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Brad mentioned in class that the education system in the 18 and 19th century were much more effective because students who wanted to learn a trade had to learn it as a way of life. In short, they had to live, eat, breathe and sleep the trad...e. Today, Brad laments that the education system has gotten colder and more distant, seemingly out of reach of modern students, and therefore presumably LESS effective. But I think that is just misguided sometimes, and Brad's or anyone else's who thinks the same really just feels a sense of nostalgia for quaint customs and are predisposed romanticizers!! But I'm not saying romanticizing is wrong; rather I am saying that evolution has made human beings adaptable and no matter the circumstance of education, people will ultimately find their own means to make education or the education system work for them!
If you place a child long enough in a foreign environment, he or she will naturally find the means to adapt to the rubric of society; thats socialization. If a man lives long enough at an altitude of 3500m, his or her body will naturally adapt to the oxygen dearth; thats acclimatization. When you place a prey animal-group long enough in a wild life reserve, it will naturally find better means to better evade its predator; thats evolution.
So the thing is the education system today may not be fancy or even deplorable, but that is LIFE! We do not always get what we want right up to our expectations because the business of life is imperfect. Life doesn't look out for our expectation and or ever tries to match our desires, we play that role instead. And that is why there are students who CAN be successful in boring education systems with mundane lectures simply because they have found the most effective means to achieve in a boring education system. In a word, they are adaptable! And isnt adaptability a VIRTUE/VALUE in professional communication?? So it would mean that you can only become an effective professional communicator if you can effectively EMBRACE the current boring education system, because the adaptability of professional communication is the same one as that used to embrace boring education systems!!!
The key point is you do not only practice professional communication in professional communication, because thats hypocritical!!! In order for you to really be a good professional communicator, you have to make sure you practice the VIRTUES/VALUES of professional communication IN EVERY ASPECT OF YOUR LIFE! If you expect to be a good business manager in the workplace, you had better first be a good husband to your wife, fathers to your children, and son to your dad, because these things are consistent with each other. You can tell a good fisherman by his quiet, calm and patient demeanour; in science, you can predict cell mortality simply by looking at cell integrity, and we are able to do all this because consistent across-the-board values allows us to do it. Therefore professional communication MUST be a WAY OF LIFE. It CANNOT be TRUELY effective, if it is meant to be used in a specific setting and at a specific time. Of course, there is the possibility that we could be perfect actors and role-players and be able to enact the correct markers of professional communicators at a certain time and place, but that is NOT the highest level of professional communication.
The true challenge of professional communication is consistency!
If you place a child long enough in a foreign environment, he or she will naturally find the means to adapt to the rubric of society; thats socialization. If a man lives long enough at an altitude of 3500m, his or her body will naturally adapt to the oxygen dearth; thats acclimatization. When you place a prey animal-group long enough in a wild life reserve, it will naturally find better means to better evade its predator; thats evolution.
So the thing is the education system today may not be fancy or even deplorable, but that is LIFE! We do not always get what we want right up to our expectations because the business of life is imperfect. Life doesn't look out for our expectation and or ever tries to match our desires, we play that role instead. And that is why there are students who CAN be successful in boring education systems with mundane lectures simply because they have found the most effective means to achieve in a boring education system. In a word, they are adaptable! And isnt adaptability a VIRTUE/VALUE in professional communication?? So it would mean that you can only become an effective professional communicator if you can effectively EMBRACE the current boring education system, because the adaptability of professional communication is the same one as that used to embrace boring education systems!!!
The key point is you do not only practice professional communication in professional communication, because thats hypocritical!!! In order for you to really be a good professional communicator, you have to make sure you practice the VIRTUES/VALUES of professional communication IN EVERY ASPECT OF YOUR LIFE! If you expect to be a good business manager in the workplace, you had better first be a good husband to your wife, fathers to your children, and son to your dad, because these things are consistent with each other. You can tell a good fisherman by his quiet, calm and patient demeanour; in science, you can predict cell mortality simply by looking at cell integrity, and we are able to do all this because consistent across-the-board values allows us to do it. Therefore professional communication MUST be a WAY OF LIFE. It CANNOT be TRUELY effective, if it is meant to be used in a specific setting and at a specific time. Of course, there is the possibility that we could be perfect actors and role-players and be able to enact the correct markers of professional communicators at a certain time and place, but that is NOT the highest level of professional communication.
The true challenge of professional communication is consistency!
Cheers
Hey Mark, liked the way you linked education and adaptation. However, I think that you’ve misunderstood Brad’s point. I suppose he meant that apprenticeships were effective as the apprentices were able to spend all of their time learning a single art, which would make you an expert in it wouldn’t you think? Whereas in today’s model of education, we are made to study an incredibly broad spectrum of subjects, none of which are in depth enough for us to become experts in it, unless we are in universities. Indeed, a review of our education system would be that as we advance in education levels, we begin to learn more and more about less and less. We have undoubtedly adapted effectively to this model, with most people able to pass their exams and all, but perhaps most importantly, do we ‘take away’ this knowledge with us, or do we forget about it all once the exams are finished and we achieve the desired grades?
ReplyDeleteI do agree on your assertion that effective communications should be effected at all times. In a world where appearances are increasingly scrutinized upon, being able to communicate in an effective way will speak volumes of your virtues than anything else. Pretensions do not last indefinitely, thus we will have to incorporate it into our lives, till we achieve unconscious competence at it, and will be a part of us.
Thanks, gentlemen, for a very worthy discussion. I have to agree with Jake though when he says that you Mark have misunderstood my point on education before the industrial era. In fact, Jake does a fine job of summarizing my ideas as presented in class. He also offers appropriate insights.
ReplyDelete