Discussion: The Other Education

This post is part of the Teachers Certification Map’s “discussion series,” a collection of essays featuring notes and questions around the evolving state of education aimed at enlightening young teachers as they embark on their careers.

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David Brooks, in a New York Times op-ed, discusses his “other education,” referring specifically to his early exposure to Bruce Springsteen:

We don’t usually think of this second education. For reasons having to do with the peculiarities of our civilization, we pay a great deal of attention to our scholastic educations, which are formal and supervised, and we devote much less public thought to our emotional educations, which are unsupervised and haphazard. This is odd, since our emotional educations are much more important to our long-term happiness and the quality of our lives.

How does “other education” work? Brooks continues:

This second education doesn’t work the way the scholastic education works. In a normal schoolroom, information walks through the front door and announces itself by light of day. It’s direct. The teacher describes the material to be covered, and then everybody works through it.

My college experience was rich with “other education,” including concerts, plays and even parties. I’d argue that out of classroom experience during college is as important as the in classroom experience.

Discussion: What were some of your “other educations,” in college or otherwise? How can universities encourage these activities while still remaining focused on academics?

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Do you know someone with great insights to share with young teachers, or do you want your material considered for a discussion topic?

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