4.3 - 2) Find Creative Ways to Model Unlearning (Curriculum)

Welcome back.

Today is Week 4 - Segment 3 of "The History and Future of Higher Education", and we're going to be talking today about the second paradigm shift
That we need to prepare for the future of higher education. We call this practicing for a life of unlearning.

Unlearning is the ability to just take change, not as something that's challenging, but as something that is a challenge and a challenge we can meet. It's about unlearning our habits and learning new habits. There is no better way of doing that than a) culture shock, and b) art. Artists have an amazing ability to teach us in ways that we didn't even know we could be taught before.

I'm honored to be sitting here today filming this segment in front of one of my very favorite pieces of art. A portrait called Bashir by the great American artist, Barkley Hendricks. Barkley Hendricks, in so many ways, epitomizes the lesson of unlearning. Barkley's first painting retrospective was held here at the National Museum of Art in 2008. It was a retrospective of his paintings from 1964 to 2008: 48 years of painting in an amazing show called "Birth of the Cool".

"Birth of the Cool" is a wonderful metaphor for a life of unlearning, because one of the things that Barkley Hendrick's work does is makes us see the world in a different way. In his paintings, he uses many classical techniques-- and even classical poses-- that are very reminiscent of renaissance and other forms of portraiture. But what's different and what makes his work so beautiful is, not only his incredible technique, but the subject of his paintings. Often, there are street people-- the disenfranchised-- people who have jive and cool, but who are not often the stereotypical wealthy patrons of the arts; people who, historically in the arts, have been the subject of paintings or even people who frequent museums. What Barclay makes us see is the beauty of those people, the cool of those people, the gorgeousness of the subjects of so many of his paintings. He makes, not only the people in his paintings come alive for us in art, but he makes us see the world as a much more rich and complex and beautiful place.

One of the things I love most about Barclay's works is the kind of wit and humor at the same time there's a depth and sensitivity. The great art critic John Berger calls this ways of seeing. Barclay Hendrick's works, not only helps us see differently, but gives us a new way of seeing. You may remember that back in, when we were talking about the 19th century, we talked about the philosopher Emmanuel Kant, and Kant's idea that we don't just see the world - we see a filter of the world, and it's our experiences; our culture; our country; our heritage; our language. Those are all of the things that filter our world. But unlearning is about changing that filter. There's no better way to change our filter than to see the world through the eyes of a great artist.

We've been privileged here today to be able to see the world a little bit through the eyes of Barclay Hendrix. On the Coursera website, we'll give you links to some more of this artist's great work. Thank you for being here. Tell us on the forums this week some way that you've been able to think about the ways you've unlearned in your life, the experiences that have helped you unlearn and that prepare you for a future life of unlearning. Thank you.