“If You Can’t Drive, Ride Shotgun: A Student Guide to Survival” by Tyrone Behari Jnr

In order to complete driver’s education, students must not only learn the traffic code to pass a written theory exam, but in addition, they have to display practical driving proficiency and exhibit proof of their skills to pass a road test.  In order to prepare for this, in-car driving lessons are taken where the student is either driving, or in the front passenger seat (shotgun) observing the instructor drive.  One place a student is never situated is in a backseat of the car.

Typically, people would say that they are endeavoring to “learn how to drive,” as opposed to phrasing it perhaps more simply as trying to “get a driver’s license.”  Where the education industry is concerned, it would appear that things are quite the contrary—“students educate themselves in pursuit of a degree instead of in the pursuit of learning” (Parker par. 2).  Different to an aspiring driver, a student is likely to say that they are going to “get a degree,” as opposed to “learn how to be a [insert desired profession here].”  Herein, we discover the problem where career training within the education industry is concerned: there is a backseat, passenger culture. 

It has become increasingly common for students to simply recycle, regurgitate and reproduce information that they are given in class onto assignments and exams simply to meet a pass grade and obtain their bachelor’s degree.  The professor drives the metaphorical car (teaching the class), while students stay in the backseat and simply wait to arrive at the end of the journey (course).  There is little to no chance for the student to show gumption; they assume the role of a nodding dog car accessory.  As students, it makes little sense to simply go from A to B.  “You do not play a sonata in order to reach the final chord, and if the meanings of things were simply in ends, composers would write nothing but finales” (Watts).  Good musicians ought to understand the journey of the music; otherwise, they will never truly appreciate or fully comprehend the beauty of the final sound.  Likewise, an ideal student should not simply try to pass exams and make good papers.  They should go through a myriad of other benefitting experiences along the way, such as further reading and group discussion, which help shape submitted work even if not directly referenced.  With every assignment, there is great insight to be grasped along the way.  Students should dread being like receptacles, having a brain filled to capacity yet not possessing genuine understanding (Freire). 

Typically, the professor is put upon a figurative pedestal, where the classroom is their court, and they are the judge and jury.  They adopt the role of the Big Chief, while also being lucky enough to simultaneously hold the position of Dean of Discipline (Gordon).  The paternalism that ran colonialism, runs the classroom (Freire).  Once within such an environment, the easiest option is to submit.  Herein, the student is fully immersed within the “edu-cage-tion machine” (Brookes); trapped, sentenced until the end of the semester.  Correction---the subsequent semesters will only have difference chiefs---the student is sentenced until graduation. 

Where grading is concerned, the bell curve system of which most professors follow, immediately limits students, shackles and all.  Why is the system so intent on having the majority of students tacitly labelled “average,” simply one of the crowd, hovering between a B and C- grade? Why can’t there be more than, say, five A grades in a class?  Surely, such an environment would be indispensable and much more beneficial at large.  Just picture classmates universally working with one another as they know that they can all receive an A if it is deserved.  Collaboration would be encouraged, and that only pays dividends due to the fact that an individual’s horizons are broadened when working with peers.  One’s empathy would be encouraged, which can only be a good thing due to the strength that possessing people skills and moral development holds within education. 

In Roksa and Arum’s “Life After College,” a study found that students who had substantial levels of peer-to-peer interaction while at college adjusted into vocational life with greater ease (Roksa and Arum).  It is said that 80-85% of career success is dependent on social (soft) skills, while only 15-20% is dependent on technical (hard) skills.  Lawrence Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development shows that there is a strong relationship between moral development and level of education (Kohlberg).  It would appear that the education industry as a whole currently falls within a pre-conventional morality (namely due to self-interest orientation).  According to Kohlberg, this stage should be outgrown during childhood!  With an empathetic, peer-orientated style of learning, students would rise from a pre-conventional morality, leapfrog a conventional morality, and achieve the most advanced stage of development under a post-conventional morality: universal ethics orientation.  Under this mindset, students would take a different approach to intelligent input from peers.  The competitive, “I don’t understand, so I must be stupid” mentality would be put aside for a self-enlightening echo of “I feel smart, as I had to stretch myself to comprehend” (Shah).

Under the professor-concentrated style of learning, the student is in the backseat.  A peer orientated style of learning brings the student into shotgun.  Feedback learning encourages the student to be an agent of change.  As humans, we should embrace this.  96% of our DNA is shared with chimpanzees; the difference is less than that between mice and rats (“Chimps, Humans 96 Percent the Same, Gene Study Finds”).  One of the principal characteristics that sets us apart as a more intelligent species is our opposable thumbs, the attribute ability of the precision grip.  We were made to be adaptable.

The adaptable nature of humans should be naturally complimented by college.  The word education is derived from mid-16^th century Latin and the word educāre: to train or to mold.  By definition of its origin, education should be exercising and developing students’ minds.  A good example of this taking place is in the class I write this very essay for.  Our professor, Paul Kirpal Gordon, emphasized from the very first day that we need to develop ourselves within the KP Trident (as a thinker, reader, and writer).  However, throughout the industry this is not always the case.  “So what is the solution?” I hear you ask.  My answer is work—occupational experience, namely internships and work-study programs.   

Occupational experiences are a gateway to endless opportunities.  Schools should actively encourage and help students to seek out opportunities, or even go as far as making sure that all students acquire work experience within their desired field by the time they graduate.  At the workplace, students get the opportunity to meet people living the life they wish to live (Gordon), as well as having the chance to apply their developed skills to the “real world.”  Similar to the peer-to-peer relationship at college, relationships with extremely valuable dialogue can be developed in the professional world.  Mentorship is the ultimate career training from the front seat (Goodman).  One college that is particularly following my suggested modus operandi is the University of Chicago.  The Jeff Metcalf Internship Program provides a $4,000 grant for a 10 week period, if an employer cannot afford to hire interns at the local minimum wage (“When Internships Don’t Pay, Some Colleges Will”).  Clearly, this school sees the value that I do when it comes to occupational experiences.    

We must be mindful how we go about changes to the education industry.  “Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose” (Karr).  The more things change, the more they stay the same.  Especially in the current political climate, radical desires will not be attended to.  They will ultimately not affect reality.  As with most matters, we need a progressive approach to help adjust the status quo.  For now, on the individual level, students should be proactive.  If you can’t drive, ride shotgun…just please do not get into the backseat.

Works Cited

Arum, Richard, and Roksa, Josipa. “Life after College: The Challenging Transitions of the Academically Adrift Cohort.” Change Magazine, June 19, 2012

Brookes, Samantha. “Rusted Gears: My Triumph over the American Education Factory.” Taking Giant Steps, June 29, 2016. http://giantstepspress.blogspot.com/2016/06/rusted-gears-my-triumph-over  american.html. Accessed November 11, 2017.

Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. 30^th Anniversary edition, Bloomsbury Academic, 2000

Goodman, Hannah. “Career Development for Undergraduates: A Genius-Bar Idea”. Taking Giant Steps, January 15, 2017.        http://giantstepspress.blogspot.com/2017/01/career    development-for undergraduates.html. Accessed November 11, 2017.

Gordon, Paul Kirpal. WSC 001 class discussion. Hofstra, October 26, 2017.

Hartocollis, Anemona. “When Internships Don’t Pay, Some Colleges Will”. The New York Times. Nov 2, 2017.

Karr, Jean-Baptiste A. Les Guêpes.  Journal, January 1949.

Kohlberg, Lawrence. Lawrence Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development. 2012.

Lovgren, Stefan. “Chimps, Humands 96 Percent the Same, Gene Study Finds”. National   Geographic News. August 31, 2005.

Parker, Morgan. Do Not Pass Graduation, Do Not Collect $200,000 Degree. 2015.

Shah, Ria. “Has the University Stolen the Fire in Our Bellies?” Taking Giant Steps, October 27, 2015. http://giantstepspress.blogspot.com/2015/10/has-university-stolen-fire-in our.html. Accessed November 11, 2017.

Watts, Alan W. The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety. Vintage Books,  2011

Stifling Society: Learning from the Uncivilized in WALKABOUT by Imani Hinson

Nature and the way things work outside of civilization is what promotes growth within individuals. Children exposed to the “real world” are given the opportunity to mature in ways that those who grow within civilization do not. Within western culture, children are accustomed to being cared for by their parents and accustomed to an education that makes them book smart; however, it is the interactions outside of the classroom that will stick with them and help them to learn real life. Being in nature promotes personal growth and helps young people mature into who they inspire to be. The separation from indigenous people and life outside of the suburbs of civilization hinders a child from maturing. We see the process of tearing down these dividing walls within the Nicholas Roeg's 1971 cult film classic Walkabout where civilized children are introduced to an unfamiliar world.

The film begins by defining a walkabout: “When an Aborigine man-child reaches sixteen, he is sent out into the land. For months he must live from it” (Roeg 0:08). The British children live in an Australian  city and are shown within their educational institutions where the girls are practicing vowel sounds and the young boys are also in school rote learning. Both the young lady and the boy are dressed in attire suitable for a formal school when the scene changes to their father driving them out to the Outback where it appears that they will be having a picnic. While the boy is playing with his toy gun and the young girl is setting up lunch, the dad begins to shoot real bullets at the boy. The young girl rushes over to protect both her and the younger brother, but is interrupted by the father lighting the car on fire and killing himself in the process. The young girl and boy now left on their own in the outback, must cope with living sans civilization, without someone holding their hand.

As the two young children walk through the Outback, they are not able to use many resources due to their lack of awareness of the numerous resources at their disposal. They see a black figure in the distance and they meet him, asking him how they can get water. The Aboriginal then uses his basic life skills to ensure that they are able to get water. He helps them get back to civilization, but not before showing them some of the land. This Aboriginal is on his walkabout, having to fend for himself, learning how to mature on his own without having supervision around or having someone baby him through every life decision. The boy just knows what he needs to do to stay alive, and he knows what he needs to do in order to make it through.

The film portrays many differences between civilized life and what is to be considered uncivilized life. It pans back and forth with jump cuts many times, contrasting Aboriginal and European lifestyles and cultural norms dedicated to each set; however, it does not show the difference between the education of the young and the ability to grow during educational years. In western civilization, we are taught arithmetic, reading, writing, social sciences, and natural sciences but learn nothing of the natural habitat or of the indigenous people living in nature. We are systemically taught how to be spoon-fed until around the age of 23 when we are given the chance to be completely independent, to find jobs and learn how to fend for ourselves in a world that is not too kind. “Conservative trends across western schooling contexts are signaling an explicit devaluing of social and moral learning within their official curriculum mandates” (Keddie 355). Western civilization grants students the opportunity to grow in a scholastic sense but not in a moral or social capacity.

In western culture we are educated on a surface level; teachers administer assignments and students are expected to know the information but are never given hands on experience. Paulo Freire discusses the banking concept of learning in western culture where “education is seen as a transaction in which teachers deposit knowledge in their students” (Beckett 50). The problem with this model is that students are never challenged enough to think for themselves or to learn things outside of what is taught within the classroom. Students lack the chance to grow on their own or think for themselves which hinders their development and their growth process. They are halted from learning because they are fed information and expected to regurgitate it when needed instead of having a hands-on experience with the real world.  Freire says that “it’s impossible for me to help someone without teaching him or her something with which they can start to do by themselves” (Beckett). When western culture frees itself of this notion that students are not able to think for themselves, only then will our children will be far more educated and able to grow at a much better rate.

In Aboriginal culture a walkabout is taken by a young person in late adolescence. Given the chance to live on their own for months, teens must learn how to hunt, cook and fend for themselves and yet make it out alive. This may seem harsh, but is that just the western civilized way of thinking? If civilized children were taught beyond the four core subjects, would they be better adapted to the world they will eventually encounter? The Aboriginal was able to take care of himself and two strangers because, from a young age, he was gifted the tools and knowledge of how to be on one’s own. He was not coddled by his parents or village and therefore was forced to grow up and become mature enough to be self-sustained.

Although children of civilized communities are well educated in terms of the core subjects, it is essential to realize all they miss out on by not being introduced to non-civilized life. “The children of civilized races are shut away [from] free contact with nature [and] grow up with undeveloped capacities” (Jones 493).This quote was taken from a study done by Martha Simpson, simulating the Aboriginal walkabout for kindergarten children in civilized Australia. These children were given an opportunity to expand their education outside of the walls of their classroom and learn what those who are living this life every day experience. By creating a simulated walkabout, the children are given an opportunity to have that growth period on their own like the Aboriginals who live there already have. The tools for success to living life can be given through the nature of being able to know what’s in one’s backyard. “Advocates believed that direct contact with nature fostered the instincts required for adjustment to the modern world” (Jones 493). Taking some practices from the Aboriginal people, western civilization would be able to mature if we were not afraid to take a peak in their back yards.

In addition, by showing children the idea of accepting diversity, they are able to grow up knowledgeable about the many different cultures in the world. In western civilization many young children do not know of diversity or are not willing to accept it until they are older. The maturity process that comes with being outdoors and experiencing other cultures helps to ensure that these children are equipped with the tools for success when viewing others. As KP said, these children are not able to get to the point where they “look at others and don’t see others as others” (Gordon). They are not at stage five and six of Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of moral development. “In brief, for Kohlberg later stages were not just different than earlier stages; later stages were in fact higher, more adequate, preferable, more moral or morally better than earlier stages” (Moroney 362). “Most people never reach the highest stages (five and six)” (Moroney 362). These children must be given the tools and access to seeing diversity first hand.

In Simpson’s experiment “Aboriginal legends and cultural practices thus become teaching tools for white settler children, enabling them to learn from the bush” (Jones 494). These children were given the tools to accept diversity and appreciate other cultures because they were exposed to differences and different people at a young age. By teaching children in their early ages of learning to accept all cultures and people they are given a step ahead of others to reaching their full moral capacity.

Walkabout asks the question as to if our society’s education is really equipping us with the tools we need to succeed. Being a college student, growing up in the ideal public school education, there is so much more that is unseen and unknown of due to the fact that the education system has not gifted the facts about life outside of civilization. They teach the four core subjects and expect young adults to be able to know how to live their life. For western civilized children our walkabout does not start until 22 or 23 when we are set out on our own after college to find jobs, to find housing, to find ourselves, but that walkabout process of exploring and learning could be our guide along the way as we go through schooling. If children in western civilization were not so coddled by our society’s education system then our children would go far beyond what they ever thought of accomplishing.

Works Cited

Beckett, Kelvin Stewart. "Paulo Freire and the Concept of Education." Educational Philosophy & Theory, vol. 45, no. 1, Jan. 2013, pp. 49-62. Web. 28. Feb.2017.

Gordon, Paul Kirpal. 22 Feb. 2017. Class discussion.

Jones, Jennifer. "Nature Study, Aborigines and the Australian Kindergarten: Lessons from Martha Simpson’s Australian Programme Based on the Life and Customs of the Australian Black." History of Education, vol. 43, no. 4, July 2014, pp. 487-503. Web. 20. 2017.

Keddie, Amanda. "Prioritizing Social and Moral Learning Amid Conservative Curriculum Trends: Spaces of Possibility." Journal of Curriculum Studies, vol. 47, no. 3, June 2015, pp. 355-373. Web. 22. 2017.

Moroney, Stephen K. "Higher Stages? Some Cautions for Christian Integration with Kohlberg's Theory." Journal of Psychology & Theology, vol. 34, no. 4, Winter2006, pp. 361-371. Web. 22. 2017

Walkabout. Dir. Nicholas Roeg. Perf. Jenny Agutter, Jean-Luc Roeg, and David Gumpilil. 1971. Youtube.

Career Development for Undergraduates: A Genius-Bar Idea by Hannah Goodman

To many, the sole purpose of coming to college is to get an education with the intent of applying those skills in the real world. For some, entering post-secondary education is an opportunity to explore many different opportunities and fields that they may pursue in the future, while others, like myself, begin college knowing exactly what they plan to achieve. An issue that often presents itself is the lack of real-world experience and internship opportunities for certain fields of study. After talking to many professors and trusted adults, I declared myself as a double major in Criminology and Psychology with the hopes of being provided the best pathway toward a career with the FBI. Even so, Hofstra does not offer any internships with the Bureau, let alone anything similar in nature. It is not just an issue that is present at Hofstra, but at universities all over.   

           

While there are many goals to accomplish in college, some are much more beneficial than others. In the short time that I have been at Hofstra, I have noticed a significant lack of internship opportunities to gain real world experience. Although the Lawrence Herbert School of Communications, along with those students on the pre-med track, are given abundant options to gain hands-on experience as part of their college experience, it seems to me that they are among the only ones. It is of utmost importance that students are fully exposed to the realities of the career that they have dedicated their time and money to for the next four years. Without the chance to go into the field and learn first-hand how life will be following the pursuit of their major, students will be more vulnerable to the harsh truths of the world once it is far too late to shift gears in a timely and effective manner. As a result of unrealistic assumptions, students frequently become entrapped in a field that they no longer wish to pursue post-graduation. After going through the entire college experience, it is not likely that these students would have the motivation---or financial ability---to start from scratch in a new field of study. 

Another issue that may arise for students wishing to pursue a field with few directly related educational opportunities is information presented in an ineffective way. As explained by Paulo Freire in “The Banking Concept of Education,” “It turns them [the students] into ‘containers,’ into ‘receptacles’ to be ‘filled’ by the teachers” (Freire, Par. 4). This statement directly correlates with the main ideas elaborated on throughout the entire piece, expressing the detrimental effects of many current teaching methods. Freire explains that many instructors simply deposit information in the students, shoving it down their throats and expecting regurgitation come test time.  By doing so, it has been found that the content is not actually learned, for when the student “vomits” the materials up on test day, the knowledge leaves the student as well. The classroom, in many scenarios, has become a monarchy in which the instructor’s knowledge overpowers the thoughts of everyone else, regardless of their quality. Instead of being talked at, it has been shown to be much more effective to be talked to in such a way that true conversation occurs.  Freire cites the importance of inventing and reinventing one’s beliefs, along with expressing one’s freedom, which I believe to be strongly contradictory with the banking concept of education. Without the freedom to express one’s own views and to have true dialogue, the margin for self-improvement and growth shrinks significantly.

In Roksa and Arum’s “Life After College,” they report that in 2010, college graduates faced an unemployment rate of 9.1 percent, the highest rate on record, and just one of the many challenges faced by young people.  When evaluating the 925 graduates who were a part of their study of how effectively college graduates transition into adult life, they found that academic engagement and growth during college was a significant factor in the future success of the young graduates. In addition to studying students’ academic engagement, the researchers used the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA), which evaluates complex reasoning, critical thinking, and writing skills. Ultimately, the study revealed that those students who exhibited substantial levels of intellectual commitment, active participation, and progression throughout their time in college were those who adjusted into the real world in a much steadier fashion (Roksa and Arum, Par. 11).

These results further support the idea that the education system most commonly used is not necessarily the best option. Due to the organization of class materials and how they are taught, it has become significantly harder to comprehend the information being fed to the pupils.  Although it may seem effective at a first glance, it is a shorthand effect that is masked by incorrectly portrayed test scores. While this has become a much more significant problem in schools all over, there are many approaches to fix this overlooked dilemma that the current, and future, generations of students are burdened by. To help prevent this group of aspiring young adults from wasting precious resources, colleges and universities could provide greater opportunities to ensure that the students’ presumed interest and dedication to a field aligns with the reality of that field. With such opportunities, students would be able to change course well before it is too late to begin the entire process again. There is a simple solution that could be presented for students interested in gaining first-hand knowledge, regardless of their field of study. I think of it as a “genius bar” of mentors: a central, online portal where all interested students can go to browse, make connections with alumni and other professionals in related fields, and expand horizons in order to gain experience and greater understanding in a hands-on fashion.

Yes, while there are already internship programs here at Hofstra, they are not all equal. For example, the communications and pre-med programs are known to provide an abundance of real-world opportunities for students who display interest. I spoke with a sophomore, Harvin Singh, who has some personal insight on the pre-med side of Hofstra’s internship opportunities. After graduating high school at the age of 17 in his home of India, Harvin attended the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, followed by two semesters at Fordham University, before finding himself here at Hofstra. Harvin, who has already achieved so much at the ripe age of 21, told me that he believes Hofstra offers loads of opportunities for students on a pre-med track.  “They have really good placement events every two months” (Singh). During his sophomore year after transferring to Hofstra, Harvin was offered two separate internships with Northwell Health System, both of which he now regrets turning down.  On the other end of the spectrum, there are students at Hofstra, myself included, who have been desperately looking for internships and other opportunities to gain field experience that seemingly do not exist for our fields of interest.

If my proposal was brought to fruition, it would not rely on school administration to deal with students seeking these outside internships; instead, the mentors who would be choosing to take interns under their wing. With this genius bar of mentors and professionals in the New York City region and beyond (think alumni in far-flung areas) who are willing to further expand the knowledge and experience of dedicated young individuals, many doors would be opened to an endless array of options.  In the genius bar, one would be able to search the database by using tags related to the field of pursuit. 

So, for instance, if I were utilizing the genius bar to find a mentor, and my goal was to become an FBI Special Agent, I would look for tags of FBI, Law, Law Enforcement, Criminal Justice, Cyber Security, National Security, and Fraud, among others.  This way, it would be easy to sort through different people and options without being overwhelmed by useless information.  Mentors would not necessarily need to be in close proximity to the school due to the ability to communicate via video chats and social networking sites.  A mentor and student could be in contact with one another throughout the course of the school year and then work together in the field of choice over the summer. With such a program, students could explore the actuality of the job they plan to pursue, while still having the option of changing their minds before they no longer have any reasonable choices left. Students would no longer have to concern themselves that their expectations may actually be misconceptions if they have the ability to find out the answers on their own.  Additionally, the university could set up regular opportunities for students and professors or alumni to connect outside of the classroom through round table discussions and auditing of classes. 

It is so important for students to learn in a positive environment where they feel comfortable expressing their opinions and are able to gain solid insight into their future if they take a particular path. Through real interactions and experiential learning, rather than simply hearing lectures from the front of a hall, students’ capacity to absorb material increases greatly, widening their margin for future success. There is also much value in making and sustaining outside connections, for they can be used down the road when looking for guidance, references, and employment. Another aspect of the genius bar would be exposure to listings of other opportunities that may not seem directly correlated with one’s interests, but could have a positive effect. For example, the genius bar could also offer connections with non-profit organizations, volunteer opportunities, groups that work with underserved children and families, and other indirect ways to gain exposure to the field of interest.

With greater opportunities for hands-on learning, students will be able to experience real-world situations in order to decide whether that field is or is not for them. By doing so while still in college, changing one’s mind does not necessarily have to put a damper on the student's education. The mentoring genius bar and lists of organizations that correspond with certain areas of study will be a great way to expose students to opportunities they may not have thought of, or have been able to attain otherwise. Hopefully, with the creation of this database, the issue of graduating college and transitioning into the real world only to discover your dislike toward your field will significantly decrease, creating a more effective education system for all those who are interested.

Works Cited

Arum, Richard, and Josipa Roksa. "Life after College: The Challenging Transitions of the Academically Adrift Cohort." Change Magazine. Taylor & Francis Group, n.d. Web.

Freire, Paulo. “The Banking Concept of Education” Chapter 2 of Pedagogy of the Oppressed. 

Singh, Harvin. Conversation. 12/13/16

Just Another Loose Brick in the Wall by Kelsey Picciano

Homeostasis, the tendency of a system or a person to maintain internal stability and resist change, can get easily upset, especially in the change from high school to college. I definitely felt my homeostasis slip away on September 3, 2015, as I entered my first semester's composition class. The wildly gray-haired instructor with the observant blue eyes asked us to think of him as a coach or midwife and to call him KP, just like his writing clients do in the real world. He said looking at the backs of one another’s heads put us at a disadvantage, another example of how the education industry was “running game” on us, and invited us to arrange our desks into a circle so that we could see one another better. We wrote our names on tags we hung from our seats, looked around and introduced ourselves. After we read the syllabus aloud, he asked us to take ownership of the course, journal on our experience (75 pages!), get to know each other, author our own author-ity, discover our identities as writers and not mind a little homeostatic upset.

He may not have realized that his interrogation of everything had already threatened our homeostasis. As class ended, some shook their heads, rolled their eyes or huffed their discontent. Was he too unpredictable for the grade-centric, too participatory for the shy, too poetic for the more rectilinear among us? Although some called him a hopeless nut case, insane weirdo or serious whack job, I felt intrigued by his strange antics, irreverent disposition and passionate bursts of ideas. He wasn’t merely critiquing our conventional expectations; he was celebrating an alternative that would prove life-changing for me. So, over the next few weeks, I gathered the evidence, but his medicine proved useful only after I took to heart his diagnosis of our millennial generation’s illness—we’re in peer competition; we fear being judged; we have weak attention spans co-opted by smart phones (“magic power devices” in KP-speak), computer screens, texts, TV—so we are reactive, not proactive (Gordon, interview).

Regarding our inability to listen for long, he called the prompts we’d been given for writing assignments in high school can’t-fail, paint-by-number exercises that eliminated thoughtful responses in favor of predictable mediocrity. He delivered to us what service providers at Hofstra had delivered to him: We, having had no experience out of our homeostasis, could not make use of the university’s resources that we had already paid for (Gordon, class discussion). Hence, our first prompts, though activity-driven—a) convince the class that one’s peer interviewee is an asset to us; b) experience a service at Hofstra, interview the service provider and convince us to participate in the service—came with no written instructions. As one of our best writers put it, “At first I was frustrated with a lack of direction because growing up all we had was a sheet of paper with an assignment and we stuck to that, but with KP I discovered that there is more room to express ourselves freely without fear of being greatly penalized in our work. Not only does it allow for creative freedom, but it removes the stress from writing essays” (Solis). Ironically, his encouragement of our transcending convention rather than enforcing it granted greater capacity to express, as well as to entertain, new ideas.

He talked ideas often and he increased my attention span with his animated commentaries: a combination of playful asides and cliff-hanging transitions, puns and double entendres, song lyrics and poem quotes, jazz and jailhouse slang, exclamations in other tongues. His rapid-fire delivery burst our little high school bubbles, but I sensed another motive more sinister than shock and awe. His trust-your-gut-&-let-go-into-the-flow convo style invited us to treat language as a tool for discovery rather than a restricting set of rules that kept us in our places. He also caused me to reconsider strategies for conveying a thesis as well as new ways to interpret data. As Sydney put it, “When he first starts talking, there is that doomed moment of total uncertainty about where he is going, but after slowly internalizing his diverse ramblings into a coherent whole, it turns out that his ideas can be applied with great benefit to most aspects of our college intellectual life” (Chesworth). 

Like he predicted, we did need one another—as study buddies, as readers of our journals, as peer reviewers and as writers capable of taking feedback—to repudiate the banking concept of education (Freire, 1) with a problem-posing method that engages us as peers. My heart opened while reading a blog post from his former student fresh from the Ivy League and a life-threatening coma who described KP “as being the weirdest person in the room in order to ensure that no one feels alienated by their fellow classmates” (Weiss, par. 3). His asking us to take him as he is meant that he wanted us to be ourselves and “quit frontin’.” Because of (or in spite of) his behavior, we learned to speak our minds and share notions that we may have otherwise rejected as below standard or out of orbit.

In essence, his wide-angle, learn-by-doing method suggests that we create room for all the possibilities, including the non-rational, intuitional and oddball notion. This involves an attitude adjustment about making mistakes or getting judged and leads to a more dynamic exchange of ideas. We students are allies to each other rather than aliens and one another’s greatest resource; the success of our peers is not a threat to our achievement within the class. Intellectual growth of those around us only encourages and evokes development within our expanding minds. Learning of the upmost importance occurs within our one-on-one experience, and it is the heart-to-heart, eye-to-eye conversations with our equals that provide us with life lessons that will extend further beyond our schooling years. Developing close interpersonal relationships facilitates the improvement of our skills as writers and thinkers. As a service to one another, KP asks us to critique the work our peers have presented and to offer praise when praise is due as well as offer solutions to what is problematically expressed. Not only must one be honest and tactful but also be willing to change one’s mind without fear of failure, which is particularly relevant because, preceding our university experience, we were tricked into becoming slightly different versions of the ideal student in order to get accepted by our dream college. We lost our individuality without any recognition of it even happening. Now that we have become acutely aware of this loss, we must regain the original and unafraid voices that we rightfully possess.

Nothing has stimulated this unlearning/re-learning process for me like discussions following reading assignments. From the parable of the Chinese farmer to the Gestalt vase/facial profile image, from Chuang Tzu’s butterfly dream to Lawrence Kohlberg’s levels of moral development, from Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” to Alan Watts’ The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are, from Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” to John Smitanka’s “A Reflection on the Purpose of Higher Education,” from Gloria Anzaldua’s “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” to Susan Faludi’s Backlash, from Malcolm X’s “The Ballot ot the Bullet” to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and Thomas Frank’s eye to contemporary university life alongside Roksa and Arum’s “Life after College,” I better sense reality’s multi-dimensional threshold. Talks about Taoism, Buddhism and other meditation-driven philosophies have inspired me to research ideas that had previously seemed bizarre, but I can now confidently say I identify with.

Having grown up in a strict, conservative household where I was constantly spoon-fed beliefs that I had to follow, I wouldn’t have even thought to reach beyond the Roman Catholic, predetermined, obedience-driven mold bestowed upon me. When I thought of school or church, it was the image of a machine filing in students and turning them out as plastic, uniformly faced learners from the music video by Pink Floyd, accompanied by the words: “We don’t need no thought control … all and all, you’re just another brick in the wall” (Pink Floyd). Now, for the first time in my educational career, my point of view is not limited by my mother’s fear-based, overbearing restrictions. I have expanded my ways of thinking and have been met with enthusiasm by my classmates. Having intellectually grown as an individual due to this inimitable character, I now understand what was meant by the comment: “With KP, you will do more than just learn” (Anonymous). 

Works Cited 

Anonymous. “Paul K. Gordon at Hofstra University – RateMyProfessors.com.” N.p., 25 May     2015. Web. 28 Oct. 2015.

Chesworth, Sydney. Personal interview. 27 Oct. 2015.

Freire, Paulo. “The Banking Concept of Education.” thinkingtogether.org. 4 Feb. 2004. Web. 5 Sep. 2015.

Gordon, Paul Kirpal. Class discussion. 3 Sep. 2015.

Gordon, Paul Kirpal. Personal interview. 6 Oct. 2015.

Pink Floyd. “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2).” The Wall. 1979. CD.

Solis, Lola. Personal interview. 27 Oct. 2015.

Weiss, Jared, “The Power of Belief,” Taking Giant Steps Blog, 23 Nov. 2015.

Gettin' Queer for Dope: Learning How to Learn about LGBT Identity by Morgan Parker



When I met Sarah on August 28th, 2015, I saw a very shy and sheltered Mormon-raised girl. When I met Josh two weeks later, I saw a very bright and bubbling boundary-breaking guy. I’d never imagine that these two distinct identities and two distinct personalities came from one single person. My roommate is transgender, and while he was in the process of translating his entire identity, I was adjusting my mind to the prospect of not only meeting, but living with, a person entirely new. Despite any initial apprehension, I know that I am among the luckiest freshmen for having been blessed with this life-changing experience. I have been enlightened and I owe it all to a little club on campus and a new friend named Josh. This club, known as the Pride Network, epitomizes a true community that offers the unique opportunity for diversifying, involving, and inspiring our minds within a safe and supportive environment. Hofstra Universitywould surely be a different place if it did not exist.

In her September 11, 2015 Taking Giant Steps blogpost, “Leaping out of the Cave and into the Light,” Deanna Weber discusses her yearning for the diversity and experience that Hofstra University provides. She writes, “Not only did I long for students who did not look so much like me, but I also wanted to encounter people with more experience about different places and points of view” (Weber). However, just because so much diversity surrounds us at a place like Hofstra, that doesn’t mean that we are taking advantage of it. As college freshmen, we are especially in the dark when it comes to challenging and diversifying our minds. However, my roommate Josh Green and his friend Matt Sullivan are one step into the light ahead of everyone else. My interviewees were brave enough to be involved with something outside of their comfort zone and, in return, were met with great reward. This is because The Pride Network embodies a form of diversity that is entirely attainable. Matt says, “It’s all about learning, and it’s very comfortable. The purpose is that everyone is welcome” (Sullivan). This is a deliberate characteristic of the club whose main goal is to better the community through awareness. These are people who invariably know that the more differences you have from the person sitting next to you, the more opportunities you have to learn something new. These are people who know how to make every person they meet into an asset.

Moreover, the Pride Network concerns itself with learning outside of Hofstra University by organizing trips and other opportunities for students to attend. Recently Matt, along with other members of the club, ventured to Vermont to attend a “Translating Identity” conference that explored a number of topics regarding gender and transgender identities, expressions, and communities. The conference featured a keynote speaker prominent in the LGBTQ community and aimed not just to reach students and members of this community, but the entirety of the nation (“Translating Identity Conference”). Enlightening experiences, such as this conference, are available and accessible to all interested club members, and are widely encouraged! The goal is for students to see more and learn more outside of what they are comfortable with by breaking free of any means of restriction. Becoming a member of this club provides the first step in our own “leap out of the cave,” and gives us that first glimpse of light. The Pride Network’s overwhelming desire to educate and interact is what makes it crucial to the infrastructure of our “diversity university.”

Beyond the idea of education as a means of opening ourselves up to diversity, the Pride Network provides an experience for those seeking to “learn how to learn” through involvement. As products of the traditional learning pedagogy, we have been programmed to believe that true learning only exists by the guidance of a teacher within the four walls of a classroom. However, the Pride Network proves that belief is far from true. Opportunities for involvement in club meetings and social interactions offer a greater, more valuable kind of learning. Paulo Freire, author of “The Banking Concept of Education,” provides an explanation of this ideal form of learning in what he calls “problem-posing education.” He writes, “Education as the practice of freedom as opposed to education as the practice of domination denies that man is abstract, isolated, independent, and unattached to the world; it also denies that the world exists as a reality apart from people. Authentic reflection considers neither abstract man nor the world without people, but people in their relations with the world” (Freire 8). In other words, knowledge comes mostly from experience and from learning about the people in your world rather than learning about the world apart from them.

Furthering this idea, at a typical Pride Network meeting, members begin by sitting around a table and introducing themselves to everyone before beginning the discussion of that week. When Matt and Josh sat down at their first meeting, their minds were still forced shut by fear and anxiety. However, within the first five minutes, those feelings subsided and their minds were engaged. Matt noted, “When we got into a circle and introduced ourselves, everyone seemed more relatable” (Sullivan). Dissolving formality and opening up to discussion is one of many ways the Pride Network runs parallel with Freire’s ideal learning pedagogy. The club holds weekly discussions of current and pressing social issues that are “fun to talk about” (Sullivan). For instance, they recently ran a meeting for people who were interested in discussing the Democratic Party debate that had aired just a few days prior. Additionally, at most meetings they will break up into smaller discussion groups to consider more specific or personal issues. As Paulo Freire put it, “Here, no one teaches another, nor is anyone self-taught. People teach each other, mediated by the world, by the cognizable objects which in banking education are ‘owned’ by the teacher” (Freire 7). Seldom does one find the opportunity to involve oneself in something that, by nature, gives more than it takes. Simply being there is the greatest thing you can offer the Pride Network, but in return it gives you back something much greater.

One of the most intriguing things Josh ever said to me was that somehow Hofstra felt like a home to him before his own body did. As difficult as it was for me to comprehend such a statement, it was also oddly empowering. I didn’t really understand the true impact it had on me until I attended a meeting of the Pride Network for myself: If ever I could be a real fly on the wall, I certainly would have been at that meeting. My goal was to be an objective observer, so I could focus more on the big picture than on my own involvement. However, there is certainly something to be said about being the only person in the room who is somehow different from everyone else. I didn’t feel anxious or nervous, but I certainly felt out of place. After a few minutes of feeling that way I remembered Josh’s comment, and I started to understand what it really meant to me, as well as everyone else in the club. For those fifteen minutes of feeling outside of my comfort zone, any other person in the room could have spent fifteen years feeling the same way. For one reason or another, not everyone has a comfort zone they can depend on returning to and I realized I had been taking mine for granted. This was a place made for people to belong; a comfort zone for those who may not have their own.

Ultimately, it is the atmosphere at the Pride Network that breathes inspiration and positivity. Everywhere I looked I could see someone inhaling the Pride Network and exhaling with relief and confidence. This is a place where the only thing you might have in common with the person sitting next to you is that you are different. This is a place where everyone feels entirely content to be wholly and unapologetically themselves. Finally, this is a place where everyone can feel a part of something greater. Beyond everything I have written, to say that this club has changed people’s lives would still be an understatement. My roommate, Josh, may never have been confident enough to become himself had the Pride Network not been ready to catch him when his old life came crashing down. As Deanna Weber wrote, “I am big on self-love and self-happiness, and diversity is something that can contribute to both of these things” (Weber).

The Pride Network offered me the kind of enlightenment Deanna Weber spoke so much about. Although I may not yet have made my leap into the light, I feel confident that this experience has equipped me with the means by which to do so. I learned that I have the responsibility to not only observe, but immerse myself in, the diversity that surrounds me. I learned what it means to really learn. Most crucially, I learned that everything around me has something to offer me if I am willing to look hard enough.

Works Cited

Freire, Paulo. "The "Banking" Concept of Education." Plato (2007): n. pag. Web.

Green, Josh. Personal Interview. 14 Oct. 2015.

Sullivan, Matthew. Personal Interview. 14 Oct. 2015.

"The Internet Classics Archive | The Republic by Plato." The Internet Classics Archive | The Republic by Plato . N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.

"University of Vermont." Translating Identity Conference. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.

Weber, Deanna. “Leaping out of the Cave and into the Light,” Taking Giant Steps. N.p., 11 Sept. 2015. Web.