Happy Valentine's Day, Everyone!

 Last week, I finished tutoring early at the I Have A Dream Foundation; usually I would just go home to fix dinner, but instead I decided to go upstairs and look around. One of the girls took me into a room and started working on an art project. The assignment was to draw/color a poster board, including sticky notes with either quotes or descriptions, to represent a book. In the process, she invited me to make a Valentine's Day card. These children had been making cards to take to the children's ward in Mission hospital.

This takes me to remember elementary school on Valentine's Day. Does anyone else remember turning milk cartons and shoe boxes into "mail boxes" to receive the little cards all the parents would buy in various grocery stores and tell us children to make sure we gave everybody one?

When did going to school become about writing papers and learning the tests and, as one girl said in my class this morning, "playing the system," and even as many people refer to it as "bullshitting"? Think really hard about the last time you were given an assignment that actually related to real life or was enjoyable in any way.

I know most teachers/professors will give any excuse for assigning papers, including that it will improve students' communication skills. Excuse the bluntness, but I find that to be a load of crap. If writing improved our communication skills, people would actually be able to, well, communicate. Instead of communication, what we have is everyone talking at once, nobody listening, and everyone wondering why nothing is getting done.

This is what I feel academic discourse has come to. Everyone learns how to write. It does NOT lead to being able to communicate. Communication requires for one person to talk while the other person/people actively listen. Then the roles switch. Its something we've all learned since our early childhood development years.

When academic discussion turns into "Everybody talk, nobody listen," nothing is achieved other than people's patience being worn extremely thin. This is what happened last week. What was supposed to be an academic discussion among peers turned into an interruption-filled argument. When people spoke, some tried to actively listen to what they were saying and really understand where they were coming from. Yet others seemed intent on only arguing their point and not allowing anyone else to finish what they were saying. Not only does this make a conversation extremely difficult to follow as a bystander, but even harder for those trying to follow the conversation to jump in with their own opinions.

To complicate the matter of academic discussion even more, you must take into consideration personality differences. When you simply assume that those who aren't speaking either haven't read the material being discussed or don't understand the material being discussed and take action against this assumption by saying that they should talk (but then leave no silent space for them to start speaking), it singles out people who may just be an introvert rather than an extrovert. 

Introverts will typically have a difficult time joining in a conversation among many people if they feel they can't even start a sentence without being interrupted. 

While I don't consider myself an introvert, I do find it difficult to put my thoughts into spoken comprehensible words. I also find myself very easily frustrated when I am trying to speak and being constantly interrupted. Just ask my boyfriend how many arguments we've had or come close to having in this area of life. Or ask my family why I don't try to have conversations with them; most of them will most likely have no clue (my father is the exception, since he is an introvert among my family of extroverts).

This is where blogging comes in handy. People (like me) are able to complete their thoughts on a topic without being interrupted. They are able to move logically from one topic of discussion to another. And they don't have to deal with everyone trying to talk over each other while no one listens.

How does this tie into fun school projects? Well, if the people in charge of the educational system will actually think and listen instead of just arguing, they may begin to figure out a way to change schools for the better. And if teachers will realize that while some students love to write and communicate their ideas effectively that way, other students may be able to communicate in more creative manners, such as drawing and coloring on the poster board.

And on that note, Happy Valentine's Day!