mind your language.

this afternoon, on the way home from seeing a friend's two little people in a circa performance, i was listening to music makers on classic fm. today, brett dean [australian violist and composer, and former artistic director of the australian national academy of music in melbourne] presented his thoughts on language usage and change and its crucial role in his work as a composer and educator, in his lecture titled, 'mind your language: do buzz words reflect or shape the cultural landscape?'.

it was one of those incredible, engaging talks that you really should be still for, so you can take it in and mull over it. my willing of as many red lights as possible worked, and for short spurts, i didn't have to concentrate on my surrounding environment. i had not heard of dean until today. though, as a part-time educator myself, his words resonate deeply. two aspects, in particular, led to thought-tangents.

the first, which i try to adhere to with my students, is that life is not about what you think, rather how you think. within the area of design and architecture, there is seldom a right or wrong answer. more often that not, a project will stand up with strong, coherent validation; whether the assessor 'likes' it or not. many students will directly seek a solution to a problem. my role is not to give an answer [unless it is first year]. rather, it is to offer guidance; to pose another question to that student, and have them take it away and dissect it. ideally, they should further question, then develop and resolve the problem they have come up against. there should be many iterations before a solid solution is reached. [however, post-justification is the the most common solution in design and architecture. but we can at least keep trying to persuade students what the best methods are.]

i think this process is the same in our world-view. opinions should be based on questioning, looking at a problem [whether it be subjective or objective] from all facets, then making an informed decision. the path of questioning [the how] is almost more important that the conclusion reached [the what] - how or why have we come to that belief? by doing so, we open ourselves to further inquiry, understanding and enlightenment.

second, which ties to the first, is the idea of choosing our own thought-pathways. that is, the ones we want [or desire], not what is expected of us. we should be instilling in young minds the need to seek out that which will be useful to them. and even if some of us are not sure until later in life what vocation will make us truly happy, if we plant the thought-seeds now, perhaps we might potentially develop a society with happier and healthier minds.

the dalai lama once said that the way to heal the world's problems is to have more picnics and festivals. sometimes solutions appear simple. but i'm not going to argue with him: because i believe in the grass roots approach. and teaching young minds how to think is a good first step.