Academia
What is it about academia that they want to abstract everything? Why are there so many abstract articles and books that are incomprehensable for normal people? I hate it when I discover a needlessly abstract article on a nice subject.
Boring stuff
I went once to a dutch academic institution for a computer science study. They began the study with lots and lots of the most abstract math and learning you many abstract programming techniques with little real world connections. When do you really need to calculate a sinus by hand? As I look back they weren’t preparing you to be a good programmer. They made it as abstract as possible. It was like they wanted to proof they were an academic study. There were no fun assignments and there was no inspiration. They wanted to filter the people that could go through boring stuff.
I still speak to friends that have chosen the academic road. They have to study hard through thick books and get little to no real life practical knowledge… Why do so many people accept so much abstract knowledge? (It is common here in Holland that many students enjoy life a bit more and add more years to their study) Half of the knowledge is forgotten after the study in the hope that the essence will remain after practical experience. But reality often teaches you much quicker…
Mind sucking abstractions
Well I know some abstractions are essential and in some studies it cannot be avoided. But information could be presented a lot easier and with a lot more fun. There are other methods than dull books. Not everybody learns best by extracting structures of knowledge out of text and boring presentations…
Academic institutions mostly fail to inspire people… They create people that can delve through complicated information and can solve certain problems but it fails mostly on creating people with a vision. By their abstractions it leaves little room for creativity and or alternative thinking… Just because people are first ‘brainwashed’ by lots of knowledge and authority of the past. They become zombies of current educational authorities.
But well, our whole society is based on it. You get the highest prestige if you studied at an academic institution. Many people want to get to that spot and want to go through the
trouble of learning big abstractions.
Past vs Future learning
Academia are a thing of the past. It consisted of people who wanted to make their terrain of knowledge important. Teachers wanted to hold their fame by abstracting their knowledge. Let’s make education open and democratic!
We do not need abstract books and dull self centered professors….
I think the whole educational system needs a rethink. We need to switch to self-exploring learning fast. We need people with vision and creativity. We need people that love what they do. We need people that love to explore the boundries of our knowledge. We need people that can share information quickly and clear. We need people that can inspire others!
Lets make our knowledge comprehendable and inspiring for everybody!
Related this site:
The new learning: Andragogy
Related offsite:
h3h.net: The tired pretense of academia
Ted Talks: Sir Ken Robinson - recommend watch
Andrew Said,
August 3, 2006 @ 15:12
I disagree completely.
Too much emphasis is placed on “learning fast” and “practical knowledge.” If that’s your thing, fine - that’s what career colleges are for. That’s their niche.
Universities are for “pie in the sky” dreaming, learning how to learn, and learning how to assimilate and understand seemingly disparate pieces of information to create a new, third body of knowledge.
It’s a failing of the current social thought that University is where you go to “learn stuff you need to get a job.” It’s not. It’s to learn how to advance the field you study, and to do that you need to understand the underlying theory behind it. CS is a wierd example for many reasons, not the least of which is that the field by it’s nature is practical - figuring out how to implement something on a computer. It’s the same with biology, physics, any of the “wet” sciences.
Where academia really shines is in disciplines like philosophy, music, literature - any of the liberal arts, really.
Jurriaan Mous Said,
August 3, 2006 @ 16:04
Yes you are right.
I tried to combat the feeling that is indeed so common in current society. That universities are the place to learn a certain practice as some think. This feeling was the basis of the article and it got some focus off the main point of universities…
Universities should indeed be about advancing current knowledge. But I think that many ways are antiquated. Many knowledge is based on age old abstract structures and I think it is time for some rethinking of those structures from a practical view. People are already ‘brainwashed’ into those structures before they can decide themselves. Many times overlooking the foundations of those knowledge. Too many knowledge is based on text and many of it can be translated to simpler forms with current media.
With faster learning I meant faster understanding. Seeing structures faster, seeing faster what is right or wrong about current theories. To learn faster people need motivation and inspiration that is often missing from the exact studies.
And indeed, it seems to work best for philosophy, music and literature. Because those are done in their natural language and inspiration is the main point there. But the exact and social fields of study needs some rethinking I think.