Some positives this week!
While I often speak about the apathy and indoctrination of many young people, particularly those I work with, this week I have some glimmers of hope to share.
I speak to a number of parents outside the usual systems, and their children are often very independent and able to think for themselves, but the young people I work with can be much more compliant - and complacent - about the world.
This week though has been interesting; as you can imagine we have a very indoctrinated workforce in academia, and the lectures they deliver are often about ‘decolonising the curriculum’, or ‘feminism in art’ for instance. The students are nudged to explore topics or work that fits in with this agenda, and / or meets some of the criteria that academia now also demands. Covering topics such as sustainability (a very vague term that could be applied to plenty of areas in a student career, but really is another phrase for ‘Climate Emergency’ in this instance), mental health and the old favourite - inclusion.
The particular cohort I work with finally stood up for themselves and complained.
I was very proud!
No coercion from me - (apart from my classes being about thinking laterally and questioning their creative practice) - I certainly don’t think I can take credit for their small rebellion.
One student complained to me that they aren’t learning ‘anything about the subject they came to study, with some tutors’ and another said ‘lecturers are wasting our time with things we have been told all through school, and are very bored of now’.
The complaints have been sent to the head of department - I’ll keep you posted. I suspect there will be some smoke and mirrors from the staff in question to try and gloss over this. They are still very much on script, and found it hard to believe that students would query such ‘important topics’.
Secondly - a student in their final year was speaking to the cohort I mainly work with - it was supposed to be a bit of a ‘what I’d tell myself if I was in your shoes’ type of thing.
Half way through, they stopped to rant about being railroaded in their dissertation by a tutor to discuss ‘sustainability in design’. The student continued, saying ‘and we are all sick of being told the world is ending and is our fault’ to nods of agreement around the studio - they then explained that they wrote about what they wanted to instead, which was how drawing helps younger children hone their fine motor skills. Much better topic in my opinion!
The student explained that while some tutors are there to help, others are ‘there to push an agenda’, and to stand up for yourself when finalising your projects. I nodded along in places. Very diplomatic - but inside I was cheering them on! The students kept looking at me to see if I would say anything. I didn’t, and just smiled throughout, thanking the student at the end for her excellent discernment and insight.
We left it at that.
This might not seem a huge step - but believe me, it’s massive, when working where I work. To not be ‘on script’ with all 500+ staff and students, walking in lockstep, is an interesting turn of events!
Finally - and very pertinent to my examples above - a Guerrilla Ed parent sent me a link yesterday, to this podcast. It’s brilliant (and thank you to that person for sending it to me!) - it’s with a really articulate young man who is seeing things very clearly. I urge you to listen. Coupled with the conversations I’m having with some of our students in University I had a positive feeling about things this week.
Of course there is a massive hill to climb in Education (and everything else). We have to take the wins where we can though and look for more ‘good news’ stories - these kind of things keep me motivated to do what I am doing.
I hope it does the same for you :)
Some links to resources to explore this weekend:
Guerrilla Ed - Sarah is doing an excellent job covering a range of topics, and is determined that parents rescue their children.
Not only lessons, but advice about home educating - from how to handle the paperwork and officials - to creating a schedule for your kids.
There are workshops, debates, talks and online meet-ups on the platform for parents and children - and new content added all the time (including some creative material from HatchEd!)
Hannah Frankman podcast - founder of Rebel Educator - she hosts the Hannah Frankman podcast interviewing educators, and graduates of non-mainstream education experiences.
Kerry McDonald - She’s the author of ‘Unschooled’ and hosts the LiberatED podcast.
Snap - Free resource to get kids started with coding - and for older kids there is Code Academy. I used to recommend Scratch, but that appears to have gone down the route of many institutions (it’s founded by MIT) and I have no doubt Snap will eventaully go the same way.
Stay tuned though as I have some news about this in the next few months!
Have a great weekend - thank you for reading, it’s always appreciated - and I’ll see you back here next week! 🙂
“The tutor behind HatchEd was pivotal in my learning journey, guiding me through the creation and design of my first website. Her hands-on approach made learning enjoyable and directly applicable to the challenges one faces in the real world. Her insights were also crucial in helping me make informed decisions about the next steps in my education. I wouldn't be a Product Designer if not for her invaluable guidance”
Rona Marin-Miller, Designer and Parent.