College: Like Being a Fish out of Water

According to Fish (2008) "the job of someone who teaches in a college or university is to (1) introduce students to bodies of knowledge and traditions of inquiry they didn't know much about before; and (2) equip those same students with the analytical skills that will enable them to move confidently within those traditions and to engage in independent research should they choose to do so" (p. 19). Anything else that occurs in college statements (like being better people and whatnot) is not the job of a professor.

To this I say, someone doesn't have much #happyhappyjoyjoy.



Let's do some real talk about college. It's hard. Students go to courses, not knowing if the money they are spending and debt they are going into is worth the risk of not even getting a good job when it's over. Students have families, jobs, and other responsibilities; and let's not forget that there's an influx in nontraditional students trying to get a degree to better their lives.

Bettering lives can't happen if professors and instructors don't go out of their way to make it happen.

I'm not saying that we should aim for the opposite of what Fish (2008) suggested. He brings up great points about whether or not it's feasible to change the lives of the students who come to certain institutions. There's no way to make sure every student who comes into the university will come out as a better citizen. However, we can't forget about the students who do want to be better citizens. Good stories about college don't come from information taught in classes. They come from great instructors.

Assuming that it's not our job to do anything other than teach and show students how to analyze things is doing a disservice to the students who want a change in their lives. #HELPme. If the university promises better citizens through their statements of purpose, we need to be active and driving forces behind it (through a little #heartwork).

When I discussed teaching communication studies courses to my friends, they were so excited. They weren't just excited that I found something I was excited to do, they shared their own experiences taking COMM 1010. One of my friends, who studies economics, told me how she uses what she learned in her class every day. This type of learning doesn't come from content and analysis. This comes from real world examples, which extend beyond just teaching content, that connect to communication.

I believe that as communication studies instructors, we have a very difficult position to hold when it comes to Fish's statements. It's difficult to take the analytical skills learned in the classroom into the real world. And in classes in our discipline, it's essential to bring the real world into our classrooms to make communication viable in the real world.



Keep changing lives. Encourage your students to save the world.

-Tay

Fish, S. (2008). Save the world on your own time. Oxford: Oxford University Press.