Sunday 22 September 2013

Classroom Discussion: Benefit or Detriment?

Taking the Discussion Outside the Classroom Keeps it Real

Does mandatory classroom discussion dumb down lecture content for students?

From research of the many over-40 classmates I've studied with during the past year, the consensus among boomers is that enforced discussion in college or university classrooms is dumbing down lecture content. At the typical college age, we were all "serious intellectuals" taking the discussion outside the classroom creatively and independently on our own, while receiving a full hour or 2-hour lecture from the prof as well. There wasn't a problem remembering the content. In most eras, students naturally discuss what they're learning in nightly gatherings outside the classroom, every era and place having its own hangouts. The dress and aspiration is also era-specific - perhaps young men in black leather bomber jackets and Lenin caps sit beside freedom-fighting women in earnest hippie dresses, all having written or with plans to write their novels or journal articles... or whatever. The main point is that outside the classroom no discussion occurs to get a better mark.

Institutionalized Discussion Curbs Creativity in Learning 

What causes a professor to institute discussion with students during a lecture that I'm paying for to learn knowledge from him or her? Does a prof condone the conformity in holding particular opinions as well, that used to be free to roam in a cafe without any institutional shaping whatsoever? Where no opinion is shaped by a need for a mark or a grade or a reference, but each idea just feverishly fascinating to learn about for its own sake? Why can't students just discuss on their own without the guidance of a prof? And leave the lecture to being a distilled, creative expression of a senior expert's interpretations and ideas on the topic we're learning about that they reference and allude to?

The Most Verbose Students Are Rewarded

At my own university course about a fascinating literary topic, I have decided to drop the course and continue studying the subject on my own. I dislike having to listen to other students for half of the lecture time at my university. It feels like a controlled, herded, prescribed group experience. Perhaps it is a conditioning for the conformity expected of everyone from the working world, where "collaboration" is now mandatory, which often means a quiet tyranny by the participants who like to talk the most. Preference isn't given to the proven participants who know the most or execute the best and most efficiently, but the ones who talk at and in the highest volumes.

I have decided I value a real college or university lecture, and don't want it dumbed-down or cut in half, to make room for currently mandatory classroom discussion. Just as I seek quieter "doers" in my professional environments who walk the walk rather than just talk the talk.

Friday 6 September 2013

Cure Flat-Footedness With Ballet Exercises

It is possible to cure flat-footedness by building strength through ballet exercises

High Arches, Low Arches, or Flat Feet?

Since I've been walking to work for over a month now, I am very aware of having flat feet. And although I studied ballet for 16 years many years ago, I never knew that ballet is actually recommended to fix flat-footedness. Ballet exercises and stretches the foot and ankle - and to some degree, strengthens the arch. This can lessen the pain in feet when walking long distances.

Practicing Relevés Builds Foot Strength

Practicing relevés is the best way to build strength in feet. To perform a relevé, start with your weight evenly distributed between the balls of your feet and your heels. Slowly lift your heels and roll onto the balls of your feet, resisting the floor as though you are peeling each muscle away from the floor one by one. Then slowly lower your feet to the floor. Do this 10 times each day to build strength in your feet.

The Peroneus Longus Muscle Needs to Be Strengthened to Cure Flat-Footedness


The peroneus longus is the muscle responsible for maintaining the foot arch. If this muscle hasn't been used, it has to be strengthened. It is best to use the whole body to condition it in a wholistic way. One simple thing to correct is to be aware of where your weight is when you stand. If it's on your heels, try to correct this by balancing your body weight more on the balls of your feet.




Other tips for strengthening feet are:

  • toe running
  • toe walking: walk without touching your heels to the ground
  • spread out toes of both feet and hold for 15 seconds
  • point your toes and hold for 10 seconds, then release - do 5 times each day on each foot
  • roll your feet inwards to stretch the muscles on the outer sides of each foot
  • go barefoot as much as possible
  • try pointing your toes without curling them

Even for professional future dancers, it is possible to correct flat feet. Check out these young dancers discussing their flat-footedness. Yoga Tuneup has other interesting resources on correcting flat feet.

Hand-Painted Works by Kyivan Artist Alexander Khomenko

 St. Nicholas icon Since my current University of Toronto Slavics course on The Origins of Russia and Ukraine covers icons and cossacks alo...