An unofficial AU advocate at large, Jason never misses a chance to recount the merits of an Athabasca education. Jason’s studies began alone in front of a rustic rural fireplace in December of 2003 and carried on through various brick and mortar college classrooms yet always with Athabasca as part of his journey. In 2014 he completed his BA in Sociology and in 2022 graduated with an MA in Cultural Studies. To this end, his columns seek to explore edifying moments of learning how to learn within the challenging ideological terrain of that great bugaboo facing students everywhere: the real world!
As distance education students, our geography remains unchanged but our minds unfurl like flags as we play with and try out new ideas. The project of identity extends to our minds as we challenge preconceptions about ourselves and our social environment. This process allows us to glean sociological insights into how authoritarian power structures may… Read more »
Baggage is a term implying years of accumulated dross, emotional and economic, the sort of thing therapists dream of as the purpose of their vocation. We carry with us our past and it colours our present and future, like it or not. Many key experiences are induced through participation in cultural institutions. Even the most… Read more »
Ever know something and you don’t know how or why? No textbook can replace that secure feeling of knowledge without method, certainty without reason. Such forms of intuition aren’t teachable, yet they feel as true as any series of facts. Intuitive reasoning basically is present or absent in any given moment. Whether we listen to… Read more »
Social chemistry is hard to quantify. Sure, ethnomethodologists with names like Harold Garfinkel have given social explication the old college try using conversation analysis. But for every hmm and ih’f and umm studiously recorded and analyzed for academic posterity there’s rhythms, rhymes, seasons, and reasons that defy the gravity of scientific inquiry. Much of life… Read more »
The freedom to wallow incessantly in inspirational memes and gratitude lists, not to mention the peaks and valleys of our course material, came from war. It’s sad, and true, and easy to forget. Yet, it doesn’t take a history major to know that a real fascist regime in Ottawa probably would not deign to fund… Read more »
Well, you walked into that one, I thought to myself when asked a pop quiz sort of query about my educated take on a current event. See, the challenge with having an academic major is it lends itself well to what we might term mechanic-worker syndrome. Having a friend who excels in mechanics and general… Read more »
Candied apples, like Eve’s temptation in microcosm, represent the timeless sweet treat of adding a cloak of flavour to an otherwise predictable product. The desire to consume oneself anew may be the basis of fashion as well as the key to the unique tradition of Hallowe’en. Unless we dress up as a local Santa at… Read more »
We’re all born dumb, literally lacking the facility of language and any semblance of deftness or acuity when expressing complex thoughts and feelings. Much later, after socialization teaches us to translate our wails and tantrums into words and essays, we might rest on our laurels and come to an age-old conclusion: maybe all our learning… Read more »
Why Critical Thought Means Thinking Past Our Instincts Geese were once said to spontaneously germinate along riverbanks; their nests were nestled amidst thick reeds and when the goslings emerged in trails of swimming fuzzy cuteness people assumed they’d hatched out of somewhere tiny. One goose species in particular, the Barnacle Goose, was thought to honk… Read more »
Atop a noble steed I gallop toward my fate. Wait, really? Topic sentences, like essay themes, can seem a bit pedestrian unless they’re backed up by some substance. If we just write freely without notes we’ll end up having learned very little and saying even less. Our AU education allows us to extend the… Read more »