Place and Wonder
(11.3.2005)
I
found the relation between our childhood wonder and our college needs to be
particularly interesting in terms of the self-discovery and connections we
experienced during our childhood. Most
people recognize that we have lost much of the wonder we felt in childhood, the
amazing feeling as we explored nature and people. With closer inspection, it is clear that a
return to this wonder will greatly enhance university education.
Through
research, it has been found that “what a child wanted to do most of all was to
make a world in which to find a place to discover a self” (530). Similarly, reflective students desire to find
themselves in college. This means that
university must be a place that brings back this sense of wonder and this
desire to discover self through place. I
think the most important aspect of this revival of discovery can be found in a
return to nature. If nature is not
present, “Whither shall the youthful student now betake himself, what relief
will he find, for his eyes, wearied with intense reading, now that the pleasant
stream is taken from him” (315). It is
in these reflective moments between studies that we generally rediscover
ourselves. Not only is it this downtime,
but also nature with its supply of “psychological therapy…what the mind cannot
supply” (660). In a bustling world of
noise and traffic, students must have a retreat, and if the university cares
about fostering this self-discover, it must promote a return to nature, a
return to childhood.
Similarly,
a return to nature will be beneficial in relation to the child’s ability to see
the wholeness in aspects of life. As a
Plan II student, I feel “a deep desire to renew the ability to perceive as a
child and to participate with the whole bodily self in the forms, colors, and motions,
the sights and sounds of the external world of nature and artifact” (535). Through Plan II, we discover a wide variety
of knowledge, making connecting this knowledge an important task. When we are able to return to our childhood
ability to interact with the entirety of knowledge, we rediscover our ability
to form strong connections between material and experience. With everything connected, we will remember
more, enhancing our university education.
This makes fostering a sense of childhood wonder an important task in
university education for it will enhance the educational experience for the
students. By rediscovering our wonder
and energy, we will form life-long intellectual connections.
When
I think back on my college search, I realize just how valid these points
are. Many of the schools I looked at,
such as