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| Students teaching each other |
Learning
is not just a skill, but also an attitude.
The mindset of a teacher
in an evolving martial art is that of a relationship where both
student and instructor are venturing in a common effort to excel. The
training place, the dojo,
is a safe place to make mistakes and the instructor-student
relationship is based on creating independence by learning how to
learn. The Asian-influenced philosophy that is nourishing
mindfullness in learning, with the aim to improve skills, can seem
somewhat reversed compared to Western thinking that dominates in
academia.
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| A typical class room or dojo |
In
academia, a lot of time is spent on adsorbing a lot of information
with a presumption that students know how to process this raw
information. This stands in contrast to the thinking in martial arts,
where possessing a text with an important technique would be
considered useless or misleading without a moral understanding. The written information of a
technique in martial arts cannot be grasped unless one is able, with
assistance of a teacher, to contextualize and animate it and
appreciate its synergy with one’s present moral and intellectual
understanding. With age and experience, the understanding continues
to grow. Though the Asian-inspired thinking in teaching is hundreds
of yeas old it is only now beginning
to gain popularity in Western academia. Alvin
Toffler and Roy Leighton are among a few who strongly speak in favour
of replacing the overall understanding of education in a modern
society from an obsolete form based on memorization, were information
is available to anyone anywhere, with the ability of applying the
knowledge available.
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| Wonderful teacher-student interaction when teaching in Japan |
As an university
teacher with a background in martial arts, the academic education
seems incomplete by allowing students to pass a higher education by
displaying a mere ability to answer written or oral tests as
expected, without simultaneously educating the person how to apply
the knowledge for something good.
To become a good
instructor in martial arts, the teacher needs to be a leader among
equals: respecting the students while destroying his or hers own ego.
Developing skills in academia to a higher level (as it is the goal in
martial arts) is possible if the teacher embodies the passion for the
subject and insists on communication with students. This contact is
based on a mutual respect and striving for excellence by example.
A thought example. Imagine attending a martial art class where you for 45 minutes listened to a power point presentation of a teacher explaining how you should move and behave. Would you come back for the next lesson? Now imagine a university lecturer who takes the students somewhere relevant and interesting for the subject, shows and explains about the subject as examples appear or in response to questions, insist student explore and use their senses. Would you come back for that next lesson? Perhaps even go home and read about questions that appeared in the discussion?
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| Today's class is under water |
Promoting passion and healthy self-criticism above long-term purely
academic aims, such as degrees, might also result in overall
better-doing students. In addition, constant self-reflecting empowers
students to adapt to inevitable changes in life and constantly
reflect on their roles in collaborations. One aim of higher education
should be that the students would find they have an excess of passion
and begin teaching back on their own initiative - thus showing they
have developed a heart for learning.
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| Students teaching and learning, and smiling! |
