I just finished a short discussion with a couple of friends, which originated when one of them expressed concern over the effects a semester abroad program he's participating in would have on his learning experience. I'm not sure what was exactly at the core of his anxiety, but he appeared to be skeptical of the balance between "academic" and "real-world" learning that the program would presumably try to strike. A brief-but-succinct conversation ensued, in which those involved (the aforementioned friend, another friend, and I) contrasted academic and real-world (or experiential) learning in fairly different ways.
Not being foreign to this debate - indeed, I've tossed it around in my own mind many times, as well as with others - I had a pretty good idea of what I thought was the most important factor to consider when discussing the nature of each learning method. As those of you who've been following this blog for the past year (c'mon, there must be a few!) know, university, to me, has largely been a place where one gains status. Hopefully, you've also recognized the immense respect I have for the academy's place in the world; however, in this conversation, it suffices to say that a good part of my motivation to "succeed" in my studies was that it would help me become a more respected (even exceptional) member of society. For whatever reason, I've also been bred to believe that the academic type of learning is a prerequisite to being successful in the "real-world." It won't come as a surprise, therefore, that I've been burdened with the misconception that success in university would necessarily precede eminence in anything that might follow in my life.
It's only quite recently that I've come to realize that I subscribe to this mentality, that success in the academy = high status and reputation. I resent it, and believe that it's corrupted my view of what it means to live a life that's fulfilling to oneself and others. With this in mind, for all of the positive impacts that university has had on me, it's also centrally contributed to the development of unhealthy motives within me. I've come to view motivation as the factor that can "make or break" a student's tenure in the academy, in terms of how he uses the tenure to benefit the world around him. For example, how is someone supposed to truly empathize with the poor and vulnerable if he maintains the pretentious conviction that his education makes him, in some way, more "refined" than them?
Considering the relative passion with which I expressed these ideas to my friends, I was surprised when they reacted the way they did: they blatantly disagreed. Although I won't presume to know exactly what was going through their minds at the time, they seemed to be more concerned with the practical deficiencies of academic-style teaching than any possibility of the university advancing pompous mindsets. The academy didn't seem to be teaching them to feel superior, as it did to me; rather, they harboured doubts that it was really teaching them anything at all. Conversely, they seemed to believe that an experiential approach - talking to people instead of just reading about them - would help them better understand the issues that they initially enrolled in school to learn about.
My friends were, of course, making a very good point. There are many realities which one can only become aware of through direct confrontation – in international development, the area of study for all three of us, this is especially true. However, I don’t think that less academic learning and more experiential learning would have changed the attitude that I believe somewhat compromised my learning experience. This is because I truly believe specter of ego resides just as threateningly in the “real-world” as it does in academia.
From a linguistics standpoint, terms such as “real world” carry undertones that are just as strong as contained in words such as “academic”, “university”, or “Dr.”. Of course, this doesn’t have to be the case: just as being a scholar wasn’t considered synonymous with being an elite in the Middle Age European universities, as it seems to be today, entering into the “real world” doesn’t necessarily mean entering adopting a "more realistic, pragmatic outlook" than one's comparably naïve academic friends. However, I think we need to be conscious of the fact that places such as academia and the real world are just as much mindsets as geographical places, and if we’re not careful, they’ll come to define us.
I’m not sure about my two friends, but graduating from university and entering the so-called “real world” hasn’t liberated me from the temptation to be motivated by status. Unless I continue to be conscious of my vulnerabilities, I’ll always be looking for new ways to advance, progress, and refine, no matter what occupation I find myself in.
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