I thoroughly enjoyed reading this chapter. For some reason, it resonated with me deeply, perhaps because of my upbringing in a country where being a part of the collective was more important than being an individual. Also, because of Russia's unique geographical position between the East and the West, throughout the history it has been swayed (and probably still sways) between these two opposite mindsets and as a result, a somewhat combined mindset has been formed. Living with such mindset can be a bit tricky.... but I digress. Chapter 7 gave me a better understanding of what learning and knowing are in non-Western cultures, and I will attempt to summarize and comment on some of it.
Learning is Communal: authors note that "not only is learning a communal activity in many non-Western countries, so too is construction of one's identity" (73). In other words, one's identity is constructed not as a separate (individual) entity but as a part of the community, and continues to be a part of the community throughout one's life. Therefore, learning is not "private" but "public", meaning belonging to the community as well as to an individual.
Learning is Lifelong and Informal: authors contend that in non-Western cultures, lifelong learning is pursued primarily for reasons of self-improvement. Unlike in Western cultures, it is not motivated by the drive to succeed; rather, the main focus is on "becoming fully human" (75) or accumulating learning that comes from being "consciously mindful" (75). The informal element of learning is expressed in the learning being conducted not through an institution like school or college but through the community; it is "structured by a community problem or issue" (76). Here again the community serves as a defining element in the process of learning.
Learning is Holistic: I had to look up the definition of "holistic" in order to break this one down, and I'm glad I did. In psychology, holism is "a system postulating that the human mind must be studied as a unit rather than a sum of its individual parts (from Dictionary.com). In regards to learning as seen by the non-Western philosophies, authors highlight the "notion that learning involves not only the mind but the body, the spirit, and the emotions" (76). This is as holistic as it gets! It also ties in with other chapters in this book, namely, chapter 3, "Spirituality and Adult Learning", and chapter 4, "Learning Through the Body". Also, the I could not help but draw a connection between the Maori's meeting house as a metaphor for the four dimension of a person (the physical, the mental and emotional, the social, and the spiritual) and the four elements (fire, earth, air, and water) and the way they were considered as bases for four temperaments (choleric, melancholic, sanguine, and phlegmatic). Just like in Maori's beliefs all four "walls" of the meeting house were necessary for "strength and symmetry" (76), the balance of four elements in a human body would result in a healthy human being. With regards of learning, in the non-Western tradition it is important to develop all four characteristics, or dimensions, for a well-balanced (or well-rounded) individual.
It seems that balance is of utmost importance out there, in places that are considered non-Western. Honestly, this idea has an enormous appeal to me, probably because right now I am living here, in a place where you can have either money or time but never both, and therefore one has to constantly pick and choose which is more sensible to sacrifice at the moment. Sometimes I feel that this society, with its drive for success and keeping up with the Joneses, is missing something important... something that I am hoping education can provide me with.
If and when you become a teacher, Margarita, would you aim to bring mind, body, emotion and spirituality together in activities that promote learning? For example, is there an emotional component involved when a student is talking with a classmate privately in class and a topic that is part of the curriculum? And is there a physical component involved when a student writes something down or gets up and moves around a classroom? I'm not sure how spirituality can be brought into a classroom, but do you have any ideas?
ReplyDeleteIn any event, would you employ strategies that would bring these various dimensions of learning together for your students?
Just curious, how is life in Russia different from life in the US? I'd really like to know. I lived in Cameroon for three years: life is very different in Cameroon, not always better than in the US, but different. When I lived in Cameroon, we had no tv, no library, no bookstore, no movies, and of course no computers or cell phones. It was back in the yeras 1978 through 1981. We had to rely a lot on conversation to entertain ourselves. And cooking and eating were favorite activities too. But in many ways, we were living more in the present moment and living our primary experiences, not relying on secondary experiences by watching dramas on television. I appreciated that. But I also had very little access to information in any form, including newspapers and books.
ReplyDeleteI feel that it would be very challenging to incorporate non-Western elements into a traditional classroom just because it is so non-traditional, and some students may feel uncomfortable and even embarrassed. I, for one, probably would feel this way because I am used to the traditional model of conduct in the classroom. I also am not a very spiritual person so if I were to incorporate some non-Western elements into my classroom, I would probably start with emphasizing the communal and lifelong/informal nature of learning. For example, I would provide the students with a topic, have them interview the elders of their community and then write an essay documenting the findings. As for the lifelong and informal nature of learning, I have no idea how to incorporate this in a lesson but I do think it is very important to be aware of that.
ReplyDeleteRegarding life in Russia, or in the Soviet Union, to be exact... I can only tell you about what it was like for me to grow up during the late 80s and early 90s, along with a sprinkle of my parents' memories. What my mom remembers the most is the shortage of just about anything, from food to toilet paper. Sometimes the shelves in the stores were entirely empty, and the lines were extremely long. To this day I ask, "Mom, how did you survive?". And this was the 60s and 70s, not the years immediately after the WWII was over. Books were also scarce. My parents had to sign up in advance for, say, several tomes of Alexander Dumas novels, and they would receive them over the period of time, I don't know exactly how long. Also, one of the ways to cut the "book line" short was to contribute some paper for recycling. I vaguely remember my parents and I taking stacks of newspapers to a receiving dock down the block from where my grandmother used to live. It was winter, and we used the sled to transport the stacks. I know, this sounds like a (stereo)typical Russian tale but that's how it was.
We didn't own a computer, and I began using one only during my studies in college, sometime in the late 90s. Sometimes I try to think back as to what I did to occupy my time at home, before the internet, and it is not exactly clear. I read a lot. I watched tv but there was no such thing as cable channels, and sometimes you could not exactly find something to your liking on regular channels. I wrote poetry and even some prose. I called my friends, and we would talk for hours but only after we finally had a phone installed in our apartment, which took a long time... several years, at least. Don't ask me to explain why it took so long because I have no idea. My mom probably knows. I also went out with my friends a lot, whether it was to see a play or to just hang out and talk, so in a way, like yourself, I was living in a present moment. The reality that I was living in, was not obscured by too much information that we are being constantly bombarded with these days. It was more pure and primal. I probably could come up with more examples of my life but I feel that my thoughts are so scattered and emotional that it is hard to put them down. So I'll stop for now.