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Urgent matters of insight: Upholding gaps in higher education research, teaching and learning for super-complexity
This post raises some concerns about higher education, in light of recent pandemic experience. At its core is the question of whether we are preparing students for the job market or to be able to respond to an ever-changing world. What is mentioned as Super-complexity is that ''stresses the permeability of the boundaries between the institutional context, professional and social domains, and the personal lives of students and educators.'' It suggests that higher education should address the common good, wisdom and a greater commitment to care instead of creating human repositories of a particular kind of tangible knowledge. It also emphasizes the fundamental role of education in preparing students for an uncertain and changing world.
According to this course, the changing social context is being affected by technology, data, globalization and diversity. In the text above, emphasis is given to diversity and how one-size-fits all education is not applicable anymore. The need for higher education to prepare emerging adults for sustainability by creating learning communities and connections in this digital age is being underlined. Αnd this can only succeed, if each student is approached as a distinct personality with its own particular characteristics. Because, diversity is not only reffering to race, but also religion, gender, economic background and even learning styles. [1] The very definition of ‘diverse’, according to Campbridge Dictionary, is “including many different types of people or things”.
Many are the benefits of diversity in classroom, as diversity prepares students for citizenship, promotes creativity, improves cognitive skills and critical thinking. [2]
Diversity is only one social objective taken into account, however, the suggestions in the end of this text also mention the importance of the role of the educators in a curriculum reform and how institutions and policymakers should trust educators' oppionion.
Whether one agrees or not with this position, it is inevitable to agree with the need to adapt the educational system to an ever-changing world, since traditional versions of mass institutionalized education are destabilized.
[1] https://online.queens.edu/resources/article/benefits-of-diversity-in-school/
[2] https://soeonline.american.edu/blog/benefits-of-inclusion-and-diversity-in-the-classroom
It is common sense that the notion of one size fits all is becoming obsolete because knowledge has evolved to an extent that what should be taught and learnt is no longer tailored to satisfy one objective. Entrepreneurship within the learning equation has now made people more dynamic and distinctive. Technology is influencing the way we learn and the dimension of higher education is moving. Now people can sit at the comfort of their homes and acquire knowledge but at the same time add value to knowledge by following the strict principles governing higher education rules. Therefore one size cannot fit all and access to learning resources has made it difficult to stick to the didactive system of learning that restricts students to one kind of educational game because educational systems can no longer control who to learn what or what is to be learnt. This evolution in education tries to ensure that all stakeholders in the system play their part, in order to avoid segregation, discrimination, stereotyping, religious castigation etc. which can drastically affect higher education objectives in preparing students for uncertainty and arm them with the ability to solve societal problems.
Most definitely one-size-fits all education is not applicable anymore. Schools, society and education have to adapt and meet each students individual needs. Diversity should be embraced and taken into consideration.
I believe that the notion that higher education is primarily for job readiness is pretty recent - at least in the United States and has been promoted by conservative culture and politics which has always viewed traditional liberal arts as subversive. Liberal arts, since its inception in the 18th century, has always pushed the common good as you put it, critical thought, questioning of institutions and cultures in pursuit of higher societal goals - skills that were necessary to confront the increasing complexity of Western societies at the dawn of the industrial aged.
That said, liberal arts education today is also in crisis: widely regarded as irrelevant and impractical, it survives but is widely marginalized. Ideas like 'super complexity' may help to reformulate liberal arts as a core focus of higher education.