Once again I interrupt my reflections on responsibility and choice in the classroom. The interruption is caused by a student journal entry I just read this morning. She wrote: "My philosophy professor realized the stuff we have been learning for the past two weeks is not any material that going to be on our test so I just believe I learned something that isn't important and that I will never use. What a waste. It's not just the two weeks. It's that this is such an unnecessary class for what I want to be. I mean, let's get real. It has nothing to do with my biology major any more than do some of my other classes. And to boot, my advisor agrees with me and told me he doesn't know why we are required to take this useless Core stuff. And, this course is supposed to mean something to me? I mean why won't someone tell me why I have to waste my time and parents' money taking this useless class?"
Oh, the sins of a credentialing education. Oh, the sins of so often converting our campuses into only white--collar vo-tech schools. Oh, the sins that so many academics believe the same thing. And, don't blame her for these attitudes. She didn't come out from the womb with them; they weren't built into her genetic code. They are a "learned response.". She, like most students and parents, was well taught in it, and she, like most students and parents, learned it well.
Do you think this student is unique? I know she isn't. For me it's a battle I wage every day. But, I ask, if you believe it is your responsibility to address this myopic view of the classroom experience; if you believe in "deep learning," in "life-long love of learning," in a liberal arts foundation found in what we call "the Core," what would you tell this student? I know what I will say to her if she gives me the chance, but first I sent her a copy of a Random Thought I shared way back at the beginning of 1997 titled "Why Do I Have TO Take" and told her to read it before we talk--if she wanted to talk.
Make it a good day
-Louis-
Louis Schmier http://www.therandomthoughts.edublogs.org
Department of History http://www.therandomthoughts.com
Valdosta State University
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