In a final minute 30 sec. of the interview, Ms. Wolfe said something of real interest to me: "I didn't learn so much there", "Some happy medium of what college is now and what it could be", "I didn't learn that much there" (Duke), "If there was some happy medium between going and dropping out of school...versus having to go to college...I don't know what it is, but there has to be something between those two...." This was of great interest, since I think it not so difficult to imagine that "happy medium", or even a most useful replacement for how we do the 'get in' part of engaging life at those points it has the greatest interest and prospect for the individual, and for useful application in the world, however one might define the term 'useful'. I have always imagined the way to achieve that was to replace or augment the usual offerings of certification, authentication, presumed competency, knowledge and the like gained through the usual layers of college bricolage, with a portfolio that one builds throughout their life, adding chapters as their learning, creativity, projects, persistence, successes and failures proceed and demonstrate the actuality of what one has engaged rather than what they are being prepared to engage. By that, I mean 'portfolio' in the same sense that say, an artist shows a portfolio of their work when they go looking for jobs or clients. In this case, the portfolio can provide so much more than our college resume cum interview with a 'hobbies/interests' section tacked on method of sorting out people and deciding what merit they might have and what doors should be opened to them or, what part of what someone has to offer is worth receiving and paying for. Yes, there are a lot of wrinkles to a portfolio system as an alternative for letting people sort themselves out in the contexts of recognizable, socially productive value. But those things are really administrative details to the general idea, and can all be resolved. The main idea is to find the intersection of personal abilities, no matter how acquired, with suitable applications, no matter what the requirements. Portfolios do not presume competence or interest, they demonstrate it. Thus they represent the greatest probability of relating real-valued ability with market-valued opportunity. They can reveal to the reader almost any aspect of a person's competence from those of being team players or good detailers to those of being maverick geniuses or handy generalists. All of what we presently do to sort out people can be more conveniently and fairly managed through a well-constructed portfolio system.
In a final minute 30 sec. of the interview, Ms. Wolfe said something of real interest to me:
"I didn't learn so much there", "Some happy medium of what college is now and what it could be", "I didn't learn that much there" (Duke), "If there was some happy medium between going and dropping out of school...versus having to go to college...I don't know what it is, but there has to be something between those two...."
This was of great interest, since I think it not so difficult to imagine that "happy medium", or even a most useful replacement for how we do the 'get in' part of engaging life at those points it has the greatest interest and prospect for the individual, and for useful application in the world, however one might define the term 'useful'.
I have always imagined the way to achieve that was to replace or augment the usual offerings of certification, authentication, presumed competency, knowledge and the like gained through the usual layers of college bricolage, with a portfolio that one builds throughout their life, adding chapters as their learning, creativity, projects, persistence, successes and failures proceed and demonstrate the actuality of what one has engaged rather than what they are being prepared to engage. By that, I mean 'portfolio' in the same sense that say, an artist shows a portfolio of their work when they go looking for jobs or clients. In this case, the portfolio can provide so much more than our college resume cum interview with a 'hobbies/interests' section tacked on method of sorting out people and deciding what merit they might have and what doors should be opened to them or, what part of what someone has to offer is worth receiving and paying for.
Yes, there are a lot of wrinkles to a portfolio system as an alternative for letting people sort themselves out in the contexts of recognizable, socially productive value. But those things are really administrative details to the general idea, and can all be resolved. The main idea is to find the intersection of personal abilities, no matter how acquired, with suitable applications, no matter what the requirements. Portfolios do not presume competence or interest, they demonstrate it. Thus they represent the greatest probability of relating real-valued ability with market-valued opportunity. They can reveal to the reader almost any aspect of a person's competence from those of being team players or good detailers to those of being maverick geniuses or handy generalists. All of what we presently do to sort out people can be more conveniently and fairly managed through a well-constructed portfolio system.
Greatly enjoy Aledandras weekly columns..
Always an interesting slant on personalities, even if well known