There is a great deal written about higher education and its purpose. There are many different perspectives and explanations of what higher education is, and its underlying purpose. Whether you are just starting out on BAPP Arts on the first module, or engrossed in planning or conducting your Professional Inquiry, I though it might be worth giving you three ideas about the attributes that Higher Education might be seeking to foster in students:
1. Independence – I think of this as a ‘stance’ where we (students and teachers) each establish our own voice. This is not simply about opinions, but rather recognises the stances of others and our own responses to those positions. Success in higher education is partly about accessing information and views of others to help form our own understanding especially recognising where others are coming from.
2. Critical Thinking – I think of this as a ‘practice’ where we do not accept any explanations on face value, but explore through questioning the value and meaning of the world around us. This is the practice of keeping an open mind, of questioning what others do and say, and most importantly, challenge our own ideas and views.
3. Self-Discovery – I think of this as a ‘goal’ where we are trying to use our independence and critical skills to educate ourselves. Higher education of course includes aspects of training (being shown how to do things) and has elements of socialisation (fostering particular behaviours) but for me it is more important that we use the opportunity to find out new and deeper things about ourselves, the world, and our place in it.
As you move through your current studies, it might be worth asking:
Am I simply regurgitating existing views on my topic, interest or task, or am I bringing a worthwhile and personally relevant perspective that adds to my understanding?
To what extent am I happy to accept the ideas of others or my own without critically challenging them?
Am I really trying to improve myself and find out new things?
I would really like to hear your views on this … especially if you have other ways of thinking about this. If you are interested, this came out of a Blog response I posted to a Student Blog.
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Hi Alan,
ReplyDeleteI found this post really interesting. I'm just starting out and I think its easy to fall into the trap of plodding along with studies and stating the obvious. This idea of establishing a voice, challenging views and find new things about a subject you thought you knew is a whole new level of thinking - a higher level of thinking. I'm excited to learn and grow my ability to look at my work with a critical and well informed eye...
Ahmet
thanks Ahmet,
Delete'a higher level of thinking' is a good way of thinking about what we are trying to do here. I do think we think in many different ways, cognitively, intuitively, through our bodies in motion and through movement, through the aesthetic stimulation of sounds, smells, sights, sensations. Writing about it is just another way of processing your thinking.
Critical thinking is an area I’m really interested in. From the reader on critical reflection one of the key themes for me have been questioning vs trust. In Western academia critical thinking has been held as the litmus test for legitimacy, so I’m interested in exploring the flip side. One of my current questions on the subject is: if I don’t trust myself (in knowing what I ultimately want, what my standards are…etc.) can I really ever trust anyone externally? Is this why we are so rigorous with our fact checking? How can I trust someone else when I spend 24 hours with me, scrutinize myself and am still fallible?
ReplyDelete“Emulate, don’t Copy” (kind of iroic that I didn’t rephrase that) was one of the Alan-irism’s I took from the campus session. It’s an interesting topic because as an artist, and even blogger, you are limited in your output by copy right. Me and Paula briefly spoke about this subject after the session but would be interested in exploring. Was thinking if I took a picture of an artwork and posted it on my blog would that count as infringement as I don’t own the original rights? What if I took a picture of a picture, of the artwork would that be permissible? Is it just a matter of degrees of separation?
Equally in my dance practice, and wider, I can see how this statement holds true and would personally agree with it. In dance terms I see it time and time again in the commercial hip-hop world, where UK dancers replicate and watch to closely the movement and style of the originators (US) rather than really understanding the fundamentals, grabbing the essence and reformulating it. In the hip-hop battles I’ve seen the UK never does well and I always feel exasperated because if you’re copying someone else your always gona be a poor imitation because they are always one step ahead of you.