While I am not the longest-running show at Marist, the curtain just went up on what I think is my 42nd semester, I am at that proverbial fork in the road. Do I take the traditional academic path and teach from a text? Do I finally resign myself into believing that the students are mainly (if not only) interested in how this course will pay off with a nice job upon graduation?
Having seen how other instructors are teaching the “same” course, (Introduction to Communication), i.e. as a primer in mass media, with an emphasis on communication in the marketplace, I wonder if I am out in left field because the catalog description of the course makes no mention of mass media:
“This course surveys the theories of communication relevant to all contexts – from conversations between friends and family to presidential town halls on the Internet. It introduces students to essential concepts and fundamental theories that describe the process, function, nature, and effects of communication.“
I spent…and am still spending since I’m still working, over 50 years in mass media and education…and I can tell you this, many, many of the people I worked for and with don’t know diddly-squat about real communication. Many of those people communicated like six-year-olds!
The world of today is filled with electronic gadgets and apps to facilitate communication. The only problem? We still suck at communicating. The students in my class think they believe they know what they want from a college course. I fear they don’t.
The world doesn’t necessarily need more mass media professionals. We need people who believe they have the power to make a difference in the world by using communication as a tool to build a better and kinder world, not as a weapon of mass destruction where we continue to fight with each other over one issue after another.
I want to take the fork in the road where a student can open themselves up to understanding that life is much more than a high-paying job with fringe benefits. I want to provide them with an environment that is safe…safe for questions and wonderment.
Because I believe in the power of story…told in all formats, I wanted to show them the movie, Arrival (a movie that is considered to be one of the best on communication), but after watching it, I don’t think it will work in an 8 am class. It won’t work (in my opinion) because to really understand it you need to have traveled some distance on the Yellow Brick Road. Fortunately, I have some other movies in my academic arsenal I will use.
After some educational soul-searching, I have decided to take the road less traveled in teaching communication for one very simple reason: There just might be one student who needs to be encouraged to believe that they are very important and that the world needs them…and communication will be the key they use to open up doors for us all.
Along The Yellow Brick Road 