A friend of mine here in Victoria was a “maple syrup connector” for me this week. She, through a friend of hers, brought in a few cases of Quebec maple syrup and I got my cans out of her trunk on Monday afternoon.
We spent a few minutes talking about the deliciousness of syrup, and I was reminded of how I used to eat a bowl of plain maple syrup with a spoon when I was little. I loved it at the time but a year ago I tried it again and it was absolutely too sweet. I couldn’t do it. I had grown past something that had seemed so normal all those years growing up.
I could draw a parallel between this experience and my university education. Twenty years ago, I sat and attended 2-3 hour lectures – usually with the professor actually standing at a lecturn at the front of the room – and thought nothing of it. It was normal, the way higher education was “done” at the time. But now, I know better. Non-interactive lectures are from the past. In fact, I don’t even want to use the word “lecture” anymore! We’ve grown past them.
Just because we once did something a certain way, doesn’t mean it still works or is right for us. Just like maple syrup, lectures should be given in (extreme!) moderation.
(Don’t believe me? Read this post.)
