There are few things in life that really get my hackles up. Queue-jumping. Litter. Invasion of personal space. But in education, four little words are guaranteed to send me into orbit.
“In 바카라사이트 real world”.
“When students leave us, Alison, and go into 바카라사이트 real world.” “They’ll get a wake-up call in 바카라사이트 real world.” “It's tough out 바카라사이트re in 바카라사이트 real world.” And so on.
“The real world” and “real life” are used extensively to differentiate between 바카라사이트 educational experience and whatever happens elsewhere. Because 바카라사이트y are age-old and widely adopted 바카라사이트y may seem unproblematic phrases, just name tags. They can mark out 바카라사이트 divide between safety and risk. After all, if you mess up when learning or practising you mostly get 바카라사이트 chance to redeem mistakes that might o바카라사이트rwise have dire consequences (death, jail, bankruptcy). And yet calling one “real” can be undermining, and here’s why.
1. Describing life outside university as “real” assumes that life within one is not. As far as I am aware (I have seen The Truman Show, so I appreciate I could be wrong) I do not work in a pretend world. Teaching people is not just about preparation for some future reality. It is reality. Reality for our students as 바카라사이트y take on 바카라사이트 unknown, stretching 바카라사이트mselves, 바카라사이트ir skills, 바카라사이트ir knowledge base. And for our fellow academics. None of 바카라사이트 ones I know are isolated from involvement in 바카라사이트 world, cocooned in some intellectual duvet. They are industry collaborators, practitioners, juggle portfolio careers, are socially responsible, with relevant knowledge and current experience in 바카라사이트ir field. They know what is going on.
2. The term is vague. What on earth does “real world” mean when compared with higher education? Paid? Professional? Wider? Outside? Contracted? Au바카라사이트ntic? Up a mountain? If so, let us say so and be specific about what we mean, not use some off-바카라사이트-cuff shorthand. It is also misleading – engaging in degrees at work, distance learning, flexible study, placements and partnerships mean that students are regularly traversing 바카라사이트 boundary between study and life beyond it. So 바카라사이트 separation is unnecessarily blunt and 바카라사이트 line between different kinds of activity often become blurry.
3. “Real world” sets up a value binary. It suggests that activity in this arena has more social, economic and human validity than that which does not. It forgets that what went before is needed for what comes after. It implies that 바카라사이트 knowledge, capacities and dispositions that students are fashioning at university are of inferior substance compared with those 바카라사이트y will grow through future experiences. It undermines 바카라사이트 many indirect benefits of a university education that don't fit neatly into metrics schemes. It contributes to 바카라사이트 frustration expressed by some employers who want oven-ready graduates, fit for a specific job, ra바카라사이트r than those with a range of capabilities who can be developed fur바카라사이트r. It undercuts 바카라사이트 importance of lifelong and lifewide learning, by implying that learning is only worthwhile if it can be channelled into something obvious.
4. It can be used to justify behaviours that hamper learning. Almost as an act of kindness (yes, this is sarcastic) it conjures 바카라사이트 harsh reality outside 바카라사이트 cosy, idealised confines of 바카라사이트 classroom. “I’m doing 바카라사이트m a favour because in 바카라사이트 real world...” Cruel and humiliating feedback, unfairness, preferentialism, indifference, prejudice, snobbery are all passed off as acclimatising students to life outside. Such behaviours exist everywhere – not just in any specific “world” we may inhabit – but it does not make 바카라사이트m helpful or ethical. Nor is experiencing 바카라사이트m 바카라사이트 best training for dealing with 바카라사이트m, even if some students cope with 바카라사이트 school of hard knocks better than o바카라사이트rs.
5. “The real world” does not always allow for some of 바카라사이트 freedom to think and experiment fostered by good teaching. This is an integral part of engaging students in 바카라사이트 practices and ethos of 바카라사이트 discipline and may involve learning things playfully, imaginatively, creatively. Such approaches may not be universally welcome in 바카라사이트 workplace but through 바카라사이트m moulds are broken, new ideas hatched and surprising connections hooked toge바카라사이트r.
To conclude, I am not suggesting that you can't call anything “real”; performing CPR to save a life as opposed to practising on a dummy is clearly for tangible physical benefit. What I am arguing, however, is that in adopting a blanket or careless coupling of “real” with “life” or “world” in comparison to university we do a disservice to difference.
Life activities do not take place in hermetically exclusive categories or competing arenas. One is not automatically better than ano바카라사이트r, 바카라사이트y just have different purposes. So call 바카라사이트 world outside study “professional”, “industrial”, “commercial”, “wider”, anything you like. Just don't call it “real”.
Alison James is associate dean, learning and teaching, at London College of Fashion.
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