Alternative Learning Approaches

Learning is important but requires some changes to ensure that the current teaching methods are up to par with those of the employment industry. A study into the education, employment and emotional and social lives that surround schools and companies reveals the expectations of either. Davidson teaches the students to be independent and critical while seeking solutions to their learning activities. Wall Street model insists on the individualization of ideas, and in the process, the firms seek to ensure maximum utilization of the employees’ skills. The learning process is compared to love, which in turn is associated with the activities of the body. The collective introduction of alternative learning techniques equips students to be diverse and, at the same time, prepares them to be creative. Emotional learning of the reasoning behind the decisions and adherence to the meetings and deadlines points to the actions of the brain.

Crowdsourcing proposes the exclusivity of students in making improvements, while the Wall Street model proposes individuality. Through crowd-sourcing, the students improved both their learning and that of the students that they preceded by implementing changes in the teaching practice while the Wall Street employees made investment decisions to grow their careers and reputations. Cathy Davidson says, “We were inverting the traditional roles of teacher and learner, the fundamental principle in education: hierarchy based on credentials” (Davidson 50). By these utterances, the author implies that the academic system would be changed to shift the focus on teaching from the teachers to the students. The students were allowed the opportunity to recommend their preferred methods of teaching. Karen Ho relates the success of companies to individualism,

“There is always a premium on having smart people” (Ho 167). This statement implies the recruitment of people to ensure the financial success of the firm. In reality, the firm recruits new employees from specific schools because of their individual characteristics. The author relates to this when she says that the school only recruits employees with specific skills from particular schools. Translated, the firm has studied the schools for the kinds of graduates. From the graduates, the school picks the best and employs them with the promise of a big salary. Therefore, the firm employs the employees for their individual skills and not their collective impact on the firm. While Davidson insists on the collective efforts of her students, the Wall Street model implies the individuality of the efforts of the employees. Wall Street’s model implies that the employees are merely hired for their skills and not to help them grow professionally.

A mentor in a recruitment process addresses the employees by telling them that they are hired for their skills (Ho 175). Contrary to Davidson’s opinion, the Wall Street model implies improvements for the growth of the company, while Davidson implies changes in the learning institutions to improve the experience of the students. The school is of no significance in Davidson’s model; the students are equally empowered like the Wall Street employees, but their ideas are for different purposes.

Millions of jobs end up unfilled each year in the United States, hence the need to change the learning process. Cathy Davison, in her article Project Classroom Makeover (2009) believes in the power of crowd-sourcing such as the method she used in 2003 at Duke University where students came up with alternatives to the teaching methods. The significance of inclusivity is that students propose methods they can relate to. On the other hand, Karen Ho, in “Biographies of Hegemony,” shows how Wall Street has set an ideology of who is “smart” based on behaviour, appearance, and the university from which a person graduated rather than one that is based on a person’s expertise.

“Smartness is not simply a quality of Wall Street, but a currency, a driving force productive of both profit accumulation and global prowess” (Ho 167). The students are empowered to impress colleagues and employers. The quote illustrates the teaching of smartness in schools, similar to the crowdsourcing theory proposed by Davidson, which seeks to empower students to be independent thinkers. Through recruitment of similar students, Wall Street hopes to access students taught to think in similar patterns. This method of recruitment objectifies smartness because Wall Street believes that employees will develop collective thoughts while working together.

The collective thoughts, as Barbara Fredrickson illustrates in her article Love 2.0: How Our Supreme Emotion Affect Everything We Feel, Think, Do, and Become (2009) are as a result of the connection of the minds. The connection is a result of empathy that the employees relate to, “Neural synchrony and overlap can also unfold between you and a complete stranger” (Fredrickson 114). The connection is a result of mutual interest and understanding, such as in the case of Wall Street. Employees at Wall Street are collectively referred to as smart people. According to Barbara’s theory on empathy and neural synchrony, the mutual smartness experienced at Wall Street is because employees have similar jobs in investment banking. From Davidson’s theory, the empowerment of students to come up with solutions to better teaching practices reiterates the end result of creative solutions for investment employees at Wall Street. Wall Street only hires students from specific schools because the firm recognizes the teaching practice in the schools, where students are taught to be independent and creative.

Communication quality between two people is fostered by the positive connection between the minds of the participants. The minds of the individuals need to first connect emotionally to ensure mutual understanding. Barbara Fredrickson says, “People’s brains come into sync during emotional moments” (Fredrickson 113). Fredrickson argues that the emotional, professional and academic understanding between individuals is a result of emotional connection. From this analogy, the author formulates the opinion that people are only connected if they care and show empathy towards each other. Fredrickson, therefore, recommends that communication be based on things people find normal and common. To understand the significance of the connection between two people or more, she explains that love exists in the brains as a result of mutual connections of the minds.

Further, mutual understanding is determined by the significance of the people or activities in question. Davidson calls to the collective input of all the employees, “What do you students have to tell us about digital learning in a digital age?” (Davidson 50). This is the. To ensure the success of the project classroom makeover, the students had to have felt connected to the project. The project involved changes in the teaching process so that they would have the recommended changes in the curriculum. Thus, the students would work together because they had a common problem. Consequently, students are motivated by the emotional connection they feel towards each other. The social interaction between the students and their teachers was due to the positive relationship.

Conclusion

The learning changes in learning and the implementation of the Wall Street model are directly affected by the emotional aspects of the job. Learning requires some modification to ensure that the main focus is towards introducing alternative ways of learning and teaching. Crowdsourcing is better compared to the Wall Street business module because it engages the students and places value on their opinions. For successful communication, the participants need to mentally connect with each other. Davidson focuses on the significance of learning and empowerment of students to think critically, but Wall Street neglects the average.

Works Cited

Davidson, Cathy. “Project Classroom Makeover.” Miller, Richard E. and Kurt Spellmeyet. The New Humanities Reader. 5. Stamford: Cengage Learning, 2009. 47-71.

Fredrickson, Barbara. “Selections form Love 2.0: How our Supreme Emotion Affects Everything We Feel, Think, Do, and Become.” Miller, Richard E. and Kurt Spellmeyer. The New Humanities Reader. 5. Stamford: Cengage Learning, 2009. 105-128. Print.

Ho, Karen. “Biographies of Hegemony.” Miller, Richard E. and Kurt Spellmeyer. The New Humanities Reader. 5. Stamford: Cengage Learning, 2009. 165-191. Print.