After all the years my parents busted their bums trying to make me into a more disciplined person, they aren’t going to like this. Not one little bit:
The Importance of Undisciplined Thinking – by Edward Burger
“This course made me realize that there are two ways to view myself and my life: From the outside looking in (how others see me), and from the inside looking out (how I see myself). Now that I’m aware of these two perspectives, I think about everything differently.”
What discipline solicited such a thoughtful, life-changing reaction from an undergraduate?
Psychology? Religion? Philosophy?
None of the above. It was managerial accounting. And yes, that is an actual quote from an actual student. How did an accounting professor inspire such self-aware thinking beyond the limits of her subject? Simple: She decided to change her teaching.
This past year, Baylor University created a program to reward some of its best teachers and challenge them to do something truly daring: teach their students how to think—not just how to think about course material, but rather how to think through the material. The idea is to help students learn how we, as practitioners of our disciplines, analyze, make meaning, understand, look at the world, and create.
Such lessons on thinking will stay with students long after they have forgotten facts and figures, or the course itself—and forget they will. In fact, a focus on the thinking and creativity behind disciplines allows students (and colleagues) to discover that disparate areas of study are more alike than they are different.
If ever there was a must-read for rebellious writers, this is it. Cuz if we aren’t the epitome of “undisciplined thinkers,” then nobody is.
Take a bow, you writin’ fools!