Exploring the purpose and utility of learning

2/7/2014

Visit the website below.

WISE learning library

The website above offers tools and resources on the purpose and utility of education. Write two substantive posts no less than 500-750 words on two of the selected readings from the online library. Use the prompts below to guide your reflections on two readings.

What is the purpose of your education today? How has the utility of education change in your life over time?
Give one or two examples on an educational experience that you participated in or led that gave you a new perspective on something about yourself or the topic.
Describe your philosophy as an educator OR Describe your philosophy as a learner.
Pick 3 major themes from the readings you chose and write about how these ideas relate to your current work in the field of education.

End each post with a few questions you' d like me to answer.

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7 Comments

sajad shakoor

2/28/2014 04:09:27 am

What is the purpose of your education today? How has the utility of education change in your life over time?
The purpose of my education has changed from the time that initially started pursuing it in prison. it has evolved from an intellectual curiosity and a tool necessary for my own edification to a tool that can be used to edify others, communities as a whole. i have evolved in the process also. i am no longer the enthusiastic young man devouring books for personal gain, but a more season man always looking for ways to garner the greatest amount of benefit from the books to help others. Perhaps my new found outlook is a byproduct of something i may have read, something that inspired me to think outside of myself. Perhaps my new found outlook is not so new, but rather, something that was foundational, something that was there awaiting the proper catalyst. Perhaps my new found outlook is not mine, something sourced outside of myself, an intervention from a divine source – which could possibly explain how I am able to work seemingly inhuman hours. Perhaps it is all of these. But whatever it is, I have a new found outlook. Education has changed me as I have changed it, in the sense that I am more discerning about the material I take in. I do more digesting now than devouring, always with an eye out for the healthiest and most beneficial sources. This could be a sign of maturity – youthful exuberance tempered with wisdom, but I am reading the ingredient labels more and making sure that what I ingest will serve to enhance my life – and vicariously, the lives of others – and not be a source of detriment. The shelves nowadays are filled with unhealthy choices that provide all the sweetness and feel-good additives and preservatives, but serve to only clog up our life giving arteries: stifling the creative forces and divergent ideas of communities – especially communities most impacted by bad nutrition polices, those that were kept morbidly obese.
Thus, the utility for me has changed. Education is no longer about me, but rather, about the people. Though I could never feel what a mother feels when she is carrying her baby and watching her intake, or sacrificing her time, sleep and resources in the rearing of the baby, I nonetheless can relate to that sense of urgency and commitment; however, I – at no time – am comparing what I do to the station of motherhood, a station which I believe to be sacred. My point is that commitment to something outside of ourselves changes us, our perspectives and our inclinations.

Prof Crain

3/2/2014 09:50:07 am

Great answer to the initial prompt. You wrote, "Education has changed me as I have changed it, in the sense that I am more discerning about the material I take in. I do more digesting now than devouring, always with an eye out for the healthiest and most beneficial sources" How have you changed education. What about you is different from another student? What changes have you undergone as a person that have allowed you to change as a learner and now as an educator?

As a student at the California Institute for Integral Studies (www.ciis.edu) there were many challenges that impacted by capacity to learn and to teach. I grew from the mistakes I made and the was strengthened by constructive feedback and helpful processes that allowed me to see myself in a deeper way.

Two years ago I had a traumatic experience where one of my students suffered a serious sexual assault. The offender was also a student of mine. This dynamic was emotionally draining for all parties involved - once law enforcement was contacted things got even more complicated. We found out that my student, who was the offender, had been wanted for "hanging around" middle schools and high schools trying to pick up young girls. This SCARED me. Why? Because at any point in the past 8 years I could of have one of these men or women in my class.

I knew this on some level, but when it was put into my face the hard reminder sat with me terribly. This experience informed how I approach students and the boundaries in which I keep and model for the people I work with. While I was healing from this experience and working with my students to heal I asked myself the following questions.

What were the major things I needed to pay attention to as an educator in this circumstance? What was my role in helping them heal? What do I need to do in order to prevent myself from experiencing harm from this situation? How could this situation contribute to my own burnout? How can I sustain my energy and focus regardless of the circumstances that impact my students?

sajad shakoor

2/28/2014 04:10:06 am

Give one or two examples on an educational experience that you participated in or led that gave you a new perspective on something about yourself or the topic
Everything changed when I stepped in front of the white board. Nowadays they have all these fancy “smart boards” that hook up to computers and do all sort of incredible things, but they cannot replace the intimacy and efficacy of the good ole white board and a set of markers. Several years ago I started a GED class in prison industries (PIA) because they were going to lay off all those inmates who did not have GED or high school diplomas. This was perhaps my first attempt at true altruistic and communal work, benefitting others through my education. Though I had taught Arabic and tutored inmates before, this was the first time that I was actually teaching, and – more importantly – doing it as a result of counterbalancing the discriminatory policies that I felt were aimed at isolating only a certain segment of the prison population who definitely needed the factory wages PIA provided and could not attain the GED without my help. I believe that my interactions with those students, most of whom went on to graduate, coupled with the sense of making a difference in the lives of people, changed me forever. I mattered. I made an impact. I produced something outside of myself. I brought something into this world, and idea, a vision that replicated itself in front of my eyes. Most of those brothers, inspired by their new found belief in themselves, went on to enroll in Patten University classes. The valedictorian was a 68 year old man who stood up in front of 200 people (warden, guards, teachers, inmates, and media) and mentioned that basically, in the twilight of his years, he was motivated to get his GED by PIA for fear of losing his job; but, in the process he found his courage and saw his potential. Sitting in that audience, knowing that I had something to do with that – which he so graciously mentioned, made my heart palpitate. For a guy who spent years being devoid of emotions and feelings – a self-defense and preservation mechanism I needed to have to survive – his words on that stage were like a defibrillator, waken up my heart, giving it the life support I needed to go on and do the work that I needed to do. I cannot even begin to explain how I felt that day listening to that speech, maybe someday I will, Insha Allah, but I was alive afterwards.
Can you imagine how I must have felt everyday watching these guys who were my students, who had no inclinations to learn, who were hustlers their whole life, who had an utter disdain for education and educated people – something born out of their internal insecurities because of the lack of their own education – who were now, buttressed by the very thing they once hated, pursuing higher education without being forced to, as was the case with the GED. Can you imagine how I must have felt watching these guys standing in line – in the rain, the heat, and all inclement weather – for over an hour to get processed to go to the Patten University class in the education building on the yard? Can you truly imagine that? It was as though you could put your hand on my chest and feel my heart beating in your palm, but not with a regular monotonous beat. No, this beat was irregular. There was something different about it. You could feel, in the palms of your hands, a heart trying to jump out of its encapsulating chest, like a wild stallion uncomfortable with confines of his corral.
I went on to do so much stuff in the subsequent years that I could be here all day talking about it. But, alas, I don’t have the luxury of time and I don’t want to bore you with endless stories. I still feel like that wild stallion though. Though I am corralled, though I am kept apart from the other horses, though I am not understood by others (in the way that domesticate horses can’t relate to the wild), though I am different, I am – for those reasons and many more – driven by this passion to show the world that there is a different way, to blaze a trail on an unbeaten path, to beat that path with my own hooves. And whereas I may not be able to jump out of this coral just yet, I hope and pray that I am provided with the wings and the wind who will help me fly out.

Prof Crain

3/2/2014 09:30:58 am

Thank you for sharing these experiences and hopes. There is so much that influences us as individuals and as members of groups in society. For me, as a woman of color, there were a variety of educational experiences both positive and negative that mirrored the larger social and political contradictions that were true about people who looked like me or about people who urban violent communities. For example, a teacher would not call of me repeatedly because she felt like I may not know the answer. You may ask yourself - what were the influences that she has had an a person/educator that influenced her judgement against me...her student. We would like to imagine that these circumstances and much worse do not occur. BUT they do - often. It's a part of the human condition to be biased. As a practitioners and has a person we are able to make individual choices on how we frame and implement our work. What does this make you think of?

How would you anticipate addressing issues of inequality and bias as an educator? I ask this while I am subconsciously thinking of bell hooks. Hooks is an educator and author who specializes in these areas.

She writes:
"To be changed by ideas was pure pleasure. But to learn ideas that ran counter to values and beliefs learned at home was to place oneself at risk, to enter the danger zone. Home was the place where I was forced to conform to someone else’s image of who and what I should be. School was the place where I could forget that self and, through ideas, reinvent myself. (hooks 1994 p3)."

Is it only the teacher or the content that changes you? What other factors influence a persons capacity to learn and capacity to teach? What are the characteristics of the type of education you'd like to be able to be a part of offering?

Another quote I like:
"To educate as the practice of freedom is a way of teaching that anyone can learn. That learning process comes easiest to those of us who teach who also believe that there is an aspect of our vocation that is sacred; who believe that our work is not merely to share information but to share in the intellectual and spiritual growth of our students. To teach in a manner that respects and cares for the souls of our students is essential if we are to provide the necessary conditions where learning can most deeply and intimately begin (hooks 1994: 13)"

What do the quotes from hooks make you think about? What points are relevant to your experience as a person and why?

sajad shakoor

2/28/2014 04:11:26 am

i forgot that i had to leave some questions for you to answer. 1) is it possible to bring about reform in the lives of the prisoners and maintain that reform through reentry if we are not able to provide some type of housing for these guys when they get out? 2) lack of housing, transportation and jobs are three key factors that predispose so many to recidivate, but should that be the job of the education provider or someone else? 3) remember that brother Brandon, i got him a job, but because of other factors, he couldn't keep the job and lost his source of income. so, does Tayba have to be the panacea for all things that afflict the recently released, or can we simply remain committed to education only and watch our students come out, struggle and possibly go back? 4) that leads to the obvious follow up question,about networking with other people who offer those services that we can't, but the biggest problem there is that those programs are predominantly christian based whereas our students are being taught very important core teaching of islam. so, how do we solve this dilemma?

Prof Crain

3/2/2014 10:50:15 am

Is it possible to bring about reform in the lives of the prisoners and maintain that reform through reentry if we are not able to provide some type of housing for these guys when they get out?

What you are touching on is an issue that many educators face that work with what are considered "at risk" populations. First, most educational institutions take for granted the conditions of the lives of their students who are not generally involved in the criminal justice system. What does this mean? They assume often that students can apply for federal financial aid or student loans for living expenses - this isn't offered to individuals coming out of prison. Many also assume that there will be an element of family bonding or family reunification after a person comes home. They forget or may not know that incarceration impacts more than just the individual - it also impacts family members tremendously.

Knowing these things and being able to use your own experience as a guide, what do you see as programmatic gaps in many re-entry and prison programs that you've been a part of or seen? What are the needs of students currently in custody vs students who are out? What are the skills and ideas that you can share with students to help them make that transition in a self sufficient manner? Do you think that is possible?

Prof Crain

3/2/2014 10:54:58 am

My response below will touch base on the questions about services, helping Brandon (the man we met on the street), and conditions that lead to recidivism.

Without repeating what I wrote in the last reply I want us to think through a frame of abundance. Although many programs are christian based there are even more that are not. Partnership and collaboration for services based on human need can be made across lines of faith and other categories that tend to separate people. This is a matter of discretion on your part and others leaders in your educational institution. What are the criteria for partnership? What types of services do you want to make available to your students and why?

Exploring the purpose and utility of learning

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