The Culture of Education (Part 1)

- The Girls of Wellesley College, 1953

"Q:Who knocks at the door of learning?
A: I am every woman.
Q: What do you seek?
A: To awaken my spirit through hard work and dedicate my life to knowledge.
- Then you may enter here, all who seek to follow you."

Although far from being a 'Wellesley girl', I am a student, and a fortunate one at that.  I think of those in my own community who will not receive a traditional ‘education‘ due to financial reasons, family dynamics, or feeling ill-suited for the task.  As I examine my daily practices of school, I certainly don’t take it for granted.  Having said that, I’d be lying if I said there weren’t rituals within campus life that make me want to fall on a sharpened pencil and never recover. 
This blog is one that seeks to explore the everyday practices that make up a particular space.  Therefore we must look at some within the school system.  I'm starting with the most basic practices of everyday school that I struggle to understand, such as:
The school schedule.  I have certain classes at 8:30am, followed by a few hours of nothingness, followed by classes that finish at 9pm.  Other days, I have two classes back-to-back with 10 minutes in between them.  This makes for excellent sprinting exercises as these classes are conveniently located at opposite ends of the campus. Thus, I can be found stomping over fellow students two-and-fro with my heavy books in hand.  This scenario does great things to help me mentally prepare for my next lecture as I enter it huffing and puffing, while trying not to disrupt the brown-noser’s that always manage to get there before me.  I could also do without the 3 hour line-ups to finalize my OSAP payments at the beginning of each term. 
So why do I bother?
As Katherine Watson would say in Mona Lisa Smile, I bother because, “Not all who wander are aimless, especially those who seek truth beyond tradition, beyond definition, beyond the image.”   Thus, I wander there within.  I put up with the culture of education because I hope I might find something of great use within it.  When I’m making my way to school I see the city that surrounds me and I want to know where I fit into it.  Who are my people?  What can I do?  How do I help?  How am I harming?  I’m here because I’m looking for answers.
Of course there are aspects of school culture that sincerely delight me.  These would include the ‘A-Ha!’ moments of learning new ideas, or speaking personally with a professor that I admire, or bearing witness to the funny comment made by the kid in lecture who enjoys raising his opinions over his 400 fellow classmates.
When I think of what is to follow earning my ‘piece of paper’ I have no resting place.  I don’t believe university promises me anything by way of receiving a job.  This concerns me because I have more debt than I do assets.  I live with my mother.  I currently have no job, no boyfriend, no plans for marriage and children.  Quite the resume I’d say! 
In all of my classes I'm told to think critically.  I do not exclude thinking in such terms about the very space in which that is taught.  If I gain nothing else from my education in university, I hope to contribute to my sphere of influence the practices that invent educational space.  Isn't it time we came up with new learning practices?