In The New York Times, three members of the Strother School of Radical Attention make a case for a new way of thinking about education (gift link):
Our attention is born free, but is, increasingly, everywhere in chains. Can our systems of liberal education rise to this challenge? The Harvard political philosopher Danielle Allen recently wrote: “I have a hunch that if we are to put this problem of attention at the center of what we are asking the humanities to do right now, we might find a huge appetite for the work of the humanities. We might change the dynamics we see on college campuses and in other contexts, where the practice of the humanities seems to be slipping away.”Something I wrote in a 2012 post: “As more and more attractions and distractions compete for our eyes and ears, I think that the ability to pay attention, to attend, will become ever more prized in the twenty-first century.”
All those who have given their attention to as supposedly arcane a topic as ancient Greek will know that the word “crisis” derives from a word that can mean “to decide.” And that is precisely what’s before us: a decision about what ends, exactly, the liberal arts will serve in the 21st century. No form of education can solve all our problems at a stroke. But attention education can produce a new generation of citizens who are equipped to take on those problems conscientiously and with care.
And it occurred to me this morning that browsing through WPA tax photographs and finding out as much as I can about an address is a way of practicing attention. Which reminds me: when I taught a poetry class, the overarching question was not “What does it mean?” but “What do you notice?” Much less intimidating, much more useful.
Related reading
All OCA attention posts (Pinboard)
comments: 4
On a recent trip to popular tourist destinations, I notice people who take an inordinate number of photos with their phones. It almost seems to stand between them just noticing, observing the subjects. I have the luxury of pausing and drawing a picture, in which you take in many small details.
The phone life makes museum-going (for me, anyway) so much less fun. I’ve seen people go from painting to painting, taking one photo after another, moving on at a rapid pace. Or, sometimes, posing with a painting while someone else takes a photo.
I sometimes take photos in museums, but more often of museum cards than of works of art — to get the details for later reference.
First off, thank you for your gift link.
I was at the "third most visited" tourist attraction in London. The Tate Modern, build in a (repurposed) vast turbine hall. The Tate art museum has huge escalators past resting benches and windows. I gazed, (almost counted) and observed that half the people I saw were on their digital devices. I won't judge what others think "getting a life" is, but still, I was astonished.
Meanwhile, at college I learned that drama, like other performing arts, involves increasing one's attention. Like Zen.
I don't know about adults, but when I took "Drama For Adults Teaching Kids," I learned that, for a drama class, if you don't get the kids to focus (there are exercises for this) in first minutes, then you might as well spend the class playing games.
I think that those who teach — at any level — often need to think about how to get everyone to focus as a class begins.
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