Over the last few decades, there has been an unfortunate change
in the education system - it’s out to
make money rather than to teach; especially at the collegiate level. The
passage speaks of the “tortoise mind”, which are a sect of people interested in
questions as much as they are the answers to those questions, and how they
learn by questioning the world around them. Once upon a time, this is what the
collegiate level of education was – the students questioned the teacher,
challenged the teacher even, and everyone was able to learn as a result. They
learned through using the tortoise minds. Now, however, college is a business,
and they discourage this method of learning. Students are expected to repeat
the answers the professor wants them to, and then they promptly forget it in
favor of the next class. We are no longer able to explore our opportunities,
embrace our chances to learn from masters in our field, and take risks – we are
to produce what we’re told to produce and move on.
For example, in one of my classes this semester I am
retaking a class from a previous semester for a better grade (life
unfortunately got in the way the first time around). I know the material, and am
confident in my knowledge. However, the instructor is a PhD student who hadn’t
so much as looked at the slides she was presenting beforehand, and consistently
mis-defined and gave improper examples of the principles she was covering. I’m
unable to challenge her, ask her why she believes her answers to be correct,
for fear of my grade – at $1000 a class, when I’m struggling to pull my GPA up
from real life issues, I have to keep my head down, provide the answers she
wants me to provide, and feel bad for the freshmen in the class who don’t know
better.
I truly wish the tortoise mind was more accepted in
education; we would all be better off for it.
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