When I first heard the word “andragogy” (which was in this class), my mind processed it as something masculine and related to teaching. Even though Dr. Rice told us that it means adult education, I could not help looking it up to understand why “andra”. Yes, to my dismay, the word comes from “andro” or “anere”, meaning a grown up, strong man and “gogy” meaning “to lead”. Next, I typed in gynogogy and Google asked me if I meant gynecology.
This is not to take the argument in another direction, the feminist direction, (which, to be honest, always excites me), but the nomenclature is bothering me because there is this othering of woman right at the outset. How can we even begin to talk about contact zones when the contact between man and woman seems to have been severed by this word, when woman seems to have been obliterated altogether from the classroom and from learning? It reminds me of the Cixousian argument- when it comes to matters of authority and meaning-making, the woman is not required, she does not exist. So much so, that the binary itself is challenged (not that I desire it!). She is obliterated. Man makes a couple, but with the son. (I don’t have the text with me right now, will provide the citation ASAP). That makes the binary andro/andro. Or may be there is no binary. It’s just men. Equals. Binaries function when the one of them has a lesser hierarchical position- man/woman.
Anyway, I’ll try to move on. But to pacify myself, I will alter the terminology. I would like to call it gyandrogogy- the education of adults- both men and women! When I think of educating adults, I can’t ignore how differently things work in India and in America. In India, there is a specific age after which one cannot enroll in colleges and universities. Usually, it is twenty-five. Yes, it’s sad and pathetic, but then we are one billion people with a literacy rate of 75% (significantly lower for women as compared to men). The only adults we educate in India are between eighteen and twenty-five years of age. So once you mess up with your life, you’re done for and there is no going back. I am wondering if that’s the reason why Indian parents are incredibly strict with their children (“incredibly strict” is a euphemism for stuff you don’t want to hear).
In U.S., it is different. You might be a twenty-eight-year-old teacher and your student might be fifty. For someone like me, it would be a huge temptation to say “namaste” and I would wonder what to tell such a student (I am coming out of the cultural shock now and I think I’ll make it).
In his “Innovations in Teaching Styles and Approaches Based Upon Adult Learning”, MalcolmS. Knowles says that the theory of andragogy (to me gyandragogy) is based on four assumptions:
- “Changes is self-concept”, where a person matures and becomes independent and self-motivated.
- “The role of experience,” where a person gains immense experience and puts it to use for further learning.
- “Readiness to learn,” which means that an adult is sitting in that classroom because he wants to learn and not because of any undue pressure.
- “Orientation to learning,” which means that adults have an attitude that aims at problem solving.
Considering the above, it might sound interesting to apply this approach to FYC. But is it really feasible? What I am worried about is, that though our students may be adults, but do we treat them like adults with the above-mentioned qualities? I don’t think so. The biggest hindrance that I see is the grading system itself. Grading students (their writing) automatically puts them in a position where they are treated as immature and inexperienced, who deserve to be graded, rather labeled, as good, okay, terrible, etc.
The first step to introducing the concept of androgogy to our classrooms would be to do away with the grading system and instead focus on giving honest, constructive feedback to students.
Nidihi, your anecdote about your research of the term has me in stitches! I agree
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate your inclusion of Knowles' 4 assumptions -- That helps me review and commit them to memory.
Have you checked out colleges without letter grades? I found this article that might be of interest: http://www.bestcollegereviews.org/colleges-without-letter-grades/
I think it is interesting to consider who is or isn't allowed in schools. As you mentioned, there is an age limit in India. When I traveled in China, I was told I am "too old to be a student." While I agree on many levels, and I would very much love to be well into my career at this point, it is important to consider there are reasons and circumstances a person may want or need to complete higher education after age 24. Great point for discussion!
Is it fair of me to say this Cixous opinion is irrelevant? This way of thinking must change throughout the world, I think.
Nice post, Nidhi. It's always important to understand the history of words, and from whence they come. Clearly, every word is rooted in all sorts of socio, political, religious, etc. etymology. I'm not sure that you have to do away with the grading system, as we have to embrace contraries. But, giving honest, constructive feedback is critical, and remembering that we teach every second. We are teaching in the postering we provide, in the lectures, and in the assessment. You have a solid understanding of strategies to teach adult learners. I'm convinced that a lot of what we do in composition instruction is rooted in motivation theory. The challenge, as you imply, is that many of our students are in betweeners, becoming adults, and some will know how to see and apply the relavance of our lessons to their lives and to solving problems, generally, and some will not. Knowing how to address the needs of different types of learners is important. When you find yourself teaching to uninterested faces, see what you can do to draw their attention to how what you're teaching can help them solve a problem that they're working on outside of class. My guess is if you can make that happen their time on task or attention on task will be much greater, and it stands to reason then that they'll get the concept and remember it when they need it.
ReplyDeleteI can't agree more. I first heard of andragogy in a course I'm taking now, and was flummoxed until I learned the term is a hand-me-down from the 19th century, when women like Ada Byron were counselled that their poor little heads might overheat if they tried learning complex mathematics. Adults in the classroom *were* male, entirely.
ReplyDeleteHe made the mistake then of missing the point of "adult" education, and you make the same mistake. Androgynogy or gynandragogy would mean "teaching of men and women" in a time when transgender people are finally having their voices heard, and agendered people will wonder why they're excluded.
The greek word for 'adult' is 'teleios', so someone actually proposed the word 'teliagogy' a few dozen years ago. If you search up that word, though, you'll find about four unique instances of its usage across all of Google. I then searched for other spellings and different word combinations, which is what led me here.
So, in short: "Teliagogy" is "Teaching mature (adult) students" and it's used absolutely nowhere; and all students learning andragogy just accept the word without question or will laugh at it a little and then continue to use it.
I propose that we mention "teliagogy (a.k.a. andragogy)" here and there, so that at least the term is introduced without causing confusion about its meaning.
(I just found out I'd never managed to search for "teleiagogy" -- I think I must have used an O instead of an A. There are actually some hits on Google! So that would be the word to use.)
DeleteI don't know if the same word concept was thought up later with a more proper spelling, or if the source I was reading just misspelled it by accidentally dropping the E.