Emma Stone writes that there isn't a better representation of beauty than someone being herself. As I am in the final stages of preparing teaching material for the University semester ahead, I have become increasingly uncomfortable with entertaining any notion of 'an ideal student', 'an ideal test performance' or 'an ideal lecture'.
I notice the same worrying trend: students losing sight of the big picture, and crumbling under the weigh of their own expectations of how to be better, how to reach higher, how to be more 'ideal'. I notice students equating their worth to their test performance.
As I write this, I can expect that 20% of any given class will now seek support outside of the curriculum for stress and stress-related concerns. This is true across Faculties, and across Universities. To understand the full extent of the problem, read Under the Radar: The Mental Health of Australian University Students (https://www.orygen.org.au/Policy-Advocacy/Policy-Reports/Under-the-radar).
It is time for change. I have consciously committed to this image as my measure of success in the classroom this semester. Instead of expecting perfection from myself and indirectly from students, I shall be protecting us from it. I have divised a preliminary code of conduct, to be presented and vigorously discussed and modified in class next week. Here it is:
1. We're in it together.
2. The painter and painted are equally important.
3. Creating is messy at times. Do not only expect it, embrace it.
4. For goodness sake, it is supposed to be fun!
Nurturing the enthusiasm brimming in all of us in the beginning of the year, creates an opportunity to be authentic. And if this small gesture assists in some small way to delay one student from going down the path of paralysing self-doubt and stress, well, it cannot get more beautiful than that.