Add a Pinch of Yang, Stir, and Let Simmer

The issues that the students in the Introduction to Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University present are telling and compelling, for their video “A Vision of Students Today” highlights how the college student perceives his or her higher education. A university or college represents the place where students should encounter their greatest life experiences, learn how to make the world a little better every day, be able to reach out to those less fortunate, and acquire skills so that he or she will use to stand above the rest at career fairs and job interviews. These are just a few of the numerous benefits of higher education, yet the questions raised here are: “Do students learn these things? Are they prepared? At what cost?” After watching the video “A Vision of Students Today,” I find a need for balancing the tools used to teach students these lessons, for while technology is an essential part of education in this generation, unrestricted and improper use poses just as great a threat as not utilizing it at all. Essentially, I feel that there is an imbalance between traditional and technological lecture, too much yin and not enough yang, and that correcting it produces the most thorough and beneficial education for the student.

The first point I highlight begins with the insightful question: “If students learn what they do, what are they doing sitting here?” I myself have often wondered the same thing: “Am I forming a deep understanding of the material or am I just memorizing it? After semester’s end, will I still remember it or will it fade to the deep recesses of my mind as a result of simple yet ineffective memorization?” Typically I find that while I may memorize, I am not actually actively learning. How does the information relate to me and my life? If I can answer this question I surely understand its significance. If I am engaged in the material I understand and learn. For example, if I am learning of St. Ignatius and his dedication to service, it means little to my life, so the question lies in how his call to service can be made important in to me. How can I come to know the significance of service and how it played such a vital role for St. Ignatius? One way might be to complete service and reflection as a part of the class in which I am learning. Words oftentimes mean little to a student in the classroom, while actions play a much more important part.

The second critical element I have pulled from the video lies in class size, where 115 is the average. For institutions of higher education, one might think that class sizes are actually smaller than most public schools, allowing for deep discussion as well as intellectual and stimulating thought. Many criticize the public education system for having too many children in a class at one time when the class enrollment is around 30. This is 85 fewer students than a typical college course, so my question then is why it is acceptable for classes to be so large in higher education if it is unacceptable for public education. When put this way one realizes that this situation is unacceptable at any school level. One problem that arises with courses of that size lie in the fact that there is a greater chance that students will not grasp the material, but will resort to memorization. Furthermore, they lack the relationship with professors that is so pertinent to successful education, for oftentimes with smaller classes comes increasingly rigorous curriculum, deeper understanding, and a respect for the course that contributes learning. When only 18 percent of teachers know a student’s name, there is inhibited academic performance, for one may not feel obligated to complete readings and other assignments or take them seriously. Of those students who participated in the study only 46 percent of readings are completed and only 26 percent of those readings are relevant to the student which, as has already been noted, is unacceptable.

Finally, my third point reflecting on the film relates most to the class in which I am completing this assignment. The growing presence of technology in the classroom reflects the age in which we are living. Just as the invention of the chalkboard was revolutionary to education in the 1800s, Smart Technology is revolutionary in the 2000s. As classrooms become equipped with this tool it provides an opportunity for new success on a large scale yet seen in our educational system. Technologies like the Smartboard provide new ways of learning by combining the methods of understanding, whether students are visual, aural, kinesthetic, multimodal learners, or prefer to view material in a read-and-write format. However, as is highlighted in “A Vision of Students Today,” technology provides room for distraction. If not used properly, it may not serve any extraordinary purpose as is designed. If the professor only lectures from PowerPoint slides, the technology does little to offer anything more than a written outline of what is being said. I then wonder how it is any different than a traditional lecture. The technology offers so much more. Students may also be distracted by their own hands, for computers serve a prominent role in the classroom, whether they be for taking notes or recording the professor’s material. However, they also provide access to the Internet where sites such as Facebook are open for social purposes rather than a Microsoft Word document to assist learning. Furthermore, when students are focused on these sites, they are not participating in class discussion, and neither are their distracted neighbors. Whether professors decide to limit the technology to their own during class and revert to a more traditional class setting is their decision, but we must recognize the fact that these situations arise daily and that technology does provide a better education. A healthy balance between the two, to be established by the professor, is essential.

Technology is designed to promote greater understanding and active discussion, not disengagement. There must then be a balance between technology and traditional lecture, beginning in Kindergarten progressing through College. Schools of this century should be proactive in providing students with the best possible education, engaging them in meaningful work, forming relationships with the professor to ensure they are being provided the most thorough education, and preparing for a future that might not yet exist through an active engagement with the newest technology. This is the role of the school.