Reflecting on this course is a harder process to undertake than I previously appreciated. This is in no small part due to the complexity of this module. Indeed, to even call it a module is too simplistic, it ignores the intricacies of the different aspects and actors involved with it. Indeed, to reduce this module to its credits forgets that this course is being taken as extra credits by a substantial amount of its participants. Furthermore, this course was never meant to be just a course of essays and tutorials so, therefore, to reflect on it as such ignores the last semester of conversation, consensus, criticism and wider learning. This is a course that can not be evaluated in terms of content but rather should be evaluated in terms of the process, as it has been this from which I believe we have ‘learned’ the most so far. Indeed we created and are creating the content as we go. It is hard therefore to reflect on the course in terms of what it is, as this is still being configured, but rather what it can be.
That said, what we have established so far is that this course should probably be understood as completely separate from the rest of university life. Indeed this separatism and uniqueness have been both a blessing and a curse thus far. Having no structure has allowed us to completely disconnect ourselves from the didactic approach to learning central to other courses, allowing us to organically create a new style of learning that is totally unique to us. Yet this has also been tricky. Due to the unusual nature of our course, it has been important that we reject and then question most approaches that we would otherwise take. Though arguably necessary, upon reflection this does have consequences beyond the goal of creating a new style of learning within the university. Not only is the creation of a new course hard, as we are having to come up with what we are doing as we go, but also, by separating ourselves from convention, this has arguably had the effect of alienating our course from the wider university community. It is this separatism and creation or lack of community that I want to reflect on the most.
Though being inclusive to students of other disciplines was not necessarily a commitment that we made from the outset, I think it is interesting that our course has turned out the way it has so far, being, though not insular, not actively welcoming to other students. Indeed if other students were to join us be that via word of mouth or friends of friends, I have no doubt that we would give them a warm welcome, encouraged by the prospect of sharing our ideas, yet for them to walk into our little community I wonder how approachable and open we are. Indeed upon starting the course, there was both a tacit (through conversations I had with course members) and explicit (through our awareness of the differences in knowledge of consensus decision making) recognition that there were pre-formed communities within the course. Those who had been in the occupation had naturally formed friendships and connections with others within this space and indeed the course has been referred to as the ‘occupation course’ and indeed ‘the co-op course.’ Furthermore, as the initial debates on consensus decision making attest, there are certain practices that those on the left and progressives use which conceivably act to alienate those who are interested in the ideas but not necessarily with being associated with any grouping. Though this does not mean to say that these connections were necessarily bad and indeed I think we have done pretty well to recognise them, yet I do not think it is unfair to state that there do naturally exist, groups of people who are closer than others within the space, which though natural does have an interesting effect on the dynamic of our little community.
Indeed something I have been reflecting on over the winter break is this idea of community. With a twin brother and younger sister both at university and/or apprenticeship and both having miserable times, this has made me question further exactly what university’s function is. I was told by my aunt as I left home to come here that my grades didn’t matter as much as university would tell you they did, and that the primary purpose of university, at least initially, would be the breaking away from home. Flying the nest. Saying goodbye. Adieu. Arrivederci. Au revouir. Yet is it the university’s role to facilitate this. With mental health issues affecting one in four students at university, arguably this is not a fault of institutions but rather a societal fault. Perhaps we have facilitated a culture that requires productivity at all times, ignoring the fact that this quickly leads to burnout and disregards our body’s need for rest, university merely being one of the many stresses and strains we place on young people today. Furthermore, a significant cause of anxiety among students is related to socialising and friendship, yet the university has not directly facilitated this, its increase being in part due to the increase in social media etc. However, the alternative would be that the university should merely be an unemotional dispenser of knowledge, ignoring the other human needs of its recipients. Yet this is evidently cold, callous and short-sighted. It goes without saying that happy students will learn better, be more innovative, daring and creative in the pursuit of knowledge than unhappy students. Therefore, if the university wants to thrive on the academic front, the university clearly has a role to play in the nurturing of a strong mentally and emotionally healthy student population. However how this is facilitated is a tricky question. Speaking to my brother and friends about university, an issue that repeatedly rears its head is that of loneliness. Apparently feeling lonely for long periods of time puts the same stress on the brain as the shock of being punched in the face by a stranger. Loneliness is also clearly a massive issue at university, according to The National Student, 46% of people admit to feelings of loneliness at university with 37% said they considered dropping out. In light of this, universities clearly have a role to play in alleviating this. One important way that this could be facilitated is via the creation of a stronger university community. I think we require the structure of a community in the same way that we discovered that a course almost needs its essays and assessment in order to aid its progression, essays being annoyingly useful goals to work towards. Therefore I think the university does play an important role in the establishment of a community as I believe that this would be instrumental in creating a better prepared, mentally healthy populace. However, how this is to be established is up for debate.
Focusing on our own little community, I think we have gone a considerable way in creating a very friendly, safe place where I think, unlike with most courses, I feel part of something and that we are all working with similar goals and ideas in mind. Maybe that is all that a community is. A place where like-minded people meet and work collectively with similar goals and ideas in mind. But should it be more than that? Or less even. For instance, do we feel part of the broader university community and if not why not. Has our rejection of the norms of schooling prevented us from creating a wider more accessible project? Yet I don’t think that that is the point. For a start whether involving an increasing number of people in our course would lead to a stronger community within the university is a dubious connection. Secondly, the sheer size and variation in approaches to education amongst people is arguably detrimental to facilitating a broader community. However, if we take these to be true, surely we should work for the establishment of smaller manageable communities, though maybe this is already in the process via societies and sports teams.
Finally, as my time at Edinburgh continues, I increasingly want to feel part of the broader Edinburgh community, I don’t want to feel like a student confined to George Square and Marchmont only passing through on my wider life path. I think that in order to feel properly settled and content in a place I need to lay down roots that go beyond the institution that I am using. I will be intrigued to see whether this course can lead me and others into laying down stringer roots both in the university, going some way in the establishment of a better university community, as well as within Edinburgh in general.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this reflection Rufus. I am particularly interested in this notion of separatism. I would definitely agree that the community we have built feels rather separate from the wider university community, and that maybe this is something we should discuss as the course develops. For me, separatism seems to be a theme running throguh university life, and unfortunately appears to be rather stubborn. As many of us have mentioned, including your siblings as you have mentioned, univeristy education in its current state (spreading further than UoE) can feel very isolating, so as much as we have created a community through this course, it may prove difficult to try and integrate into the wider community of the institution which arguably does not have much of a community to integrate into! Through hearing people’s experiences of education, many points of which you have highlighted in your reflection, suggests to me that maintaining some form of community through which we can generate knowledge collaboratively and creatively is greatly important. Lets make sure we keep up these conversations and hopefully one day we will see a collabaortive and supportive shift in university education!
Hey Rufus!
Thanks for you reflection!
Just leaving a quick thought that just popped up!
Your reflection is interesting and along with reading others’ reflections, it makes me realise how many of us share the same worries about the course…
The notion of separatism and Cara’s comment made me think about this other phenomenon I have witnessed in Edinburgh in general. Being involved in many environmental and sustainability-orientated initiatives in Edinburgh, I find that many groups with similar interest are not connecting and initiating many similar projects on their own that end up falling apart because of lack of engagement. What if they all assembled?
So if even like-minded communities stay isolated, where is the problem? What is stopping us from connecting with people, like-minded or not?
There is probably so many other students that feel and think like us in the university, so why do we feel like an isolated group? Are people assuming that they are isolated in their thoughts because the ones we are presented to are controlled by a few powerful ‘mainstream’ voices?
Just throwing reflections out there… I will think about it more thoroughly later!
Apologies for a super late comment! I also enjoyed reading this reflection, Rufus!
It was really an interesting perspective! I was a bit surprised by that statistics, I also think that there should be a stronger university community, particularly to solve issues of emotional instability. For most students, the notion of separatism is such a big issue I guess. They may generally express satisfaction with their academic experience, however, tend to express less satisfaction with their integration, particularly social experience with staffs and students. Probably, it might be our work to keep thinking about how to establish an ideal community or how to improve an existed isolated community..