and “technical” preparation is important. Sometimes they get confused.

Good post! I’ve had similar thoughts. Why will someone memorize countless fictional characters with complicated names but not the material or process they need to implement in class. Is that drive to pursue something that makes them (myself included) passionate about something.

LikeLike

Nice post that I really connect with. This is my third engineering degree and I couldn’t have done it without my musical background. I’ve had so many eureka moments (solving some engineering problem) while practising a piece that I really cannot see myself without my art. Take the art from me and the engineering falls apart. Arts (liberal or performing) and STEM are seen as mutually exclusive vocations in most parts of the world. Men are discouraged from doing anything artsy while women are discouraged from science and math. Hence people end up with lives not lived to its full.

That is somewhat surprising to hear that such a country so independently rich in history could take such a dim view of the role that humanities play. I imagine this is based on an economic focus, but I would not be surprised to see a shift in the future towards a more innovation nurturing curriculum.

Agreed! Students need to be socially, globally, and politically aware. They should also be willing to collaborate with others and be able to integrate the diverse viewpoints brought by others with their own. And yes, teachers should not act as the 'dispensers of knowledge' but they should enter a classroom with an inquisitive mind to learn something in the process of teaching.

Quick sand is visually more to the point than the treading water and putting out fires I envision myself doing in grad school. It would seem that we are the students that are covering new ground upon which to stand firm and it will be interesting to see just what our students think after they survive our teaching!

LikeLike

Oh, I totally agree with you, Amy. We need to move beyond the narrow conceptions of intelligence, learning, education, and academic success. We need to acknowledge that one needs to have EQ as well as IQ in order to live a meaningful life. We need to look as academic success in terms of how well the graduates are doing in life instead of measuring how much money they are making or what grade they are getting in classes. We need to see if student and graduates have the ability and the will to take actions for the good of all.