The other side of this dynamic is that people treat Radical Writers as a space where you can just show up and expect to be taught how to become a better writer, without having the involvement or having to do the work that a real academic class at school would provide. I think that type of education, which despite our best intentions tends to happen any time someone professes to host a "workshop" i.e., a model of education more democratic and non-hierarchical than a hated "school" class, is in fact even more hierarchical than traditional schooling, because it further reinforces the idea that a student is an empty vessel lacking knowledge, to be filled by the teacher/expert/professor. Without each and every participant preparing themselves to both learn AND teach, all workshops on any subject will run into this same problem. Writing workshops can be a shining example of how to use education for social change, and it's incredibly easy to lead them without hierarchy. But they require dedication and preparation, and unless you are interested in putting that in with me, then I'm not going to bother trying to put this thing together anymore.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Workshop on Workshops?
An excerpt of a rant from Steve S. in which he takes on our concept of skill shares and workshops:
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There's an excerpt from The Demon's Sermon on the Martial Arts that I'm especially fond of throwing around when the topic of education comes up. I think it makes a good point. Bear in mind that when he writes "This again is the spirit of the times" that he's speaking from about 200 years ago.
ReplyDelete"In the past, martial artists were serious, their resolution was absolutely sincere, they worked soundly on technique, and were neither daunted nor lazy. Such men believed what their instructors passed on to them, made great efforts day and night, tested their techniques, spoke with their friends about their doubts, mastered what they studied, and awakened themselves to principles. For this reason, what they acquired penetrated deeply within them. At first their instructors would teach them techniques, but say nothing of the principles that were hidden within them. They only waited for their students to uncover those principles for themselves. This is called 'drawing the bow, but not releasing the arrow.' And it's not that they spoke grudgingly. They simply wanted the students to use their minds, and to master what they were studying in the interval. Disciples would thoroughly exert their minds and make great efforts. If there was something they understood on their own, they would still go and confront the teacher; and he would acknowledge their understanding when their minds were in accord. If the teacher released the arrow, nothing would be learned. And this was not just in the martial arts. Confucius said, 'I am not going to go on with the fellow who does not respond by lifting up three corners when I have already lifted up one.' This was the teaching method of the men of old. In this way, the students were sure to be serious whether in scholarship or in the martial arts.
Nowadays, people are shallow and their resolution is not in earnest. They dislike the strenuous and love the easy from the time they are young. When they see something vaguely clever, they want to learn it right away; but if they are taught in the manner of the old ways, they think it is not worth learning. Nowadays, the way is revealed by the instructor, the deepest principles are taught even to beginners, the end result is set right out front, and the student is led along by the hand.
Even with methods like these students become bored and many of them quit. In this way, talking about principles takes the high seat, men of old ae considered inadequate, mastery becomes watered down, and students only make efforts in things that might have them ' climb to new heights.' This again, is the spirit of the times."
Let's face it. Old school martial arts teachers were lazy and more interested in keeping a bunch of young 'uns disciplined and in awe of their secret powers than actually imparting anything.
ReplyDeleteWith regard to workshops: I wonder if there isn't something fishy about our concept of "skills" that ought to be recalibrated, specifically vis a vis capitalist modes of production.
Oh, certainly you couldn't expect an old sifu or sensei to show you everything, I don't hold the 'old masters' up on a pedestal like Issai (I've had enough old masters to have lost the romantic notion of them). But I liked the overall point of the snippet, that the failing of modern ways is in the presenting of all facts up front, instead of letting students draw their own conclusions to come to more advanced techniques. Mediocrity is easily bought, sold, and given, mastery is always achieved alone.
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