This extraordinarily informative module on the emergence of the visual and evolution of the transference of knowledge has sparked a lot of ideas within me, but two stand out more than anything else: Capitalism and Education.
It may not seem like it, but right now around the world these two things are influencing the very nature of text and the epistemologies that lay at the core of our beings. I’m not sure about how old most of you in this class are, but I get the feeling that it has been a long time since formal education has served the best interests of the students AKA its customers which is… plainly speaking, to educate people about things that have a direct impact on their lives. In his book New Work Order (2006), James Gee chalks this educational negligence up to the impact of the industrial revolution on education. During the industrial revolution fat cats and politicians realized that in order to improve efficiency and enhance production that mass-education was a necessity. At this time, the late 1700s, this was very true and education did indeed make a very positive impact on economies in many countries. However, some 200 odd years later this is still the way that we deliver education. In Michael Wesch’s (2007) video illustrating the plight of today’s students, we can see how students are thrust through the educational assembly line, learning things that have little to no impact on their lives. This modern education system leaves these students with crippling students loan debts, wastes their precious time and youthful years, and doesn’t even do what it sets out to do in the first place which is to prepare them for their future careers.
A lot of people say “well this is just the way the public school system is, but once those students get into university they can specialize in things that interest them.” However, Wesch shows us that it is ironically, and maybe even criminally, these university institutions that are doing this! I wrote just the other day in our class’s Town Square chat about how I was disgusted with many of the GRAD SCHOOL LEVEL classes that I am currently taking. Recently, UBC has opted to offer a great deal of their graduate courses as online courses, and in many cases you can (and are encouraged to) complete all of the coursework in half the time. Now, you can complete your Masters of Education in less than a year! What a great deal! But who is it a great deal for? I would imagine that a lot of young people would say “great! Now I can get a job sooner with my new degree!” However, the reality is, as Micha Yurchenko points out (2018), that:
- Unemployment is rampant and very few degrees guarantee getting a shot at the few employment options that are available with more post-secondary educated people than ever working at cafes and manual labour jobs that don’t even require a degree in the first place.
- Automation is replacing the jobs that they are training for (eg. accountants) at alarming rates.
- Even if they get a job, they will spend the rest of their lives paying off thousands, tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of dollars of students debts.
So, who is benefiting from the current education system? For the most part, private companies! Let’s not forget many universities and educational institutions are also private companies. What do they have to gain by making education actually educate people by making class sizes smaller, encourage more slow learning, contemplation and critiquing of educational contents? Nothing. What do they have to lose? Likely their entire businesses.
This brings us to the key issue put forth in module 4 which is the breakout of the visual and the multimodal. Johnson and Kendrick (2017) at UBC demonstrated with ESL learners that multimodal approaches to learning language and meaning making are not only highly effective but also incredibly appropriate for the current technological age within which we live. However, as identified by the New London Group (1996), Kress (2010), Cope and Kalantzis (2015), Gee and many more, there is one major challenge to adopting multimodal approaches for education and knowledge transference, it is too time-intensive and difficult to design, implement, and evaluate. Perhaps in the future as we experiment more with new technologies and multimodal ways of meaning making it will become easier to do these things, and indeed in some places like the New York Schoolboard it already has (http://artsassessmentforlearning.org/), but it remains unprofitable for most business, *cough, cough* I mean schools, to take progressive steps towards multimodality and properly paced education.
References:
Cope, Bill; Kalantzis, Mary (2015). “‘The Things You Do to Know: An Introduction to the Pedagogy of Multiliteracies.’ pp.1-36 in A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Learning By Design, edited by B. Cope and M. Kalantzis”
Gee, J. P., Hull, G. A., & Lankshear, C. (1996). The new work order: Behind the language of the new capitalism. Boulder, Colo: Westview Press.
Johnson, L., & Kendrick, M. (2017). “Impossible is nothing”: Expressing difficult knowledge through digital storytelling. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 60(6), 667–675.
Kress, Gunther (2010). Multimodality: A Social Semiotic Approach to Contemporary Communication. New York: Routledge.
The New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures.Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), 60-93. doi:10.17763/haer.66.1.17370n67v22j160u
Michael Wesch (2008). A Vision of Students Today. Retrieved July 25, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o
Yurchenko, M. (2018, January 04). Why Are So Many Millennials Are Unemployed? Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/why-are-so-many-millennials-are-unemployed_us_5a4dc047e4b06cd2bd03e4b3
wendyl
July 30, 2018 — 8:37 am
Adam, I think I’ll mark you down as undecided, teehee. Your thoughts are refreshing and relevant. It reminded me of that infamous bar scene in Good Will Hunting where Will steps in to save his buddy from embarrassment from the pompous ass . . . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMD2vUErcYU
WILL: See the sad thing about a guy like you is in about 50 years you’re gonna start doing some thinking on your own and you’re gonna come up with the fact that there are two certainties in life. One, don’t do that. And two, you dropped a hundred and fifty grand on a f*&%^*n’ education you coulda got for a dollar fifty in late charges at the Public Library.
CLARK: Yeah, but I will have a degree, and you’ll be serving my kids fries at a drive-thru on our way to a skiing trip.
WILL: [smiles] Yeah, maybe. But at least I won’t be unoriginal.
This scene dates back to 1997. Fast forward 20 years and an internet connection could deliver the education, without the late fees. The economic model has not changed much, however.
It is a sad fact that there are many stupid educated people. I think it is also safe to say that the majority of us in this program are here to achieve our future employment goals and aspirations primarily and to learn something secondarily. That is a pretty harsh and cynical statement, but not untrue. We have been conditioned by the times we live in. The purpose of education is economic and the machine that drives it is bottom line focused.
What I am encouraged by, however, is the multimodal reality of our world. There is no escaping it, and slowly but surely teachers are beginning to deliver their instruction in ways that encourage this divergent thinking. The human mind is associative and the internet is a perfect conduit for making those connections and for building on innovative ideas. Had you told me 20 years ago that there would be a profitable new career out there whose job description it was to influence impressionable consumers to purchase and consume choice products, I would have told you that you were crazy. The concept of selling out to the man was too firmly entrenched as a negative, ethically questionable motivation culturally. Not so today. Influencers, private citizens who have social media savvy, and plenty of followers, are happy to flog product for personal gain. Marketing has changed vastly. I’m still a little appalled by it, but more so because of my age, and my perspective I think. That doesn’t make it less real or valid. How does this apply to education? I’m not sure. I do think we are poised for a vast overhaul however and the evolution of text technologies will be front and centre to how we learn in the future.
adam sheard
August 10, 2018 — 10:25 pm
Wendy! Thank you so much for such a great response! I really enjoyed reading your post with your wonderful example of Good Will Hunting! As someone who really enjoys consuming visual media your example really spoke to me. It was also delightful to hear about your positive approach in regards to where education is heading these days. I have witnessed a few educators taking more multimodal approaches to their classes and I look forward to seeing more in the future! Just as your example really spoke to me, I feel like an increase in multimodal approaches will help more learners succeed in the future and be happier with their learning processes.
sally bourque
July 30, 2018 — 11:34 am
Hi Adam and Wendy,
I can’t agree more whole heartedly with this perspective. Working in Higher Education in recent years I have been uneasy with the hypocrisy behind statements like “It’s always for the students.” when clearly there are many agendas at play in the business of education.
I think there is a problem accessing knowledge about the kinds of jobs available in society right now. So often I hear about an interesting niche job and wonder “How would you ever know to look for such a job.”, much less pursue training or skills to become qualified for it. Often, people have stumbled upon these interesting jobs quite by accident. Gone are the days when there were only a handful of professions to consider.
The concept of multi-literacies is in-line with the changing ecology and economies of the world. It certainly broadens epistemology. One of my co-workers is redesigning a business course at our school right now, and one of the requirements of the course is to use an adding machine. Because adding machines were common several years ago, she is trying to interpret the reasoning behind having to experience using one in the program today, and what an equivalent (and perhaps more relevant) alternative experience might be. Unfortunately, because of the systems in place (some of which are antiquated) it can sometimes be difficult to make sensible decisions like replacing or eliminating the “Adding machine” requirement in a course that hasn’t been officially reviewed for a few years. The structure and systems in place for education are vast, and it is difficult to change them, though we recognize they need to be updated.
Your point about how time intensive multimodal approaches are important considerations. Another school that’s challenging the status quo of education is Alt School. Interestingly, this article about Alt School, is designed using mainly visuals with the text interspersed more like a caption. (also, as you scroll down, the ads make it seem like the end of the “article” but it’s not…keep scrolling!) The school costs $20,000 per year but appears to be extremely constructivist, individual focused, and offers a variety of modalities for learning. (Robinson, 2017) At $20, 000 a year, capitalism plays a role in access to this school.
Wendy, I love that quote from “Good Will Hunting”, it resonated with me years ago and I’ve always remembered it. I too am encouraged by the unavoidableness of the multimodal world. I think, though the institution of education is well entrenched, it will unavoidably have to change eventually.
Speaking of multimodal, I sure wish there were more word processing options in the replies for this blog!
References
Robinson, M. (2017, May 3). Silicon Valley billionaires are sick of normal schools — so they’ve created this one. Retrieved from Business insider: https://www.businessinsider.com/altschool-silicon-valley-new-school-2017-5#if-silicon-valleys-favorite-elementary-school-has-its-way-personalization-will-remainking-27
adam sheard
August 10, 2018 — 10:32 pm
Sally! Thank you for the wonderful response! It is so funny that you mention people finding jobs that seem to be so niche-oriented that you wonder how they even found that job. I am really curious about that as well, and in knowing many friends who are currently jobless (who are in their 30s or 40s) in this economy featuring a constant decrease in “regular jobs” and slight increase in these niche jobs I can’t help but feel a sense of frustration for my friends who don’t know exactly what they should do. While I am always tempted to say “just do what you enjoy and things will pan out,” that seems to be a lot easier said than done!
I love that you mentioned ALTSchool as I am a huge supporter of what they do. Ideally the price tag for ALTSchool will go down as more and more people gravitate towards the idea of objective-based education tailored to each students’ abilities, preferences and needs, but in the meantime as long as people continue to support archaic standardized educational systems that continue to assume that everyone is the same we will not see this type of education become accessible for what I would like to call “realistically income-restricted families.”