Friday, July 25, 2008
Inventing Boredom
Posted March 21st, 2008 by Arnold Aprill
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The human creature is inherently motivated - to explore, to wonder, to at the very least seek food and shelter. The human brain is programmed to seek stimulation. Boredom is a learned behavior that fills the gap between "the mismatch of one's skill and the challenge at hand". Boredom is the invention of creativity alienated from choice. Once learned, boredom can become a "stance" of the learner (literally), an aggressive response to limited options and past disappointments. expressed throughout the body of the learner as an existential position of "I dare you to interest me". Assuming the mantle of boredom makes a visible statement, saying "I do not trust you to trust me to make meaningful choices". It is difficult to walk through the valley of the shadow of the alienated learner's rage, but persistently presenting the "unmotivated" learner with challenging choices is the only option. (this post is a response to Jesl Cruz's post: http://www.citizenpowered.org/content/there-anything-we-never-have-learn...) Arnold Aprlll Founding and Creative Director Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE) www.capeweb.org
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boredom.
I like this post, boredom is a cancer. I've never thought about it in terms of a problem to be conquered in education, yet it makes total sense. If boredom is a symtom fo advanced capitalism and a product of coming home exhausted from our tedious jobs only to sit in front of the television and waste the only precious time we have saturating ourselves with seductive advertising, then education (true, sincere, and fun learning), might be one of the few opportunities we have to resist boredom (which can be a subversive act). I assume you know about the Situationists??
Situationists
I do indeed. My understanding of the Situationists is that they advocate taking responsibility for analyzing the situation we find ourselves in and taking action to take back control of our destinies, rather than letting "invisible robots" decide for us (see February 14 post below). This is exactly what education should do. Arts education accelerates that process when it encourages critical thinking, and encourages young people to see themselves as active producers of culture.