“We’ve got information in the information age. But do we know what life is outside of our convenient lexus cages?”
-Switchfoot ‘Gone’
All of this is a plea, a desire, a timid question, and confession.
Why has it taken so long for school to teach me meaning making? The how of pulling at information and weaving it together in a deeper understanding.
I have grown up in a world that is over-flowing with information and has taught me few skills on how to filter it all. Maybe I was born at an inconvenient time, a point in history where the world is working out what it means to have almost the whole world at our fingertips.
Through years of excessive information I’ve grown an intolerance and my palate for the rich taste of knowledge has grown dull. Yes, there can be too much of a “good thing”. Even when information is served in a unique way I’m often too jaded to savor it or care. This is not intended to be an excuse or a whining cry of a “net-gen” student, but an attempt at an honest confession by one 21 year old. I’ll admit to being an under-achieving student, the bane of some professors existence and yes I do regret not working harder in some classes. I’ll also admit I often don’t care when a professor tests me on pure information, on my ability to regurgitate, because those tests are almost always easier than other options and require little engagement from me.
How do I reconcile my belief in education and real school and my praxis that seems to rarely reflect that? Why do I even care when I could slide by? Why do I want to take the “long way around”? It makes no logical sense in the setting of school. I do not play by the rules of the game and suffer for it.
I do not want to conform to the patterns of this world, I want to be transformed through the renewing of my mind through a different model of thinking and learning. Teach me meaning making and I can go forth and do more than just be a passive observer. I can’t do this on my own though, this adventure was never meant to be a solitary journey. I am meant to be a caravanista traveling through time with you, measuring time and being measured by it. I want to do something of value in this short time span we call life. Is that too much to ask for?
Loaded Learning 
No, it is not. It is, in fact, a goal of most reasonably intelligent and observant people.
The weaving can be modeled and inspired and maybe even cajoled. Perhaps it can be taught, though I’m never quite sure about that. I do know it happens both in solitude and community, and that the caravan must include that entire range of experience.
I want to be on that caravan with you, Shannon.
I *am* on that caravan with you. And very grateful for it, too.
And, paradoxically, I also miss you. Today would be a great day for a Hyperion chat….
Gardner
P.S. We were talking about Switchfoot in my New Media Studies class just now. I believe one of my students will do her final project on the band. Stay tuned!
Hi your reflection on your own education and its deficiencies has led you to what has been a life-long pre-occupation – developing a form of ed. that is centred in being human.
You can see how far I’ve got here – http://sunwalked.wordpress.com/new/
Good luck on your way to the next caravanserai!