Reflections on Student Being and Becoming in the Contemporary

applyparastyle “fig//caption/p[1]” parastyle “FigCapt” 2020 00 03 1 Introduction: Reflections on 9 Student Being and Becoming © 2020 in the Contemporary University 2020 AMANDA J. FULFORD Edge Hill University What is it to be a student in the contemporary university? How does one become a student, and is being a student simply the result of registering with a particular institution? What does (or should) a student do? Does she simply study, or how else is the “being” of a student expressed? Of course, these questions may seem simple to answer, at least on one level. They are questions that go to the heart of the motivations and practices of the academic’s work in lecturing and supporting students in higher education. They are also questions that, in some ways at least, are the concern of those with responsibility for managing, leading, funding and regulating higher education. But this edition seeks to move beyond such apparently obvious answers, and to consider again what might be at stake in the idea of student being and becoming. This special edition, on the theme of “Student Being and Becoming” came about following the annual conference of the Philosophy and Theory of Higher Education Society (PaTHES) on the same theme. This was held at Middlesex University, London, in 2018. The theme was selected at the previous year’s conference in Denmark, partly, at least, because there is much potential in bringing philosophy and theory to bear on matters relating to the student—and being and becoming a student—in the contemporary university. The student is the focus of much attention in the media, particularly at the time of putting together this special edition when the world is in the grip of a global pandemic that, at least for a period, is changing radically the nature of our universities and how our students can study in them. Teaching, learning and studying has largely gone online. Prospective students talk about whether © 2020 Amanda J. Fulford - http://doi.org/10.3726/PTIHE032020.0001 - The online edition of this publication is available open access. Except where otherwise noted, content can be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0). For details go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 2 AMANDA J. FULFORD it will be possible to “be a student” in a socially distanced campus where gath- ering together for lectures and social events may not even be possible. For some, even the prospect of becoming a student in such strange times is dif- ficult, leading some to consider postponing their plans to be a student, and to pursue other options. What is clear is that being, and becoming, a student may be a very different experience for some time to come. In the history of our universities, then, it seems that there have been few moments when it has been as urgent to think about what it means to be, and to become, a student. There has, of course, been sustained philosophical thinking over the cen- turies about being and becoming (a pupil) across different aspects and phases of childhood and education. Most of this thinking and writing continues to be discussed among educators, on educational studies courses, and in pro- grammes of initial teacher education. Much of this literature has become very familiar, from Plato's educational philosophy grounded in a vision of an ideal Republic, to Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s celebrated treatise on the nature of education,1 to John Dewey’s work on the child and the curriculum2 and on democracy and education3 to Nel Noddings’ contemporary work on an ethics of care and moral education.4 Central to much of this body of work is the figure of the child and that of the teacher, and of the relationship between them. Philosophy and theory has had much to say about the development, or the “becoming”, of the child. This is most clearly seen in, for example, Jean Piaget—the Swiss developmental psychologist’s—work on epistemology and the cognitive development of children.5 More recently, there has been a burgeoning literature on the relevance of neuroscience to thinking about education. This was taken up in a 2008 special issue of the Journal of Philoso- phy of Education titled “New Philosophies of Learning”.6 What this shows is that thinking about the child—and about the pupil—especially in relation to being and becoming in the context of education, has been an issue to which philosophers and theorists repeatedly return. 1 Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile (Mineola, NY: Dover Publications Inc., 1762/2013). 2 John Dewey, The Child and the Curriculum. Joint edition with The School and Society, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1902/1956). 3 John Dewey, Democracy and Education (Mineola, NY: Dover Publications Inc., 1916/2012). 4 Nel Noddings, The Challenge to Care in Schools: An Alternative Approach to Education. 2nd edition (New York: Teachers College Press, 2015). 5 Jean Piaget and Bärbel Inhelder, The Psychology of the Child (New York: Basic Books, 1972). 6 Ruth Cigman and Andrew Davis (Eds). “New Philosophies of Learning.” Special Issue of the Journal of Philosophy of Education 42, nos. 3–4 (2008). Reflections on Student Being and Becoming 3 Discourses of Being and Becoming a Student: The Contemporary University Context This special edition, however, is concerned not with being a pupil in a school or with the development of cognitive abilities, but rather with student being and becoming in the context of higher education. There is, again, a growing body of literature on the practical measures that a university might imple- ment to support those entering, and progressing through, higher education to “become” and to “be” a student. In the main, this literature tends towards describing and analysing the technical aspects of what it means to be a student in the university. Some of this literature speaks to how academic staff can support students with developing independence (of thought, or approach to study), as this characteristic is often valorized as a mark of a higher education. The literature also turns its attention to how being a student (and also, to how to succeed in assessments) requires a comprehensive induction into the conventions expected in terms of academic writing. To be a student of the- ology, history, physics, or of economics, requires an understanding both of how to read and how to write in the discipline. Other literature is concerned with the development of that basic attribute of being a student in the university—the ability to think, read and write critically. Much of this literature is valuable on a practical level, as it supports pedagogical decision-making, cur- ricular choices, and university investment in support packages—all of which feed into the (often spurious) measures of academic quality, student satisfac- tion and the student experience, and the league tables that inevitably follow. Discussions about what it means to become, or be a student, in the university, are often framed around the thorny idea of a student’s “identity”. When a student enrols on a university programme leading to a professional, vocational qualification (such as those typically seen in teaching or nursing), the literature points to the often-conflicted identities that students experience. As “students”, there is a desire to enjoy the full experience that this affords: managing financial independence (for those who may be leaving home for the first time); forging new friendships; partying and socialising. As “trainee professionals”, their identity—their “becoming”—is also bound up with discourses of professional ethics, codes of practice and the meeting of vocational standards. The importance of matters such as student identity—and of belonging—are strongly related to what it means to be a student in a given university, and to “belong” to the university community as alumni after graduation. Marketing campaigns boldly claim the particular attributes and skills of their students and graduates: employers can be confident that the graduates of “University X” are resilient, flexible, independent problem 4 AMANDA J. FULFORD solvers. This is what being a student at—and a graduate from—University X is all about: the demonstration of a set of skills, a body of knowledge or particular attributes. Yet in all these discussions, any more considered thinking about the “becoming” of the student is often given scant attention. Where it is, the notion of “becoming” is most often understood merely in terms of a transition into higher education, and so with the most practical of issues.7 What this focus of attention misses, however, is first, the ontological at the heart of what it means to be and become a student, and second, the perfec- tionist nature of being a student that is redolent of an ongoing process of being and becoming. Perfectionism: Being and Becoming a Student The idea of perfectionism is one that the American philosopher, Stanley Cavell8, finds in the work of the nineteenth century essayist, philosopher and poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson. In his celebrated volume on the idea of Emerso- nian perfectionism9, Cavell seeks to show that our being human is marked not by final perfectibility (that we should aim and reach perfection), but rather that, in repeatedly seeking to work towards a better version of ourselves, the “self” is always deferred. It is in this idea of perfectionism, then, that I find that Emerson’s ideas—especially as they are given expression in Cavell’s read- ing of them—offer rich lines of thought for the idea of being and becoming a student. Cavell finds in Emerson an idea of perfectionism that is an orientation towards a better self that has no finality; it is always partial and on its way.

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