O TYM ODCINKU
Host Jeff Yan continues the thoughtful conversation with Tonya Hendrix, Demitri Kapetanakos, and Dionne Miller from LaGuardia Community College on Digication Scholars Conversations.
The dialogue explores the transformative power of experiential and liberal arts education, highlighting how it bridges classroom learning with real-world applications and community impact.
The guests discuss developing a liberal arts identity, the importance of reflection and self-awareness, and the numerous pathways available to students through a liberal arts education.
Dive into their innovative approaches, hear inspiring student success stories, and discover the extensive value a liberal arts education can offer.
Creating an Integrative Student Liberal Arts Identity: A Reflection on the Process of Building an ePortfolio for a Community College Liberal Arts Program: https://dgmg81phhvh63.cloudfront.net/content/user-photos/IJEP/Article-PDFs/4-IJeP-404.pdf
International Journal of ePortfolio: https://www.aacu.org/ijep
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W TYM ODCINKU
POKAŻ NOTATKI 🔗
TRANSKRYPCJA 🔗
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Welcome to Digication
Scholars Conversations.
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I'm your host, Jeff Yan.
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In this episode, you will hear Part Two
of my conversation with Tonya Hendrix,
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Demetri Kapetanakos, and Dionne Miller
from LaGuardia Community College.
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More links and information about today's
conversation can be found on Digication's
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Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
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Full episodes of Digication Scholars
Conversations can be found on
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YouTube or your favorite podcast app.
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Now, I think that LaGuardia, you
also I think that one of the really
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cool, smart things, and I don't know
whether this is part of the calculus,
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but I know that there is, you know,
at least in the past, uh, some, some
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idea of co-ops, you know, for students
to work, you know, with internships
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and so on, it really almost like.
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Like immediately prove that, doesn't it?
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Um, because you are, you are also
in the real world and saying, Hey,
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actually what I'm doing matters
and there is a place for it, right?
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Yeah, we definitely have developed
over the last few years, I now focus on
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Experiential Learning, even beyond the
internship idea, but helping students
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to see how what they're learning in
the classroom can actually impact their
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communities and make things better.
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And that's really a
powerful form of learning.
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I think of it as transformational learning
when students can take this thing that I'm
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learning in whichever class and apply to
some issue or problem in my community and
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see that knowledge making a difference.
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You know, I came from a background
where in high school, my principal had
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a big focus on what she called a rounded
education, which, which now, you know,
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I equate to a Liberal Arts education.
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And when I went to college, it was, well,
we're not educating you for a particular.
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Skill or job.
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We're educating you to be able to learn
so that wherever you find yourself
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you have the skills to learn something
new something that's applicable to the
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situation that you find yourself in and
you know, I think that's what we aim for
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at LaGuardia in our Liberal Arts program
that we're giving students the skill to
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to learn wherever they find themselves,
whatever it is that they're doing and
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also to Apply that knowledge to their
their communities and see that their
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knowledge is not just for them and their
personal ambitions, but also can impact
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community that they should care about.
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It is so, so powerful.
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And I actually think that there's
a something, you know, like, um,
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what you just said echoes with me so
well, because there is, it's really
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different when a student is driven
by something that they can see and
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experience and they can believe in.
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Because this is my, my community
is my family, is my friends.
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These are my, you know, relatives
that when I do these things, it
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actually worked for, for them, right?
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That to me is an even more direct, you
know, sort of, um, because I think that
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some of it is sometimes kind of myth like.
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I have, uh, teenagers in my, in my
household, and sometimes they would go,
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Hey, I knew someone who You know, um,
you know, who, you know, I saw someone
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that does this job and, and they were
going to charge a charge us a lot of
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money because we have to, you know,
fix something or whatever it might be.
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And, and, and, and we require the
service and then it go, well, that
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would be a really great profession.
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That's what they, where they're
learning that from, right?
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They are getting that.
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But, but they're exposed
to so little of it.
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That's whatever that came first.
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It seems like I could
see myself doing that.
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And immediately they
go like, let's do that.
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And I, and I, I think that the, the
idea that they, they just didn't
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really quite get the exposure.
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If, if they were exposed to
Leonardo da Vinci, they might
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have been painters instead.
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I don't know.
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Right.
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Or they might've been writers instead.
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So I, I just think that there's
a little bit of this sort of.
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It's slightly myth based right now, um,
that, Hey, you know, these skills gets
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me a job and a paycheck where those
don't, I don't think it's actually true
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because there are plenty of people.
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And in fact, you know, uh, Demetri had
said, Hey, you're from the Ivy leagues.
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You know, actually these kids
get a lot of jobs and good jobs
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and good start paying jobs.
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And guess what?
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Most of their degrees are
largely Liberal Arts-based.
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Um, and so it's a, uh, it's, it's a little
bit, it's sort of like weird that, you
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know, sometimes, sometimes, sometimes,
you know, I love what you just said, we're
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not a workforce development, we want to
provide them with an education, right,
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that encompasses Critical thinking, but
also like when I saw your, the template,
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can we talk about that a little bit?
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You created a template, which was
really a big part of your paper.
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And I don't want to have
this whole conversation.
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We're talking about that.
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Um, you, you have this template
that you've created and clearly
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you wanted to share it with others.
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Um, that had, you know, six, I
think it was like six or seven big.
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Pages, big topics, um, I will share
the paper so people can really read
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the details for those who are really
interested, but it would be great
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if you all can maybe talk a little
bit about that and what are some
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of the, the big ideas from this.
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Do you want me to start?
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Well, go ahead, Demetri.
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Okay.
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I think, well, I mean, I think the
page, I mean, the template that we
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came up with really comes out with a
project that Dionne sort of, you know,
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um, really wanted to sort of build
a Liberal Arts identity and think
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about how could students be engaged
in the Liberal Arts on a meta level.
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So, Tonya and I really were
thinking about how do we layer.
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The levels of reflection and identity
building that are needed in order
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to sort of come out and say, Yeah, I
know what the value is of the Liberal
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Arts, what we've been talking about.
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How do we get the students slowly
but steadily to build to that point
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when they're like, Aha, I got it.
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And that really is about sort of building
step by step and thinking through how does
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that fit into a larger curriculum, right?
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What are the points in the curriculum
that we want them to be like, stop
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and think instead of just saying,
okay, I'm just going through this.
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And I think, again, this idea of
reflection and identity building
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are the two major components of.
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This template.
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So and I think it's taken students beyond.
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This is the Liberal Arts.
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This is what I'm learning to.
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I am the Liberal Arts.
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The Liberal Arts matters to me.
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It's integ... It's integral to who I am.
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And so we're, you know, we're trying
to transition the students, right?
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So we're... They embody their Liberal Arts
education, because I truly feel deep in
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my heart that if a student can explain
to somebody what the Liberal Arts is.
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Right?
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You are far ahead and above and
beyond most students who graduate
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with Liberal Arts degrees.
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And that's part of what we're asking
them to do, starting from the very
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first sem very first, uh, semester
in their first year seminar class.
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This is what people say
the Liberal Arts is.
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What do you think about this?
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How is this going to help you?
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In college, how can this
help you beyond right?
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Start to really embody
what is Liberal Arts.
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So it is kind of speaking about
what Dionne mentioned earlier, an
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experiential learning process, right?
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Delving into the Liberal Arts.
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How does this matter?
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Like Demetri said, in my
everyday life, it's Liberal Arts.
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Let me ask you this.
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It's liberal.
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Should people be looking at Liberal Arts,
sort of this thinking, this mindset.
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A skill that they can learn
and develop and be more
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sophisticated over time with it.
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I would say absolutely.
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I think we have this mindset that
we were, when we were born, given
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this many cards of intelligence.
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And it's still, like you
said earlier, a myth.
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We know now that's not true.
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Our neural networks can
be retrained and reshaped.
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So if that's true, we can continue to
learning, which is why all three of us
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have said something about getting the
skills to continue learning, right?
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Because you can continue to learn.
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I think Demetri and Dionne will agree
that the work that we did in order to
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get our advanced degrees, or at least
I know for me, does not It doesn't
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figure into my everyday life now,
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but it did teach me skills that I
still, I have to write emails on a
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daily basis, not that I enjoy the
process at all, but I have to, right?
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I have to write emails.
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You have to be able to
communicate with people.
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And that's one of the foundations
of a Liberal Arts education
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is communicating your ideas.
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And as you said earlier, when
we practice those skills.
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We get better at doing them.
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I also want to just pop in and add, I
think, you know, we were, we've been
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talking about how jobs have been such
an important part of our identity.
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Like when we always ask
someone, it's what you do.
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And I feel the Liberal Arts adds
another layer of identity where it
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becomes, well, what are your passions?
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What are you thinking?
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What are you interested in?
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And it's just a different way of.
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I think identifying yourself and
also walking through the world,
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both at the same time, right?
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Right.
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It's a way to know yourself better.
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So I tell my students all the time, it's
okay if you didn't like these particular
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chapters in your biology textbook.
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You may like other chapters.
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Part of knowing.
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It's knowing what you don't
know, and that's not at all
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reflected in our society.
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No one can know everything, but if you
know what you don't know and you're
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able to learn, then you can go get it.
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I think that what you are all doing
here is so incredibly important.
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One of the things that I. I
feel very strongly about is that
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it feels like to me that reflection
should be a skill that you can
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differentiate from when you were
a baby all the way to you are.
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I'm, I'm not even, I'm going to skip
over PhDs, but I'm talking about life,
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you know, all the way to when you, you
know, eventually, you know, disappear
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from earth, all of that experience.
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You know, it's a skill that you get.
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And by the way, it has been the truth
for humanity throughout the history.
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That's why, you know, the native Americans
have the elders and Chinese talk about,
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you know, like what happens when they, you
know, when, when, uh, you know, how do you
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think about, um, you know, people who have
experience and, and they're enlightened
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because they've gotten all the meditations
over time and so on and so forth.
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Um, But, but my thinking about it,
that to me, that one of the big
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observation that I've, I've had for a
long time, and I've, I'm continuously
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puzzled by it is that we pay so much
attention to skill level it, when it
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comes to something like let's call.
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I'm not using the as an attack,
by the way, but I'm using as an
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example, let's take math because
none of you guys here teach math.
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So I don't feel like I'm impacting you,
um, but it really applied to almost every
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domain where we know that, you know.
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Like at kindergarten, you are at
this level, being able to have
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concepts of counting and whatnot.
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At certain level, you're able to
do certain kind of arithmetic.
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And then at some level you're
doing pre-calculus, calculus, et
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cetera, and so on and so forth.
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And we, I'm not even criticizing and
whether they are value and whether we
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should have them, but my point is see
how sophisticated we've differentiated
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each and every level of this.
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Yet, when we talk about reflection,
which to me is much more important
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because it literally is a building
block of our neural network, like, um,
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Tonya, you had just mentioned, yet we
are still relatively sort of soft about
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what just reflect you learn to reflect.
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Like, I don't have the vocabulary
to say now that you are a, you know,
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graduate of this or now that you are, you
should be able to do it at this level.
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Like your neural network should be
this thick and this wide, or, or
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at least have, you know, have been,
have been able to process things
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that are off the sixth degree, right?
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We are not really even
putting enough effort into it.
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To really do it aside, aside from a
program like yours, where you've dedicated
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an entire program where people can
actually have a degree on in Liberal
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Arts, where you are, you know, like
really thinking through like, well,
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the curriculum is how to think is the
ability to develop purpose and need.
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And by the way, developing purpose and
meaning to me is what's really beautiful
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about what you, you all had talked about,
because it's not just about getting that
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paycheck either, because, you know, there
are, there's getting a paycheck in a way
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that is fulfilling and there's a paycheck.
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That's just a paycheck.
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Um, you know, um, and, and, and it
doesn't feel right to just get our
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students to get a paycheck without
giving them that fulfillment.
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And I think that's one of the
benefits of a college education.
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So you should transition from having a
job to having a career where you have
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a vested interest in the processes and
the outcomes other than the paycheck.
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And one thing I think that we're kind of
skirting around is the idea of innovation.
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So critical thinking is what allows
us to innovate, but it is like you
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mentioned before, reflection is not
built into any curriculum, right?
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And for a lot of us who teach a lot of
us teach the way that we were taught
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and we weren't taught to ask a student,
'You just learned a lot of chemistry and
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you're supposed to be in a biology class.
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How do you feel about that?' We're
we're not We're not taught to do that.
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So it requires us to be innovative
ourselves in order to train our
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students to be innovative, right?
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Because that's where innovation
comes from reflection.
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And you're right, Jeff.
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It's a hugely important skill that we
should just as human beings be able to
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better, um, like delineate the stages.
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Stage zero reflector, your
stage two reflector, right?
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And if you do a X, Y, and Z,
you'll can level up, right?
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Your reflection ability
is really important.
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I mean, maybe it doesn't even have
to be so sequential, you know,
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but I think that for us not having
even the sophistication level to have.
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You know, a discussion where
we can just say, Oh, okay.
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You know, I see that you are, you
know, you're able to reflect in
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this way, which is very powerful.
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And when you combine it with this other
kinds of reflection, this is where
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a really confident, you know, like
a really cool, like you are, you're
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going to be really good at the, the,
you know, creative, you know, you,
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you'd be a great screenwriter and, and,
and, and, and, and, and, uh, you know,
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and a playwright, et cetera, right.
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Could I just say, um, I think the
other thing too, that the Liberal Arts
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provides is imagination and possibility
of other ways of looking at the world.
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I mean, I just have to sort of bring
up a topic that I've just listened to.
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Um, a book called 'The Sea People - The
Puzzle of Polynesia.' And one of the
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things that blew, my mind is the way,
um, these peoples were able to navigate
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the sea, not with a single chart, looking
at stars, looking at swells, looking at
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birds and, you know, and it's, you know,
and they were mentioning this, um, 18th
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century priest who sailed with cook named
to Paya and he did a map and they're
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like, it doesn't look like any map.
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That is actually readable because he
used the positionality of a Polynesian
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where they were sort of jumping from
island to island and using sort of
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different modalities of thinking,
right, in order to be able to navigate.
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And I love that as a metaphor for
the Liberal Arts too, right, about
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both us as how could we spark that
imagination and what could come up.
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As a result of it, right?
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I mean, it's just a
different way of viewing.
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It's a different way of seeing the world.
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It's a different, it's
a different empathy.
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It's a different feeling, you
know, and I just want to, I mean,
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again, any opportunity now I
have to bring up the Polynesians.
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I'll take it, but I do think it
works really well as a metaphor here.
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I think that's so beautiful.
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And by the way, this idea of empathy.
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Making meaning, you know,
finding passion, et cetera.
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It, you know, to me is, you know, it's
one of those, um, one of those things
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that humans are privileged to have, you
know, like we, we have a lot of choices.
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In life and we get to develop passion
about something and we get to have
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that sense of fulfillment by if we can
identify it, we can go for it and it
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would be the best feeling one can have.
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And it also includes things like, you
know, doing things for your family,
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doing things for your loved ones,
doing things for your friends, right?
290
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These things don't give you a
paycheck necessarily in and of itself,
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in most cases, at least, right?
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But they are things that we do, and as
humans, we actually, that's a privilege.
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That's something that we, we get to
do, and it's something that, um, you
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know, um, uh, It doesn't matter whether
you're, you're, it, it, it, it, there's
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no, um, uh, stock market for it.
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There's no, um, corporate tax on this.
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00:20:33,080 --> 00:20:38,199
There's no, there's, there,
there's no, that you do it for
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just a pure joy of doing so.
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And I feel like that.
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In education, um, it's, it's important
for us to think about that being like,
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that can't not be one of the goals,
you know, for our students to, to, to
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be there, to be at that, to have that
sort of, to be able to enjoy that.
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Um, and I, I do think that it really, to
me, I, I, I have, I have so much respect
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for, for all the fields, by the way.
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So I, I mean, it, it almost sounded
like the, I'm like beating up on,
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Hey, if you want to be a nurse.
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Don't do that because that's just a skill.
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No, actually, I think that people that
do it is because they have that passion,
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you know, but it would be terrible in
my mind for someone that don't have that
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passion and then they do it because they
heard it's a good way to get a paycheck.
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And then when they do that job.
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They do do get that paycheck and, and
I'm sure you can train them to the
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level where they can do it, but they
are just going to be unfulfilled.
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00:21:45,890 --> 00:21:48,990
They're doing this where they really
want, they really want to be as an
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00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:53,050
athlete or to be a painter or to be
a writer or to be something else,
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00:21:53,050 --> 00:21:54,899
to be a communicator, you know?
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00:21:55,770 --> 00:21:56,369
Yeah, no.
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00:21:56,369 --> 00:22:03,340
And I mean, you have people like Abraham
Verghese, who, um, you know, doctor.
319
00:22:03,885 --> 00:22:08,254
And an incredible writer, you know, first
book about his experience working with
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AIDS patients in Tennessee in the 1990s.
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00:22:11,685 --> 00:22:16,085
And then he writes some incredible
novels where he could straddle that line
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00:22:16,104 --> 00:22:24,554
between, you know, science, you know,
hardcore science as a very, I mean, well
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known and quite sort of renowned doctor.
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And at the same time,
An incredible writer.
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And those are, you know, multiple
identities that our students already have.
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And it's a question of, again, how do
they, I think, establish new ones and keep
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adding to them and that they don't have
to be defined by discipline, right, right.
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00:22:48,284 --> 00:22:52,360
So that, you know, There there's
multiple ways of being that you
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can be the same body, right?
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00:22:54,080 --> 00:22:58,230
You know, I usually, you know, say
to students, you can be interested
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in science and in art and in history.
332
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It doesn't have to be one or the other.
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00:23:04,819 --> 00:23:07,130
It's possible to have multiple interests.
334
00:23:07,139 --> 00:23:10,309
You know, you talked about
Leonardo da Vinci earlier.
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00:23:10,645 --> 00:23:15,905
to be a painter who's interested in
anatomy and physics and engineering,
336
00:23:15,965 --> 00:23:18,264
and it's possible to be that person.
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00:23:18,635 --> 00:23:23,205
You know, when we, when I conceived
of this project, part of, of what I
338
00:23:23,205 --> 00:23:27,514
was pushing back against is, you know,
students come into the college and they
339
00:23:27,524 --> 00:23:32,825
have to pick a major and Liberal Arts
became the place that you went if you
340
00:23:32,835 --> 00:23:34,845
weren't sure what you wanted to be.
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00:23:34,865 --> 00:23:36,595
And that was somehow a bad thing.
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00:23:37,015 --> 00:23:37,425
All right.
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00:23:37,425 --> 00:23:37,865
So.
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People who want to be nurses or
engineers or any of the really
345
00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:45,409
well defined programs, fine.
346
00:23:45,719 --> 00:23:48,309
You're not quite sure
yet what you want to do.
347
00:23:48,309 --> 00:23:51,309
Okay, go into Liberal Arts and
figure it out, and then you'll
348
00:23:51,309 --> 00:23:52,650
switch into something else.
349
00:23:53,089 --> 00:23:57,089
And we wanted to position the
Liberal Arts major as an end in
350
00:23:57,090 --> 00:24:00,280
itself, as a good thing to be.
351
00:24:00,500 --> 00:24:04,220
And we, we, you know, going
back to the template, this idea
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of helping students recognize.
353
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The value that Liberal Arts
Um, has in and of itself.
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00:24:11,930 --> 00:24:14,000
Yes, it gives you all these skills.
355
00:24:14,260 --> 00:24:19,240
But yes, just being a creative,
curious person is a great thing
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to be and just as great as being a
nurse or an engineer or or a doctor.
357
00:24:26,030 --> 00:24:31,040
And, um, and also just even to say
to students studying the Liberal
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Arts open so many pathways to you.
359
00:24:33,300 --> 00:24:34,689
You can still be creative.
360
00:24:34,830 --> 00:24:39,620
the engineer or the nurse or, or the
doctor having studied Liberal Arts.
361
00:24:39,630 --> 00:24:44,539
But think about how much better you
will be because you, you understand
362
00:24:44,539 --> 00:24:46,870
more about people and cultures.
363
00:24:47,119 --> 00:24:51,010
If you're a healthcare professional
who understands, you know,
364
00:24:51,010 --> 00:24:54,659
more about different cultural
backgrounds of your patients, just
365
00:24:54,839 --> 00:24:58,830
how much better the standard of
care you could, you could offer.
366
00:24:59,100 --> 00:25:03,230
So we really wanted to make sure
that students realize the value.
367
00:25:03,795 --> 00:25:09,295
Of the Liberal Arts for them, whatever
pathway they eventually chose.
368
00:25:10,965 --> 00:25:12,145
I love that, Dionne.
369
00:25:12,165 --> 00:25:17,134
Um, by the way, uh, Demetri, you
know who else also is a fantastic
370
00:25:17,134 --> 00:25:19,115
writer, but also a physician?
371
00:25:20,264 --> 00:25:23,425
It's, um, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
372
00:25:23,425 --> 00:25:24,884
Who wrote Sherlock Holmes.
373
00:25:26,304 --> 00:25:26,914
True.
374
00:25:26,915 --> 00:25:30,314
You are still watching movies
on Sherlock Holmes today.
375
00:25:30,764 --> 00:25:34,850
And that was written in
the Late 1800s, right?
376
00:25:34,850 --> 00:25:36,070
I think it's late 1800s.
377
00:25:36,100 --> 00:25:36,550
It was written.
378
00:25:37,090 --> 00:25:42,429
And so, so, you know, this is, these are,
in other words, these are not new ideas.
379
00:25:42,429 --> 00:25:48,949
We have amazing people in our history
that we can look back in and say, wow,
380
00:25:48,979 --> 00:25:51,320
you know, these things happened, right?
381
00:25:51,430 --> 00:25:56,830
But, but how are we so, um, you
know, how are we, how are we missing
382
00:25:56,840 --> 00:25:58,190
these really important pieces?
383
00:25:58,360 --> 00:26:07,445
And I'm so glad that you You know,
beyond your program have taking a,
384
00:26:07,685 --> 00:26:11,795
uh, taking this so seriously and
going, hold on a minute, you know,
385
00:26:11,815 --> 00:26:17,085
we've got to, we've got to make,
make this a possibility for people.
386
00:26:17,895 --> 00:26:22,934
Now I want to maybe, um, um, we'll,
we'll wrap up in a minute, but I
387
00:26:22,935 --> 00:26:24,455
wanted to talk a little bit about.
388
00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:30,840
What you see, and this is something that,
you know, you might have some anecdotes
389
00:26:30,840 --> 00:26:34,510
or you might have some students as
examples, or just, you know, in general,
390
00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:39,160
your students going through this program,
they're creating these portfolios,
391
00:26:39,160 --> 00:26:40,740
they're doing these reflections.
392
00:26:41,260 --> 00:26:47,320
Can you give us some sort of like
example, some colors on what are
393
00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:51,960
the results like has have there have
students, you know, gone through this
394
00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:55,860
and going, wow, this changed my life or.
395
00:26:56,149 --> 00:26:56,520
Wow.
396
00:26:56,520 --> 00:27:00,060
And now I do this and that, um, like,
can you give us a little bit of that?
397
00:27:00,070 --> 00:27:05,169
So that people like, I think that
there's still this like illusion
398
00:27:05,339 --> 00:27:10,119
that, well, if you're starting to
become a mechanic, you can fix it.
399
00:27:10,199 --> 00:27:11,239
Um, okay.
400
00:27:11,279 --> 00:27:12,279
Like we got that.
401
00:27:12,550 --> 00:27:14,110
Um, if you studied.
402
00:27:14,345 --> 00:27:15,145
Liberal Arts.
403
00:27:15,325 --> 00:27:16,764
What are the results?
404
00:27:16,814 --> 00:27:20,475
And I'm talking about both the
tangible, like, Hey, maybe, you know,
405
00:27:20,485 --> 00:27:23,514
what jobs or what fields can they
go into, but also like, what else
406
00:27:23,514 --> 00:27:25,075
does it, does it come with that?
407
00:27:25,084 --> 00:27:28,044
We just, that, that correspond
to what we've been talking about,
408
00:27:30,495 --> 00:27:37,115
I think for me, um, I said before that
I teach first year seminar and first
409
00:27:37,115 --> 00:27:42,685
year seminar is where we introduce the
Liberal Arts Corey portfolio to students.
410
00:27:43,175 --> 00:27:45,019
And for me, yeah.
411
00:27:45,610 --> 00:27:53,830
What I love is students begin to
see themselves as whole individuals.
412
00:27:54,440 --> 00:28:02,380
They begin to understand that
When I'm exploring my major, I'm
413
00:28:02,380 --> 00:28:08,400
exploring the world and I'm exploring
myself so that they begin to make
414
00:28:08,430 --> 00:28:11,100
internal and external connections.
415
00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:17,099
So then, you know, the reflect
is, of course, prompted by
416
00:28:17,099 --> 00:28:21,564
reflection, but the imagination in.
417
00:28:21,925 --> 00:28:24,935
The innovation I can
see sparked in students.
418
00:28:26,025 --> 00:28:30,545
So, when we talk about things that
students don't expect to hear about,
419
00:28:30,565 --> 00:28:36,154
because in my case, they're science
majors, it's like a flower opening up.
420
00:28:36,155 --> 00:28:37,584
It's a really beautiful process.
421
00:28:40,075 --> 00:28:41,434
You feeling okay, Tonya?
422
00:28:42,705 --> 00:28:44,025
Feel free to take your time.
423
00:28:44,925 --> 00:28:47,705
You choked up there, really, thinking
about your students, I think.
424
00:28:50,525 --> 00:28:55,054
For those who are listening, Tonya, I
think, choked on a little bit of water,
425
00:28:55,054 --> 00:28:57,015
so she'll be back with us in a minute.
426
00:28:57,634 --> 00:28:58,784
But I could see how it's getting.
427
00:28:58,784 --> 00:29:04,774
You know, I can also, yeah, you
know, I think about the student
428
00:29:04,814 --> 00:29:09,234
last year who was the representative
for our graduating class.
429
00:29:09,684 --> 00:29:09,954
And.
430
00:29:11,315 --> 00:29:16,565
That was one of those experiences as
an educator where you really say, Yes,
431
00:29:16,575 --> 00:29:18,835
this is this is what we're striving for.
432
00:29:19,365 --> 00:29:23,864
She was a student who graduated
from our Liberal Arts, social
433
00:29:23,875 --> 00:29:28,454
science and humanities major,
and she was transferring.
434
00:29:28,715 --> 00:29:30,665
to become a biology major.
435
00:29:31,624 --> 00:29:36,084
And I was just like, wow, this
is exactly what I want to happen.
436
00:29:36,334 --> 00:29:41,154
I want a student to realize that
no pathway is closed off to them
437
00:29:41,434 --> 00:29:44,284
because they chose the Liberal Arts.
438
00:29:44,465 --> 00:29:49,885
And so she was going from a non
STEM major into a STEM major.
439
00:29:50,324 --> 00:29:55,174
And she talked about, she was
interviewed by, um, the university,
440
00:29:55,245 --> 00:29:56,824
um, student life office.
441
00:29:57,134 --> 00:30:03,325
And she talked about, how valuable
she found the Liberal Arts program at
442
00:30:03,325 --> 00:30:08,925
LaGuardia in exposing her to different
ideas across different disciplines.
443
00:30:09,244 --> 00:30:12,195
And I said, Yes, this
is my perfect graduate.
444
00:30:12,204 --> 00:30:15,675
This is what I hope to accomplish
that here we have a student who
445
00:30:15,694 --> 00:30:18,204
could without any prompting from us.
446
00:30:18,475 --> 00:30:22,325
I had no idea she was doing this
interview until I saw it published that
447
00:30:22,325 --> 00:30:29,520
she could talk so fluently about how
exposure to multiple ideas in multiple
448
00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:34,370
courses across the Liberal Arts major
was really valuable to her development.
449
00:30:34,570 --> 00:30:39,750
And she could then transition from this
major into being a biologist because
450
00:30:39,930 --> 00:30:44,590
having experienced all the different,
um, disciplines that we introduced her
451
00:30:44,870 --> 00:30:49,950
to, she could settle on, okay, yes, this
is the one that inspires my passions
452
00:30:49,970 --> 00:30:52,459
and makes me want to, to learn more.
453
00:30:53,010 --> 00:30:57,290
And I hope she never loses that in
whatever it is that she eventually,
454
00:30:57,750 --> 00:31:00,410
you know, lands on in her career.
455
00:31:02,290 --> 00:31:05,469
Um, I could also tell the story, because
I was trying to think, because I have
456
00:31:05,470 --> 00:31:10,720
not taught, um, well, upper level, 200
level courses in a while, LaGuardia.
457
00:31:11,150 --> 00:31:17,190
But I actually had, um, a scenario this
past, um, summer where I had a student
458
00:31:17,390 --> 00:31:20,380
who was finishing her associate's degree.
459
00:31:20,850 --> 00:31:25,750
At, um, at LaGuardia in
deaf, in, um, deaf studies.
460
00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:28,600
It's a Liberal Arts concentration, right?
461
00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:30,090
So it's a Liberal Arts degree.
462
00:31:30,770 --> 00:31:34,350
And, you know, she's like, you know,
I need to finish, I'm going to, you
463
00:31:34,350 --> 00:31:36,210
know, finish the degree to Oklahoma.
464
00:31:36,240 --> 00:31:42,280
So she took it as an opportunity to, you
know, come here and we started talking.
465
00:31:42,460 --> 00:31:46,260
And like I said to her, well, what are you
going to do when you go back to Oklahoma?
466
00:31:46,260 --> 00:31:48,300
She's like, well, I
want to be a translator.
467
00:31:48,330 --> 00:31:50,690
I'm like, yeah, is that it?
468
00:31:51,069 --> 00:31:56,620
You know, she was telling me the story
how every Sunday she was going to a, um,
469
00:31:57,669 --> 00:32:02,089
uh, a church with, um, deaf congregants.
470
00:32:02,160 --> 00:32:06,890
And I was like, let me tell you, girl, if
you were going to write a master's thesis,
471
00:32:07,305 --> 00:32:12,605
A sociological thesis on religion and the
deaf community, I would read it, right?
472
00:32:12,605 --> 00:32:14,755
And she's like, I'd
never thought about that.
473
00:32:15,145 --> 00:32:20,195
I mean, you know, it opens up
possibilities instead of saying, okay,
474
00:32:20,195 --> 00:32:21,635
I'm going to be a deaf translator.
475
00:32:21,655 --> 00:32:25,094
Well, how could you engage with
the world and understand it in
476
00:32:25,095 --> 00:32:26,609
ways that you never thought?
477
00:32:26,610 --> 00:32:27,450
possible.
478
00:32:27,810 --> 00:32:31,300
And that's just one small example,
but I mean, you know, she wrote me a
479
00:32:31,300 --> 00:32:36,140
lovely letter saying, Oh, thank you so
much that, you know, class that she was
480
00:32:36,150 --> 00:32:40,480
literally taking in her last semester,
all of a sudden opened her eyes.
481
00:32:40,480 --> 00:32:42,669
Like, I wish I knew this
at the very beginning.
482
00:32:43,020 --> 00:32:47,339
And yet I hope again, there was that
little sort of, as we say, imagination
483
00:32:47,420 --> 00:32:51,630
and possibility that the Liberal
Arts provides in that one student.
484
00:32:55,200 --> 00:32:56,399
That is so lovely.
485
00:32:56,440 --> 00:33:04,305
Um, Well, I, I feel like that's, first of
all, let's try to invite some of these.
486
00:33:04,710 --> 00:33:09,440
Students and graduates so that we can
have more conversations with them as well.
487
00:33:09,990 --> 00:33:12,830
So we're gonna, we're gonna,
we're gonna talk to them too.
488
00:33:12,830 --> 00:33:16,970
And we're gonna, you know, so
the people can, can see from your
489
00:33:16,970 --> 00:33:20,379
perspective, how you think about it,
but also from their perspective, right?
490
00:33:20,779 --> 00:33:24,339
Um, I think that would be a great,
um, some great follow up conversations
491
00:33:24,339 --> 00:33:25,919
that we should, we must have.
492
00:33:26,269 --> 00:33:30,459
Uh, but I also want to just
say how grateful I am that you
493
00:33:30,479 --> 00:33:32,199
three are here to share these.
494
00:33:32,565 --> 00:33:40,335
Different perspectives and how grateful
again and thankful that I am to have
495
00:33:40,335 --> 00:33:46,154
the opportunity to work with you all
and seeing what you're able to, to
496
00:33:46,154 --> 00:33:48,445
accomplish, uh, with your students.
497
00:33:48,455 --> 00:33:57,145
These are like really very seriously
inspiring highlights and, and I, um, I
498
00:33:57,145 --> 00:34:03,565
am, uh, I am just so, um, amazed by the
continuous drive to continue to do that.
499
00:34:03,715 --> 00:34:09,215
And I think it's because your
institution has that Liberal Arts,
500
00:34:09,955 --> 00:34:12,755
um, foundation as driven by that.
501
00:34:12,755 --> 00:34:17,354
I think you had mentioned earlier
from Gail Mello, who my met years ago.
502
00:34:17,354 --> 00:34:18,534
And she's amazing.
503
00:34:18,535 --> 00:34:20,635
She has created this
amazing culture there.
504
00:34:20,994 --> 00:34:23,574
And, and you all think in this way.
505
00:34:23,914 --> 00:34:31,330
Um, and I, I just, I just love that,
um, for folks who don't know, um enough
506
00:34:31,330 --> 00:34:34,860
about LaGuardia Community College,
please Google them, check them out.
507
00:34:35,290 --> 00:34:41,440
Um, they, this is what a wonderful
institution, um, and for folks who,
508
00:34:41,490 --> 00:34:48,029
um, who, um, are not, who, who may
not have been exposed to what Liberal
509
00:34:48,029 --> 00:34:49,910
Arts education can do for you.
510
00:34:50,745 --> 00:34:55,775
Um, check out that paper, you will see,
you know, I think you'll be inspired
511
00:34:55,775 --> 00:34:59,815
just like I did, even though it's a,
it's really written as an academic paper.
512
00:34:59,825 --> 00:35:04,315
I think I thought it was, um, you
know, suitable for anyone to read.
513
00:35:04,775 --> 00:35:09,594
Um, uh, you may not, you know, need
to read every little piece of it.
514
00:35:09,594 --> 00:35:13,695
It's a long paper, but there will be
enough that you'll get a lot out of it.
515
00:35:14,055 --> 00:35:20,055
Um, and, and this stuff that, you know,
Dionne and Tonya, and Demetri are sharing.
516
00:35:20,640 --> 00:35:24,440
They're not just, you know, things
that are, you know, just nice
517
00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:28,770
to have, and they just happen
to do it for fun, for no reason.
518
00:35:29,030 --> 00:35:33,300
You know, this is backed by lots of
research, lots of efforts, and huge
519
00:35:33,300 --> 00:35:37,980
amount of commitment by dedicated
people who have found their meanings.
520
00:35:37,995 --> 00:35:42,115
The life and have, have dedicated
that purpose to building these so that
521
00:35:42,165 --> 00:35:44,095
other people can enjoy it as well.
522
00:35:44,385 --> 00:35:47,985
And so I hope that you all go in and
check this out and congratulations
523
00:35:47,985 --> 00:35:49,724
again for all your successes.
524
00:35:49,765 --> 00:35:52,855
I, and I hope that we get to talk
again soon and we'll get some of
525
00:35:52,855 --> 00:35:56,364
your students and graduate to come on
this and then we'll have you guys to
526
00:35:56,364 --> 00:35:59,625
come on this afterwards as well, and
then, and then see how they all go.
527
00:35:59,865 --> 00:36:00,165
Okay.
528
00:36:00,205 --> 00:36:02,025
We'll, we'll keep, keep in touch.
529
00:36:02,435 --> 00:36:03,785
Thank you so much.
530
00:36:04,025 --> 00:36:05,405
Thank you so much for having us.
531
00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:10,790
Here's a preview of what's coming up next
in part two of my conversation with Tonya
532
00:36:10,790 --> 00:36:16,159
Hendrix, Demetri Kapetanakos, and Dionne
Miller from LaGuardia Community College.
533
00:36:17,280 --> 00:36:20,890
So being able to question and really
choose what is valuable and what
534
00:36:20,900 --> 00:36:25,880
matters is something that Bucknell has
really, has allowed me to practice.