Today in an anthropology class I was asked to write about my personal educational philosophy. On the surface, this doesn't seem too tricky. I've gone to school for fifteen years; I should have a pretty good idea of what education is and how I view it.
Wrong.
I felt incredibly challenged, and I asked more questions than I answered. Luckily, my professor has a very interesting educational philosophy herself that allows me to explore and question in such a way.
The next day another professor paid homage to The Silence of the Lambs proclaiming, "Simplicity. Of each particular thing ask: what is it in itself? What is its nature?"
Simplicity. Stripping away the incidentals to discover the principal.
In a way, as I wrote my essay, I was subconsciously trying to get there, to the simplicity of my personal philosophy. I certainly wish these wise words were in the back of my mind to remind me, though.
Sometimes people ask me, "Why Uganda?"
Why?
Because I want to go.
Yet, that doesn't really get to the principal, or does it?
Because I'm curious.
But why?
Because I'm feeling lost here in the Midwest part of the United States and feel like I don't have any perspective of the rest of the world and the people in it.
That sounds selfish. Shouldn't I want to heal the world or save the planet?
I do. But I'm not sure a semester of study in Uganda will achieve these things. Actually, I know it won't. I'm going to Uganda to get educated, in a different way. If I can come home changed, with a wider, more informed perspective, then I have the potential to do a lot more.
People don't need to go to Africa to change the world, but if going to Africa can open one's eyes to the incredible variety of the human experience, I say go. Just don't expect to change the world (right away at least).
Maybe my time in Uganda will help me to understand my own community in a new way so that I may better understand and aid the people I share a zip code with. Maybe I'll start to formulate what I'm going to do with my life. Maybe I'll simply grow a substantial appreciation for indoor plumbing.
I don't really know what's going to happen to me. The important thing is to embrace the experience for what it is. Expectations are deceptive, so I'm trying to keep an open and unformulated mind. Simplicity. It's new to me, but I know it's important.
In the end, my reflection essay was basically a mess, but that's ok. I'm learning, in my own way.
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It is difficult for me to begin to pinpoint my own educational philosophy, but even more difficult is that after fifteen years of formal education, I cannot specifically say that I have one. Professor Oka told my International Development studies class, “Education matters if you can use it as capital.” I believe this is a very valid statement when concerning the merits of formal education and its goals: to give knowledge and perspective so that its beneficiary can have the tools to make a living and hopefully contribute positively to the world. However, I do not believe formal education is the only type of education, and I think it encompasses much more than a job or career path.
Education comes in many forms and from many places. Teachers are not alone. Parents, family members, peers, friends, elders, and even small children can often be the most formative instructors of ‘education.’ This leads me to the question, what is education, and what does it mean to be ‘educated?’ There are many things to be educated about, and for many reasons are people educated.
Notre Dame’s mission statement has a particularly interesting take on education:
“The University seeks to cultivate in its students not only an appreciation for the great achievements of human beings, but also a disciplined sensibility to the poverty, injustice, and oppression that burden the lives of so many. The aim is to create a sense of human solidarity and concern for the common good that will bear fruit as learning becomes service to justice."
I have to admit, in some ways this confuses me. What does it actually, concretely mean, and what are its practical implications? Theoretically, it sounds very noble, but is it feasible? At this point I am still trying to figure that out.
In essence, I am still floundering about. I don’t quite know my educational philosophy because at times I feel the things I learn outside the formal classroom setting are far more valuable and worthwhile than those picked up between the hollow cinderblock walls of a school building. In a way, it leads me back to a very substantial question: why are we here in the first place? Are we formally educated to find work? Are we supposed to work to live, or vice versa? And, how do all of these things relate to the emotions, feelings, and power of the overall human experience? What does “human experience” even mean?
I truly think that education is supposed to enhance the experience of being human, but sometimes it seems more prohibitive than anything else. It feels like a battle between the formal and informal aspects of education, and it consequently forms a bit of a contradiction. Formal education isn’t very forgiving and it provides nothing unconditionally. Informal education can be incredibly personally rewarding, but it is generally not appreciated on its own in terms of capital and economic value.
So, what is my educational philosophy? I’m not quite sure, but this question certainly gives me a great deal to think about so that I may begin to form a more structured opinion.
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It is difficult for me to begin to pinpoint my own educational philosophy, but even more difficult is that after fifteen years of formal education, I cannot specifically say that I have one. Professor Oka told my International Development studies class, “Education matters if you can use it as capital.” I believe this is a very valid statement when concerning the merits of formal education and its goals: to give knowledge and perspective so that its beneficiary can have the tools to make a living and hopefully contribute positively to the world. However, I do not believe formal education is the only type of education, and I think it encompasses much more than a job or career path.
Education comes in many forms and from many places. Teachers are not alone. Parents, family members, peers, friends, elders, and even small children can often be the most formative instructors of ‘education.’ This leads me to the question, what is education, and what does it mean to be ‘educated?’ There are many things to be educated about, and for many reasons are people educated.
Notre Dame’s mission statement has a particularly interesting take on education:
“The University seeks to cultivate in its students not only an appreciation for the great achievements of human beings, but also a disciplined sensibility to the poverty, injustice, and oppression that burden the lives of so many. The aim is to create a sense of human solidarity and concern for the common good that will bear fruit as learning becomes service to justice."
I have to admit, in some ways this confuses me. What does it actually, concretely mean, and what are its practical implications? Theoretically, it sounds very noble, but is it feasible? At this point I am still trying to figure that out.
In essence, I am still floundering about. I don’t quite know my educational philosophy because at times I feel the things I learn outside the formal classroom setting are far more valuable and worthwhile than those picked up between the hollow cinderblock walls of a school building. In a way, it leads me back to a very substantial question: why are we here in the first place? Are we formally educated to find work? Are we supposed to work to live, or vice versa? And, how do all of these things relate to the emotions, feelings, and power of the overall human experience? What does “human experience” even mean?
I truly think that education is supposed to enhance the experience of being human, but sometimes it seems more prohibitive than anything else. It feels like a battle between the formal and informal aspects of education, and it consequently forms a bit of a contradiction. Formal education isn’t very forgiving and it provides nothing unconditionally. Informal education can be incredibly personally rewarding, but it is generally not appreciated on its own in terms of capital and economic value.
So, what is my educational philosophy? I’m not quite sure, but this question certainly gives me a great deal to think about so that I may begin to form a more structured opinion.
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til next time.
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