A collective memory, an awareness, an absence of linearity.

The symposium projected thoughts, ideas and opinions that broke down the relevancy of questions that were discussed and constructed in my tutorial.  Pitched to the cohort, there was a distinct difference when breaking down these questions. For one, when discussing such ideas of hypertext and predictability, we must always understand that these are temporary relationships, working in parts to create an important collection to which we engage, create and immerse ourselves in.

Coming out of VCE last year, Adrian’s discussion of the curriculum of secondary education as an industry in a post-industrial world stood out to me. As someone who took multiple classes that were ‘scaled down’ in my final year (including Studio Arts, Psychology, English and Media), I found myself comparing my desired ATAR figure with success. Ultimately, teachers, parents and fellow students opinions had convinced me that if I didn’t get an X-number result, I wouldn’t have made it to my first preference course at RMIT. Whilst this is the blatant truth, why does this bell-curve system still dictate so strongly in how to educate and measure a students performance?

Educators and individuals alike are starting to realise that tactic and implicit knowledge are learned different, at different rates and through different experiences. Considering the symposium’s discussions moreover, the idea of a hive mentality can also be applied to this consumption- or assumption- that all individuals fit the system and should adapt to fit their part. Yes, our discussion within the symposium highlighted the importance of parts and sharing, but it also beckoned thoughts of questioning such idealogies. After all, how do we ask good questions that result in good, concise answers when we are trained to ignore this natural impulse? Like education, there’s a shift, and us as students of humanities should be hypersensitive to these engagements, instead of being ants happily doing the bidding in systems we may not agree to.