http://beyond-school.org/2008/08/22/death-of-genius/

I won’t even pretend to touch the surface issue itself as I believe this is not the place for that discussion.

What irks me, though, is the thinking that every academic, political, social, humanitarian or religious inclination needs to fight to become an official “student club” of the university.  (And, I have a little experience in this area, as a former Director of Clubs and Services on the Glendon College Student Union’s executive.)

The university choir I founded was a “club” for one year, and I think we probably received $100 from the Student Union.  I felt that was justified; we were representing Glendon both in local singing competitions and at the local hospital when we’d sing for people at Christmas.  And, there was money to spare going out to clubs and no one questioned its use. But, once I became the person responsible for arbitrarily determining and dishing out club funding, I withdrew the choir as an official club.  Of course, I felt there was an inherent conflict of interest.

But also, my main concern in creating and running my organization wasn’t the money.  It wasn’t having Glendon’s name attached to us.  It was singing.  Glendon was pretty small and there weren’t a lot of ready-made performing arts activities for which you could just sign up.  If you wanted an experience, you had to create it.  And we did.

For money, we organized BRAVO! our annual “spectacle musicale” and invited anyone to get involved and perform.  The choir incurred all the expenses (venue rental fees, equipment rental, advertising, programs etc.), so we sold tickets and retained all the revenue, which also helped to offset the choir’s costs such as paying for sheet music, entering competitions and traveling to perform.  Another group approached us about organizing the for-sale refreshment table as a fundraiser for their own group, and we happily cooperated.

We didn’t need the school to tell us we could sing.  Furthermore, it never occurred to us that, without official club status and funding, we couldn’t get together and sing.

So, the Maclean’s article goes on to defend free speech, political activism, yadda yadda yadda.  (Did I just yadda yadda yadda student rights?)  That’s all well and good, but that’s not the real issue.  The real issue, I think, is below in my comment on Maclean’s website (which as I type is awaiting moderation):

Comment by Sarah Rainsberger on 28 May 2008:

Your comment is awaiting moderation.

I guess my only comment is, since when did anyone need a university-sanctioned “club” to be politically active and engaged? There’s nothing to stop any group of people who happen to attend the same university from finding each other and engaging in whatever form of activism they wish.

If the university doesn’t want to fund them (and, I can think of a lot of “clubs” that could be proposed to a university that they might not wish to fund) then surely there are larger community, provincial or national organizations supporting the same cause who might be able to provide financial support or other resources (such as pamphlets or speakers) to promote their activities.

Doesn’t this whole debate over official club status imply that it’s somehow up to the the university to determine which actions are or aren’t legitimate? Why give the institution that power? Why define your own legitimacy based on school designation? Does official designation make the group’s actions any more meaningful, relevant or important? Are they unable to meet, discuss, learn and teach if they are not an official club? Or, do people find themselves just not that “into” the cause if they have to pay for their own poster paper?

Part of the university experience is about developing one’s own independence. I would respect these groups if they believed so much in their actions that they formed their *own* group and spend their time actually furthering their cause. Instead, this mentality confers upon the university some sort of special powers to legitimize actions that a public educational institution seriously shouldn’t be given.

Go to university and, by all means, CHANGE THE WORLD!  Stand up for what you believe in.  Organize yourselves with like-minded (and perhaps not-so-likeminded) people to help make our communities and our country even better than it is now.  Don’t be afraid to hold a controversial or unconventional point of view.  Be true to yourself, do no harm to others and seek to learn from those around you.  Do ths on campus, off campus, on the way to campus, at the campus gates (even blocking them when appropriate) . . .

But don’t give your university the power to legitimize (or outlaw) your thoughts, your actions or your beliefs.  You don’t need the university’s permission to change the world, play chess, hold Bible studies or sing in a choir.

And when you ask for that permission – to be legitimized in the eyes of the university – you are really only legitimizing the university’s supposed hold over you.  Asking permission implies you never had the right in the first place.  You don’t need anyone’s permission to fight for your cause, self-organize or make a contribution to your society.  Don’t waste your time asking.

Taryn Vandenberg of Markham, Ontario came in an impressive 16th in the 2008 U. of T. National Biology Competition. Taryn, who has always been homeschooled, placed ahead of all students from a handful of prestigious Toronto private schools including Crescent, University of Toronto Schools, and Havergal whose top students placed in the 17 – 21 positions.

The 14th annual competition was written by 5,927 eligible contestants at 415 schools on May 1, 2008 (see Results). Over 66,000 students have participated in the competition since 1995. The competition is open to all secondary school students, including homeschoolers. Top students may receive cash prizes and/or admission scholarships to the University of Toronto.

On a personal note, I can’t think of a better ambassador for academically successful homeschooling teens. Taryn is an articulate conversationalist, a curious, thoughtful scholar and a delightful young woman. It’s people like Taryn who give me the motivation to work towards ensuring that no qualified applicant is denied university admissions simply because of his or her unconventional educational path.

This young woman is going to have her pick of universities because she made a name for herself, not because she jumped through hoops picking up credits here and there to satisfy the OSSD requirements. This is what I mean when I say that homeschoolers have the freedom to distinguish themselves, so why waste so much time and effort trying to look like every other applicant?

It’s just a good thing she wasn’t trying to enter the Subway Sandwich contest, which strictly forbids homeschooled applicants. I’m pretty sure her UT Bio Comp achievement tastes sweeter!

Schools are becoming more familiar and less impressed with “resume padding” in the university application. Susan Chan, the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admissions at Yale University, comments in a September 2006 article:

“We are not necessarily impressed by students who list a high number of different activities,” Chan said. “We are much more impressed with students who have accomplished something significant in an activity or two that they obviously know and love.”

Passion and dedication are hard to fake, and admissions committees know this. They also know that not every interest has a local club you can join, or a volunteer position you can easily obtain.

This is good news if your child’s most noteworthy characteristics are a subscription to Popular Science, several late charges from the public library’s video documentary section and an RSS reader full of industry blogs. But, how do you apply to university with a reading list instead of an activity list?

6 WAYS TO TURN YOUR INTERESTS INTO EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES FOR YOUR UNIVERSITY APPLICATION

(and how to do it so that it actually benefits you and doesn’t just pad your resume)

1. CREATIVITY COUNTS – create something

I can remember having an intense class discussion in high school arguing whether or not one needed to actually create something to be considered creative. (It is right in the word itself, afterall!)

Whenever I think I have a particularly “creative” idea, I always use the memory of that discussion to remind myself that if my creative thoughts don’t actually produce anything, what have I really done?

Joe also helps me remember this by often repeating the line from Amadeus, “It’s of no use to anybody in your head, Mozart.”

It’s one thing to have a passion for a particular topic, but it’s what you have created from your passion that can be more easily showcased on a university application, and can direct your passion into a worthwhile endeavour.

Here are just a few of endless examples:

• write about your topic
  • outline a new idea you have
  • address a common problem or issue in the area, and research possible solutions
  • compile existing work into a “beginners guide” or teaching material
  • describe your journey from beginner to enthusiast, and how it affected you as a person
• build something
  • a working model or prototype of an established or experimental idea
  • experiment with function and design
• establish an organization or charitable foundation related to your area of interest
  • coordinate group projects
  • fundraise
  • distribute a newsletter
  • lobby the government
• set a travel goal and document it in words, photographs
  • visit every major league baseball park
  • view “original/historical sources” in your area of interest
  • meet/interview major personalities in your area of interest
• use your area of interest to inspire artistic creations
  • write songs
  • sculpt or paint
  • write screenplays, short films, commercials
• create and maintain a website
  • demonstrate an ongoing commitment by keeping up with important news in your field
  • start an online discussion board where people from all over can connect
  • create an online photo gallery of pictures you have taken related to your interest
  • research careers in your area, then share this information as a “how to get started in …” guide

2. Flash Forward – think about the future, plans goals

Where are you going with your dreams and ideas? There’s nothing wrong with living in the moment, but the act of devising future plans can go a long way to helping you feel grounded with a purpose . . . and looks great on the university application!

Of course, plans can change. As my father will tell you any day of his life, “I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.” But making these plans, evaluating options and becoming aware of the steps necessary to achieve future goals allows you to envision yourself as a real player in the industry, and then gives you a road map for becoming one.

To the universities, this plan can not only demonstrate your intentions to commit to a course of action (such as, say, I don’t know, a university degree!) but also assures them that you have the drive and skills to go beyond your interest (e.g. languages) to research the educational and professional arenas (e.g. the top translation schools in the country, which schools offer exchange programs or internships, which international organizations accept summer volunteers, the top translation firms that specialize in diplomatic work).

3. Social Significance – whom can you help, and what problems can you solve?

If your ideas are of no use to anybody in your head, then spend some time figuring out who could benefit from the thoughts swishing around up there.

In these days of resume padding and going through the motions of altruism, assisting a very specific part of the community in a specific way will catch the attention of college admissions departments. Which applicant will seem more genuine and effective as a volunteer?

• one who spent a weekend sorting food at the local food bank (with no other indication anywhere in her application that helping the disadvantaged is a cause near and dear to her heart)
• one (suffering from allergies and/or chemical sensitivity) who created an information pamphlet describing common toxic ingredients in everyday household cleaners, then created “make your own safe cleaning products at home” workshops which she presented at local community groups or in people’s homes.

There is nothing wrong with the first scenario. After all, it is by leaving our comfort zone and experiencing something totally different that gives us a new perspective on life. No doubt the first applicant was moved and forever changed through her volunteer experience.

But, which applicant gives the greater impression that she will contribute to her university, or to society at large (both of which ultimately benefit the university) when a college application is no longer on the line? The second applicant has shown that she can make her own opportunities to contribute to the world around her, and that she sees a real connection between her own life and the lives of others.

The ability to see needs and react to them is also an important skill for an inventor or entrepreneur. Fostering this ability can set you up for a lifetime of independence because you may realize that you don’t need others to give you a job — you can create one yourself by filling a gap in the market place.

4. Technical Tools – what did you need to know in order to know what you now know?

Very few areas of interest exist in a vacuum. Only in school is “math” separate from “history” and both are separate from “language.” (As if the economy and our ability to communicate with each other never caused some pretty big historical events . . . )

To give weight to your area of interest on your university application, spend some time answering these three questions:

• What did you have to learn/master to get where you are?
• Which skills are you currently working on, or which topics do you need to further understand in order to progress in your area of interest?
• Which skills or which topics are next on your list to learn?

There’s a lot of number crunching in the study of earthquakes, so a budding geologist will at some point need to ensure that his math skills are up to snuff. Radio waves (so I’ve been told by engineering tutors I’ve worked with) are based on the system of complex numbers . . . aka imaginary numbers. That’s right, they only exist in our minds, but yet without them we can’t understand radio waves. A historian could rely on English translations of primary texts, but we all know something gets lost; at some point, foreign language skills are required to analyze historical documents.

Your area of interest will no doubt require you to learn topics and skills in other disciplines. Document these for your university application. Not only will it make you feel good about yourself to realize that you know more math or Latin than you thought, but it will demonstrate to the university admissions department a commitment to excellence in your field of study.

Going through a skills/knowledge analysis will also help you determine how ready you might be for an AP, CLEP or SAT subject test in one of these related areas, giving you useful information as to which tests you might want to take for university entrance.

5. Knowledgeable Networking – have some names to drop

It’s impossible to really get into an area of study and not encounter the same names over and over again. Knowing who’s who in an industry is sometimes essential for knowing what’s what.

It’s easy for anyone to put information on the internet, accurate or not. So, knowing the names of the respected players not only ensures that your information is coming from credible sources, but that you’ve taken the time to really get inside the industry. Really, it’s the people and their contributions that made your area of interest what it is. Without musicians, there would be no music!

Also, if you are mainly self-educated, then questions can arise concerning exactly what you’ve been studying. When a high school student applies to university with a government-accredited diploma, the university has at least a general idea of what material was covered in class.

As a homeschooler, you have much more flexibility to pick and choose your own learning resources. Citing key authors or researchers in your area of interest, therefore, can help the university admissions departments feel confident that you’ve done more than memorize a few facts; you’ve done enough study in the area to know the major players and their theories, contributions and positions.

To give more credibility to your self-study, be sure to work into your university application:

• Who have you connected with, studied about in the course of your interest?
• Who are the big names in your area of interest, and how has their work influenced you?
• How do you envision contributing to or adding on to their work?

6. University USP – how will the specific university you’re applying to fit into those plans?

In the world of sales and marketing, USP stands for “Unique Selling Proposition.” In other words, it’s what makes a product or service unique.

When you apply to universities, it is really worth your while to understand each school’s USP: what they can distinctly offer you that the other schools can’t. Not only is this essential information with which to make your final decisions, but also universities are understandably impressed (even flattered) when you know specifics about them.

In your university application, specifically mention:

• Why their specific department is a good fit for you and your interests. Include references to specific faculty with their research interests, facilities (e.g. the most powerful telescope on an Ontario university campus), degree options (e.g. the opportunity to major in criminal forensics in an undergraduate degree)
• How you see yourself contributing to the social scene. Find out which clubs are already running that would interest you, or suggest organizations you might initiate that don’t already exist. Mention specific annual events that you can see yourself becoming regularly involved in, such as a breast cancer walk or clothing drive.
• How the stated mission of the university is a good fit. Examine the school’s motto, philosophy and/or mandate. Explain how or why they resonate with you. Has the university recently removed trays from the cafeteria to save water and energy washing them? Are you impressed because the university has a strong student services department demonstrating a commitment to student success? If the university takes a stand on issues that are important to you, mention how you can get behind those initiatives.

This is more than buttering up the university, this is ensuring that you and the university really are a match made in heaven. It’s for your own benefit as much as it is for getting you noticed by the admissions committee.

DON’T SELL YOURSELF SHORT

It’s easy to think that an interest, passion or obsession can’t be leveraged on a university application. But, having a strong interest may just be what gets you noticed and pushes your application into the “accept” pile!

With a little clear, focused thinking, you can turn your interests into a showcase for your skills, talents, and desirability to any post-secondary institution.

OBE, however, demands that a course be structured based upon clearly defined expectations and goals concerning the learning experience. In other words, a course document is a collection of statements that illustrate what each student should be able to do by the end of the course.

It’s the difference between “Shakespeare as social commentary” and “By the end of this course, students will be able to analyze Shakespearean drama from a social commentary perspective.”

Supporters of the movement appreciate the focus of the latter statement, while some critics claim that the “outcome” is still too vague to be any more useful than the former statement. And still other critics maintain that some of these outcomes are too specific, creating a “checklist mentality” among teachers who must sacrifice the bigger picture in order to micromanage students’ learning.

Perhaps the most compelling argument against OBE, however, is the fact that sometimes we don’t (and can’t) know exactly why we’re engaging in a learning experience or what we want to get out of it. We can have goals, but if we become overly reliant upon achieving them, to the exclusion of “the unexpected” that inevitably arises, we might miss out on some really cool stuff.

Ken Osborne says these “behavioural objectives . . . limit teaching to the achievement of pre-set and measurable objectives and ignore the very things that should be at the centre of education, in particular, to help students do the unexpected.” (Education: A Guide to the Canadian School Debate – - Or, Who Wants What and Why? 1999. Emphasis mine.)

Osborne points out that the argument that we don’t need knowledge (we only need to know where and how to look for it) suits business rather well. Employers would rather their workers have skills to carry out their jobs than the knowledge to question.

In a book that’s almost a decade old, Osborne points out that even to make sense of our daily life, we can’t possibly go looking up everything we need to know. How many of us have enough time to read the newspaper in its entirety every day, to make sense of what’s happening in the world around us?

It may not take us long to look something up on Google in this day and age, but the process is several times quicker when you just “know” something! Compound the effects of that happening dozens of times a day, and it certainly does begin to add up. Knowing is automatic, and we can do it even when we don’t have an internet connection.

Professor Thomas Docherty, head of English at Warwick University speaks out against what he calls “the marketisation of higher education” by the Quality Assurance Agency in Tuesday’s online edition of The Guardian:

“That’s where the QAA is so constraining,” he says. “It expects me to predict the outcome of my teaching. Each student is expected to know certain things. But I don’t want them to be predictable. I want them to surprise me. You don’t know what you’re going to learn until you’ve discovered it. The system as it stands stifles imagination and stymies originality. They’re trying to mechanise an organic process so that it can be managed and standardised.”

Docherty is talking about university classroom education, but the issues affecting classroom teachers affect homeschoolers, too. Educational trends inevitably make their way into the homeschooling curricula that families use. Yesterday I saw one such program whose first selling point was that it was developed by professional teachers . . . teachers who are steeped in current educational issues, jargon, policies and practices.

We should be aware when using curriculum at home that much of it has been designed if not for classroom use, than with the traditional “teacher’s role” in mind: planner, assessor, reporter. It’s easy to think that because it’s pre-packaged, it should be followed to the letter. But, if you can’t predict what your child will get out of an experience, how could a stranger do it?

Does this mean we should never try to plan or have a purpose behind our learning activities? Should we vehemently object to any notions of pre-defined outcomes since we can’t predict the future? Not necessarily as goals can help focus us when we are aiming for desired outcomes.

But, it’s important to recognize that some of life’s most rewarding and educational experiences can’t be planned, measured or quantified.

And, some “skills” can’t just be checked off a list: dealing with the unexpected; living true to our values; understanding the world around us. Can we ever really say we’re “done” in that respect?

I’d really like to say that I don’t advise the following student behaviour, but sometimes university requires doing what it takes to get through. My senior year of university was the first time I ever requested an extension on a paper. I felt horrible at the time, but university is all about navigating the learning process as an adult. And sometimes, you need to negotiate.

Enjoy the video below. I hope it works! (Both the video itself, and the strategy, if necessary!)

Do you know who I am?

As I looked over course descriptions and envisioned which classes would be the lesser evils to slog through, I realized that I could learn more, and I had learned more, outside of school. One of the defining moments for me occurred when a PhD student interviewed me for her research on alternative schools and tutoring centres. If I was the source, then why did I have to go back to school? To read about what I’d spent the last year doing? Obviously I’d managed to figure things out on my own. For permission to interview people who know something I don’t? I do that every year when I speak with university admissions departments and confirm any news on the homeschooled applicant front.

I tried really hard not to be swayed by the prestige factor of a graduate diploma. Instead, I thought long and hard about what knowledge I needed, and whether a graduate program was the only place I could get that knowledge. I thought about what my clients needed from me, and what I needed to be able to do for them, and what people would pay me for. Based on that criteria, I decided that the time and money spent on a higher degree just didn’t make any sense.

A thoughtful, economically-oriented response to the question, “How far should I go in academics?” can be found here. Some of the noteworthy points raised include:

There are a series of mistakes in the minds of most would-be Ph.D. students. The main one is some version of the labor theory of value. They assume that if they work hard enough, and jump through enough academic hoops, some college will hire them.

They do not begin as entrepreneurs. They do not ask the key question: “What is the likely state of the market in three or four years for holders of a Ph.D. in the field that I want to earn mine in?” Why not? Because they do not see economic value as something imputed by buyers of the services supplied by holders of a Ph.D. They see consumer demand as somehow generated by the work it takes to earn a Ph.D.

You don’t need a Ph.D. to be a scholar. You need one to be hired by a university that will pay you. But the odds against getting hired full-time by a university are high. This has been true since 1969 in most fields.

Marx never got hired by a university. Neither did Freud. They changed the world.

Now of course, the “market value” of an undergraduate university degree is very different from that of a graduate degree. Most young people are going to want to have a bachelors degree under their belts in order to enter the workforce. But, I think it’s important to remember that just because you can get an advanced degree, it doesn’t mean you should. I always fancied myself as an academic, but it didn’t take long to discover that academia wasn’t for me.

This article focused strictly on the financial considerations involved in higher education. Still, it’s a good reminder to engage in educational pursuits because you value the experience and the experience will provide value to you. I would further contentd that the most worthwhile activities will be those that also enable you to provide value to others. For me, when considered in that context, my decision not to “formally” go beyond undergraduate studies was a no-brainer.

When it comes time for your children to enter the “voluntary” stages of education, how will you help them to make choices based on value and values?

If you go looking for advice on how to prepare yourself for university, or how to be successful once you’re there, you’ll find no shortage of advice based on the premises that university is:

• difficult (or, a favourite phrase that Joe and I have adopted from a sushi take-out menu, “raw and challenging”)
• unlike anything you’ve experienced before
• requiring intense concentration, dedication and work ethic

The truth is though, that this isn’t the universal first-year experience. Some kids enter university extremely well-prepared academically with not only adequate study skills but also with a healthy curiosity and a solid knowledge-base. Gifted students and/or home schoolers who have studied particular subjects in depth may even find themselves somewhat disappointed at the general nature of introductory courses. They may similarly find themselves more than a little disenchanted by the interest level of not only their fellow classmates but also of the professors who have been given the “baby” classes. There aren’t many books out there about how to cope when university isn’t challenging enough for you.

It would be erroneous to assume that the problems these students face in high school magically disappear once they cross the threshold of a university campus. For some, they do. For others, there can be a profound disappointment when they realize that university life holds fewer changes from high school than they had expected.

Personally, I can only recall one “challenging” course in my five years at Glendon. For me, challenging meant that I had to sit with a text book for hours on end trying to make sense of it. I can’t recall a course that had too much reading for me to be comfortable with (including a women’s literature course in a 4 week summer session that included novels, plays, poems, essays and short stories), nor did I ever have so many assignments that I found it difficult to manage or meet deadlines.

Fortunately for my academic career, though, I wasn’t generally resentful or disillusioned. I took advantage of the opportunity to get involved socially and politically on campus. I didn’t skip any classes, although I easily could have gotten away with it academically, until my last year when I was extremely involved in extra-curricular activities. Even though my 100 person first year Intro to Psychology course had dwindled to more like 40 people during lectures, I continued to attend faithfully. I continued to attend even though:

• I did the lecture’s reading and made study notes before the lecture
• the lectures were overviews straight from the textbook
• the notes I had already made could have been the lecture

When people asked why, I told them that I liked the subject and I thought the repetition would be good for the learning process. It didn’t bother me that I had read it all before. In fact, it meant that instead of scrambling to take notes during the lecture, I could simply add annotations to the notes I already had and leave most of my brain free for listening. We like hearing the same stories over and over again, watching the same movies, listening to the same songs. . . I happened at the time to be fascinated by introductory psychology and I didn’t think this was any different. Besides, there might be something I’d miss if I didn’t go. There rarely was, but occasionally there were some gems to be had, like my professor slapping himself silly on the back of the head until he “saw stars” to demonstrate where the occipital lobe is, and how you can see things that aren’t really there when these neurons are adequately stimulated. (He proposed that this could explain “seeing ghosts” for example.) This I remember clearly 15 years later, and it wasn’t in the textbook.

It’s taken a while for this post to establish the link between university students and sales people, but here it finally is: little did I know that my tolerance for repetition in the hopes of finding just one new bit of information was an essential quality of successful salespeople. And as it turns out, being able to selectively tune in and tune out at will is just a handy self-improvement skill to have, whether you’re learning for credit, for professional advancement, or for interest.

Reg Braithwaite wrote about this on his website in response to people (computer programmers specifically) engaging in harsh criticism of each other’s ideas in an online discussion, but the point he makes has far greater implications than simply promoting tolerance. After reading his message, I think you’d be hard pressed not to look at education and training (especially the type that would normally make your eyes glaze over with boredom) in a new light.

The article is called What I’ve Learned From Sales, Part III: How to use a blunt instrument to sharpen your saw and isn’t entirely G-Rated, so I’m going to quote here more than I normally would of someone else’s post. Please don’t follow the link if a four-letter word is going to make you spit your morning coffee at the computer screen. The observation and analysis is brilliant, and I hope he doesn’t mind that I share a few paragraphs in their entirety with you here so that I can share the wisdom:

In sales, there is a very high, observable, and measurable correlation between attending sales training seminars and sales volume. One explanation for this is that the kind of people who take time off of selling to sharpen their own saw are the kind of people to be top salespeople.

The other possibility is that there is something abut the seminars themselves that make salespeople better. I have asked salespeople about it, and generally I get a variation on the exact same answer: If I can learn just one thing that improves my sales skills, the seminar will pay for itself.

Think about that. They go to an all day seminar, where they will probably hear twenty, thirty, or forty tips. They will probably sit through tip after tip thinking “Yawn, I knew that, tell me something new.” Or they hear something and think: “That is the worst suggestion I’ve ever heard.” But then, suddenly, they hear something new, and they profit from it.

In sales, you are used to making call after call, facing rejection after rejection, but you keep dialing because… the next one could be a winner. So the kind of person who can keep on dialing after rejection ought to be the kind of person who can sit through a seminar waiting to pounce on one new thing that can improve their income.

He goes on to point out that we non-salespeople often take a different approach to learning, or at the very least, others’ attempts to inform us. Here are some of the things we all do, to varying degrees and from time to time, instead of sticking it out waiting for that one idea that could be earth-shatteringly transformative:

• Feel annoyed that we are “wasting our time” with things we “already know”
• Hear one thing we disagree with, and as a result immediately discredit everything that person has to say
• Attempt to correct or argue with someone else to convince them of the error of their ways
• Make an overall judgment as to whether what we heard/read/saw as a whole was any good

Braithwaite recommends instead that computer programmers participate in online discussions with this mentality: most of what I hear won’t be new; a good portion of it I’ll completely disagree with; however, if I can find just one small thing that makes me a better programmer, the experience will have been worth it and I personally will profit from it.

I say, what a fantastic approach to learning! Think of what we open ourselves up to if we relax our natural tendencies for categorization and consistency and instead allow ourselves to learn from sources without embracing them in their entirety.

When we stop trying to evaluate our sources of information (books, websites, films, people) as “good” or “bad” we can turn the focus inwards on ourselves, and on how that information can be used for our own learning or self-improvement. This works equally well in a university lecture as it does in a training seminar, info session or online discussion.

This is a healthy attitude for all students, not just those wondering why they should attend a lecture to hear what they already know or those who feel their time is being wasted in class discussions with people stating the obvious. But, I think this idea can give real comfort to those who already feel “different” or “out of place” even in a university classroom. They don’t have to pass judgment on those around them; they simply recognize that good ideas can come at any place, at any time (even from bad ideas). And it’s not contradictory (or an embarrassment) to learn something from someone “not as smart” as they are, nor is it a betrayal of one’s principles to be enlightened by someone with a different religious, philosophical or political affiliation.

Did you know that direct mail campaigns (junk mail, envelopes filled with coupons etc.) are conducted with the knowledge that they have a 1% success rate in converting into purchases? Sales people understand that striking out comes with the territory. Ball players are considered star-caliber if they are successful at the plate a mere 30% of the time. Students, however, are indoctrinated with a much higher standard of success. The sooner they realize that “the real world” is all about the journey towards savouring the occasional sweet success, the easier it will be to relax the need for themselves and for others to conform to their expectations of perfection. And then, they just might learn something in places they never expected!