Essay_01__World_View

This is my essay from University (no comments included from tutors or anyone) Just thought I would share it... Using the concept of a 'world view', identify some of the beliefs and attitudes, particularly to education and learning, that you bring to your learning now. Reflect critically on how your world view has been shaped by factors such as your gender, age or community. In your answer refer to Hobson (1996) and Samovar and Porter (2004) from the SSK12 Reader, and Chapter 1 in A Guide to Learning Independently (Marshall and Rowland, 2006, 1-18). World views are those things that shape and formulate individuals within society, often without them knowing they even exist. It can be simply defined as a filter in their perception of the world and how they interpret different events and challenges before them. They are built over time from the earliest years of childhood, and they are shaped by the positive and negative life experiences through which people go. Hobson (1996) states that world view is “a set of beliefs that we hold through which we organize our understanding of ourselves and our understanding of others.” World views, or the beliefs we hold, are then the things that would shape our attitudes and ideas towards study and how we approach the different concepts offered at university. World view is like a lens on a camera; different lenses do different things, some focus, some change the colour, others change the shape of a picture – each of them filter the image to appear in a different way; much as world views do this for us in relation to perspective and views on things around us. Lorraine and Marshall (2006) state “Your background and experiences, your interests and world view, your senses and current state of being act as a filters on your life, both past and present” (p.74). World view is shaped and shifted by our upbringing and the views of our parents, which are often unintentionally passed onto us as children. I was raised by my parents until they divorced when I was aged six, then by my stepmother and father until I was nine and half; through that time, an often violent home life pushed me to want to be at school, therefore making education and learning the only positive in an otherwise negative period of time. With little stability at home, the structure and rigid framework of the day at school became a safe haven. This was more of an unintentional side of the impact that this early period of development at home had on my education. Samovar & Porter (2004), quoting Report & Overing, refer to world view as an “overarching philosophy.” A World view is something that becomes an all-encompassing philosophy, enveloping every aspect of life, so that it becomes the main filter life is interpreted through. Learning never ends; no matter where you are or what you are doing, learning is a constant. When at age nine I was moved to live with my mother in a small country town, I again attended public school. While we were economically poor, and to some extent disadvantaged – with no television and very little outside media influence- I was presented with a unique formulation to my education: how to teach myself, and to learn from everyone and everything around me. This ideal has become one of the main filters for how I see the world, interpret other people’s actions and attitudes; and view my own learning. The impact affected many areas of my life, and without the distractions of television, I was encouraged into the world of books; we often went on picnics, looking at native flora and fauna, and shopping trips where life skills like budgeting and living on a low income were taught by example. This set me up to have a passion for learning. Questioning was encouraged, and a large library of books within our home, of all kinds, allowed for exploration of a wide range of topics; beliefs and ideologies. This attitude towards learning has given me a thirst for knowledge and a questioning mindset. This environment created an overarching philosophy that learning is what you make of it. Gender plays a role for many individuals in the formulation of their world view, due to the changes and shifts in attitude over the past twenty to thirty years in the laws and values placed on gender roles within society. The 1984 State Equal Opportunity Act in Western Australia brought about a radical shift in the role of gender within the education and employment sector. Women were no longer taught that they could merely achieve a certain level or do certain jobs. The opportunities for them were endless; they could do anything they set their minds to doing. Young girls, as early as grade one and two in the early 1980’s, were fed along with the catch cry “Girls can do anything,” images of women in a range of different careers – like plumbing and carpentry. We were taught that we truly could do anything; this philosophy held within government school system, affected my schooling, and the general society I was growing up in. The world was open to women and equal opportunity was here to stay. This world view added to the development of my belief that learning was simply about putting my mind to it and getting on with it. All things are available to anyone who wants them; the world becomes an accessible place to all of us, irrespective of gender; socio-economic status or nationality. Beliefs shape our world view; they affect our participation and attitudes towards different areas of our lives, and towards other people. Marshall and Rowland (2006) make the following observation, “What you believe and value directly affects your learning” (p.11). Being a Christian is at the core of my world view; it is a collection of beliefs that are the central process for which the world is interpreted or filtered through. This view of the world has at heart God as creator, love and respect for fellow human beings, and treating others with dignity. There are many teachings and doctrines, which at times have been used as an excuse or a reason for doing something that does not sit within the main teachings or ideologies of the belief. Christians can approach education and university learning with a range of differing views. For my life, however, being a Christian affords me a place of security and stability of belief that allows me to engage and understand other beliefs, religions, and ideologies at a level that is not confusing but is also not self-engaged or personal. The idea that we never hide our faith, even whilst learning is clear, and within my experience of learning and education, often a source of respect. This produces the idea we see presented in Rogers (1967) that “We would by our own openness, tend to bring forth openness and realism on the part of others.” By being true to who we are we allow other people to be true to who they are, even if their life and experience is markedly different to our lives. World views are our filters for viewing and engaging within the culture and experiences we live through. In University education they establish in us a foundation by which we then process and formulate our ideas and thinking; creating a starting point for our examination of all subjects. From our early childhood onwards, our world views are shaped and formed through our experience of life and the beliefs of those around us; both positive and negative.   References Hobson, J. (1996), ‘Concepts of the self’, Lecture, SSK12, Learning Arts and Social Sciences, Murdoch University, Perth, in : Marshall, L. (Ed.) SSK12 Introduction to University Learning. Reader, Murdoch University, Perth, pp31-39 Marshall, Lorraine and Rowland, Frances (2006) “A Guide to Learning Independently” 4th Edition, Pearson education Australia. LTD. Rogers, Carl R (1967), ‘“To be that self which one truly is: A therapists view of personal goals” On Becoming a Person: A Therapists view of Psychotherapy’, Constable London. P 163-182 in : Marshall, L. (Ed.) SSK12 Introduction to University Learning. Reader, Murdoch University, Perth, pp41-52 Samovar, L.A. and Porter, RE. (2004), ‘World Views’, Communication between cultures, 5th Ed, Thomson, Wadsworth, pp85-86, in : Marshall, L. (Ed.) SSK12 Introduction to University Learning. Reader, Murdoch University, Perth, pp103-104.