Marks

How often, comrades, do we reflect on the methods of pedagogy utilized in our classrooms? Are we really empty vessels being imbued with knowledge by our superior and omniscient instructors? That's what I see, and my academic experience has reflected that.


The whole structure of a typical college classroom reflects the notions of us being passive recipients of knowledge.


Hundreds of pawns sit and passively attain information from an all-knowing lecturer. There is little interaction or stimulation, just rote memorization. Although there is less of this at smaller, liberal arts colleges like UNC Asheville, we still have the dreadful humanities lecture.

I, for one, hate, most traditinal methods of education. It's a well-established notion that different learning styles exist, but why do many educators tend to ignore this? Lectures appeal primarily to auditory learners and illustrate Paulo Freire's notion of the banking method of education. But students with other learning styles get left out and must make an extra effort to succeed in classes. Were I not in a seminar/discussion based major like Literature, I would have struggled all the way through college, because the lecture format just does not work for me.

Similarly, libraries are among the most disgusting places to me, or ours at least. Pallid, overheard lighting, uncomfortable chairs, unberable silence, grim, colorless walls, lack of windows, dreary, overworked students. It all feels like some kind of academic concentration camp. If I weren't a writing center consultant, I probably would never go near the place except to check out a book occasionally. I feel the whole structure of the library reinforces the banker ideology.



With the increase in technology, and to that end, the change in institutional pedagogy to adapt and utilize this technology, universities have begun developing next-generation libraries. One of the most prominent is Grand Valley State University's Mary Idema Pew Library. Take a look:



This seems infinitely more appealing to me -- students collaborating and creating knowledge together instead of mindlessly consuming knowledge in silent contemplation, a much healthier and social approach. No longer will students merely gaze at text for hours in solitude; they will be more encouraged to work together and share knowledge and ideas in a more organic and beneficial way.

Our approach to education merely needs to be reshaped to something more collaborative and interactive. When we students become more involved in the acquisition of knowledge in the classroom,we benefit much more greatly in the long run. If more classes reflected the multi-modal approach HON 479 offers, maybe college classes wouldn't seem like such a bore.