LAW
ccm & idea L Copyright 2010 All rights reserved Published under Idea L Unlimited Written & Designed by Cait Camarata Produced in Berkeley, California Graduate Thesis Proposal Masters of Fine Art • Graphic Design The Academy of Art University
LAW [ Learning Another Way ] a visual study for critical thought
cait camarata idea L unlimited, llc
we are not what we know but what we are willing to learn.
mary catherine bateson Fellow of International Leadership Forum, President of the Institute for Intercultural Studies in New York, daughter of controversial academic anthropologist and cultural icon Margaret Mead.
CONTENT • •
Foreword
•
Critical Thought Condition
•
•
•
Introduction to Edgeucation
Current Currents
Ignorance is not Bliss
More Lessons Less Morons
Outside the Box
The Cool In School
Deschool by Design
Industrious Evolution
Kaleidoscope
Backword
never doubt a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. indeed it is the only thing that ever has.
margaret mead Writer and speaker in mass media throughout 1960s and 70s. She was popularized by her insights of anthropology into modern American and western culture. Her reports on attitudes towards sex in the South Pacific and Southeast Asian traditional cultures informed the sexual revolution of the 1960s.
The smallest minority on Earth is the individual. One of my favorite sheroes, Ayn Rand, said this. She also noted you cannot deny individual rights and claim to be a defender of minorities. Yet, I am a defender of minorities, and this is my proposal to prove just that...
07
Introduction to Edgeucation No two people learn alike. Some are visual learners, some are auditory learners, some have an insane capacity for facts, and others for fiction. Some people can play instruments, some can play sports, some can paint, some can sing, some can dance, some can write, some can draw, some can make you laugh, some can heal your heart. Only some will soar, while too many fall, but the truth is everyone can think, and everyone can learn, they all just do it differently, and if we recognize this all will rise up. Humans are social beings. And yet so often in social realms we are pitted against one another, especially in our school systems. It’s hard to win in this country without someone else losing. So how are we supposed to form stronger communities and build progress together, for each other, when so many are vying for a success that only suits themselves? Most people have the wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness, it is not attained through self-gratification, but fidelity to a worthy purpose. Helen Keller once said that life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all, that security is mostly a superstition, it does not exist in nature, which makes life exciting business, and most exciting when it is lived with and for others. If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse gift can find a place. Students should be captivated, not captives. Everyone has talent, what is rare is the courage to follow that talent to the mysterious place it leads. Encourage the courage, push the boundaries, go to the edge, especially in education. The time is now.
the beauty of empowering others is that your own power is not diminished in the process. barbara coloroso Internationally recognized contemporary critical theorist, author, as well as education expert.
CRITICAL THOUGHT CONDITION
i cannot teach. i can only make them think. socrates Greek philosopher of the Socratic Method, a type of pedagogy in which a series of questions are asked to draw out both individual answers and encourage fundamental insight.
11
think for yourself & allow others the privilege to do so too. — Voltaire
Current Currents General Education in the United States perpetuates a standardization of learning that centers around memorization and categorization. Knowledge is being distributed as facts, not fluid ideas that have taken hold, and we are failing to produce students who can think critically about information. What is being taught is being taught as the truth and history. Young people are being told that things happened in order, an order, and why, but not to the extent that this history and this truth is negotiable. For this, they need critical thinking skills, a way that looks at these ‘facts’ from a different point of view. A liberal arts university education has become the supplement to this problem, but this creates another gap - between those who can afford it, and those who cannot. Having a BA from a liberal arts university where critical thinking is part of the general education requirements is not available to everyone, and those who don’t have access may never have the opportunity to learn these skills. I have found a way to bridge theses gaps in our culture. I believe that I can inspire youth to better mine their minds, essentially learn to learn, by approaching education from a more positive, creative, and visual platform, infiltrating the information that is readily available, omitted, and ignored, and concurrently reinventing it’s form.
Ignorance is not Bliss Ignorance is not bliss, in fact, it renders you completely useless. Lack of critical thought in young people is not a state of ignorance, for ignorance, to me, means the act of ignoring something, being in the know of a certain existence, or existences, and choosing to not recognize said existence or existences. Much of our youth is not aware of the skill of critical thinking, because they are neither informed about it, nor taught to exercise their abilities towards it.
13
MORE LESSONS LESS MORONS
the color of truth is gray. andre gide French author and winner of Nobel Prize in Literature. Gide was part of the symbolist movement and anticolonialism. His work is seen as an investigation of freedom and empowerment in the face of moralistic and puritan constraints. His continuous effort was to achieve intellectual honesty.
15
the way to do research is to attack the facts at the point of greatest astonishment. — Celia Green
Outside the Box What is critical thinking? Critical thinking is a skilled, active, interpretation and evaluation of observations, communications, information, and argumentation. It is the careful, deliberate determination of whether one should accept, reject, or suspend judgment about a claim, as well as the degree of confidence with which one accepts, or rejects, it. Critical thinking employs not only logic but broad intellectual criteria such as clarity, credibility, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, significance and fairness. The term ‘critical’ has the connotation of expressing disapproval, which is not always the case. Thinking itself is often casual and informal, whereas critical thinking deliberately evaluates the quality of thinking with a considerate and thoughtful attitude towards problems and subjects within the range of one’s own experiences.
The Cool in School There is a stigma that surrounds teenagers, saying they are out of touch with the world around them, but that is just not the case. Teenagers are very much in touch, for this day in age accessibility of information is instantaneous. It is the speed at which this information comes and goes that is causing a lack of attention and a certain disassociation with reality, scope, the world at large. A well versed critical thinker raises important questions and they come to well reasoned conclusions by testing them against their own relevant criteria/standards. All the while they think open-mindedly with alternative systems of thought, assessing their own assumptions, implications, and consequences. Lastly, critical thinkers communicate effectively with others in figuring out solutions to complex problems, without being unduly or blindly influenced by someone else’s opinion on a topic. Much of our youth can identify logos and advertisements for big brands without batting an eyelash, but have to study for hours in order to commit to memory the periodic table, the geography of the planet, and many other realms of general education, most of which is promptly forgotten once regurgitated onto an exam. Pop culture and consumerism are force fed to the porous minds of our youth much like their general education. While marketing has an unfortunate stronghold on the collective subconscious, it may be the key to rebranding knowledge, and putting the cool in school.
17
DESCHOOLED BY DESIGN
there is nothing more uncommon than common sense. frank lloyd wright Innovative and accomplished American architect, designer, writer, and educator.
19
the function of art is to renew our perception. what we are familiar with we cease to see. an artist shakes up the familiar scene and if by magic we see new meaning. — Anais Nin
Industrious Evolution In order to heighten critical thought in education for teenagers and their educators, a more creative and visual approach to knowledge is much needed. This requires the revamping of information and I plan to go about this endeavor with a publication, more so a magazine, that circulates on a bimonthly basis. I see this being both visually and intellectually engaging, but for a younger, more attention deficient audience... think Adbusters and Colors meets Highlights Magazine and National Geographic for Kids. Creating a more positive environment for intellectual stimulation requires intervention within our school systems... inside the box, if you will. Herein lies an opportunity to market information, knowledge, intelligence in a whole new way. I see this taking life in the shape of a Media Kit that encapsulates Lesson Plans, Textbooks, Product and Package design for the Classroom and Politicking Campaign materials for students to be more active within their respective educational communities. Lastly, the cool in school needs to be more pronounced. It’s not about staying in school that makes you cool, it’s about taking the classroom out of the school, and carrying it with you everywhere you go, outside the box. I’d like to make a documentary about LAW [ Learning Another Way ] which focuses on charter school, home schools, and independent education systems that essentially go their own way. In the end I plan to host a Gallery Exhibit where all my aforementioned work is on display, making the viewers feel as if they are in the classroom of their dreams, a Faux Creation Installation that encourages critical thought and encapsulates my visual study.
Kaleidoscope
teenagers
exhibit
media kit
publication
educators
schools film
Audience
Deliverables
Teenagers
Publication
Educators
Media Kit
Lesson Plans, Textbooks, Product & Packaging Design, Politicking
Schools Documentary Exhibit
21
Magazine & Website
Learning Another Way Faux Creation Installation
To create one’s own world in any of the arts takes courage. One of my sheroes, Georgie O’Keeffe, said that. The time has come for me to create my own world in design, and I am eager to be underway. This is the beginning of my finest hour.
if you think you can, you can. if you think you can't, you're right.
mary kay ash American business woman,who in 1963 left the company she was with at the time, frustrated having been passed over for a promotion in favor of a man she trained. She began to write a book to assist women in the business world and the book turned into the business plan for her own ideal company.
i am the ready set kind.
caitlin camarata murphy ccm is currently developing her masters thesis, which intends to heighten critical thought in youth by filling the voids of education with more positive and entertaining information, through creative, visual media outlets
¥Yo! I grew up in the Washington DC area. I attended private school, against my will, up until I was 18, when I departed for Film School in North Carolina, where I double majored with Creative Writing. I moved to San Francisco 4 years ago, after a post collegiate year in Manhattan and another in DC. I have found that the old adage is true, that this is the city where you leave your heart, for I have fallen madly in love with the Bay Area. I am home. However, I am also in a perpetual state of wanderlust. Even though I have traveled across and out of the country rather extensively, I will never know enough time abroad. Travel makes me feel rich, it adds definition to my heart and my mind and it makes me better at all the ways I define myself... I am an artist in many ways, for I am a graphic designer, an illustrator, a typographer. I am a photographer, a painter, a writer, a filmmaker. I am also a dreamer, and a believer. I am a lover and a fighter. I am a hopeful romantic, and I am never hopeless. I am an athlete, and a coach. I am an academic, and an activist. I am a sister, a daughter, a friend. I am queer, I am gay, I am a lesbian. I am a woman. I am in tune to the world around me, on its wavelength. I love the sound of society, the elements, the outdoors. I am a linguist, for I love language, words, letterforms. I am adventurous, but I love simple moments as much as the epic ones. I love to play, but I love a challenge just as much. I am a child at heart, but my soul runs deep. I am a listener and learner and I love my life and I’m living it up until the very last drop.
25
GO
[ Learning Another Way ] a visual study for critical thought
cait camarata idea L unlimited, llc