“Why should we come if the content of the lectures is irrelevant?”
Ooh, ouch!
I actually sat in the lecture hall, eyes darting, trying to spot the student who asked this question; hoping that I would see someone red in the face with a sunken posture, hoodie pulled over their head, forehead doused in sweat…
There was no one of the sort.
Adrian’s response was what, I think, we all needed to hear. I left that lecture feeling somewhat uplifted- an eye opener.
Today with modern education, there is such a strong belief in the relationship between economics and university. Too often we expect that University is a one-way transaction; assuming that lectures and tutorials are for us to take and the lecturer to give. I can understand how some students could come to this conclusion, given the amount of money we have to fork out for our education. However, University is a privilege. It is not an automatic right, as Adrian expressed.
Adrian also touched on the difference between VCE and the current course. He mentioned that some students would struggle without the ‘scaffolding’ built up, taught and learnt throughout high school- the conventional way to write and express through essays, for example. I found this to be true, particularly for myself. I am very much comfortable writing countless essays compared to the tech-savvy outlet of a blog. But, I am trying.
I guess the biggest eye opener for me was Adrian’s comparison between learning and knowledge. They are not the same. Information is delivered; it is factual. Knowledge, on the other hand, is constructed. An individual can be presented with a wealth of information. But until he chooses to do something with it; to rework it and reconstruct it, knowledge is constructed.
So, Education is an experience, not a commodity. And learning happens when I decide to remake things for myself.
Touché!