bermuda college liberal arts journal 2012

7/31/2019 Bermuda College Liberal Arts Journal 2012

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Liberal Arts JournalBermuda College May 2012


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Liberal Arts Journal

May 2012

Vol. 1, No. 1

Editor: Dr. Sajni Tolaram

Journal Design & Layout: Dr. Edwin M. E. Smith

Cover Photo: Dr. Jolene Bean, Sustainable Fruit, Shown in the photographic exhibition

In Plain View held at the Bermuda College Art Gallery, January 2012.

Division of Liberal Arts, Bermuda College

Printed at Bermuda College 2012


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1 Introduction

Sajni Tolaram

3 Can Pedagogy Influence Student Responsibility?

Ru-Zelda Severin

6 Who is Culpable for Student Success?

Andrea Lightbourne-Webster

13 The Informal Curriculum

Quinton Sherlock

15 A Global Cycle of Influence

Edwin M. E. Smith

20 The Consumption of Knowledge

Geoffrey Rothwell

24 Save Our Sushi!

Amy Harvey

Welcome to the inaugural Liberal Arts

Journal.

This Journal is designed to give our readers,

the Bermuda community, a dynamic and

engaging look inside the expertise of

members of the Division of Liberal Arts.

Our goal was to create a journal to inform

and showcase the numerous, academic

themes along with personal interest of our

faculty. This collection of articles is a

reflection of a multidisciplinary forum to

provide an exchange of ideas and

challenging discourse on issues facing

Bermuda, our island home. We hope the

reader will be able to enhance their

knowledge on the highest caliber of faculty

Bermuda College has to offer.

Many thanks are extended to faculty who

submitted articles for this first publication.

The Division of Liberal Arts looks forward to

continuing to share our expertise with

Bermuda.

Welcome

Contents

Necheeka L. Trott, MA, MBA

Dean, Division of Liberal Arts


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As the Division of Liberal Arts

continues to evolve in its academic

applications, respective faculty members have

offered their perspectives on varied topics in

this pioneering Journal. The articles consider

forms of pedagogy, collaboration, academic

identity, and explore local and globaldynamics. There are threads of connection

between the articles; however, there are

distinctions in the viewpoints therein which,

paradoxically, reveal the diversity and

independent thought which are emblematic

of Liberal Arts.

Ru-Zelda Severin, in Can Pedagogy

Influence Student Responsibility? opens the

journal by focusing on our primary mission at

BCteaching. She looks at learner centered

approaches as indicated by current theories

and methodologies with the aim of

developing the capacity in students to take

responsibility for their own learning

experience. Rather than dismissing

traditional methods, Severin indicates the

value of blending them with learner centered

pedagogies. In that technology and practical

application are necessary components,

especially when students contribute to the

design of what they learn, this helps them togain, as Severin says, a sense of

responsibility to validate and support content

in a scholarly manner, as their work may be

the foundation or a resource for subsequent

students.

The dynamic of collaboration is

evident in Who is Culpable for Student

Success? by Andrea Lightbourne-Webster.

The article focuses on student responsibility

by engaging research that promotes shared

responsibility, by the student and the

institution, in the learning process. She

emphasizes shared responsibility and

collaboration in the quest to improve studentlearning outcomes. In the face of wide-

ranging challenges, the aim is for students at

the community college to have opportunities

for successand, for such opportunities to be

indicated in various, tangible ways.

Continuing the discussion on student

success, Quinton Sherlock explores the value

of The Informal Curriculum in schools. The

informal curriculum, as he indicates, is

synonymous with the social environment of a

school. The social environment can be a vital

conduit for developing, as Sherlock says:

positive models in academic achievement

and leadershipespecially for young, black

males who are often disadvantaged by

negative stereotypes. The aim is to dispel

negative labels through establishing and

reinforcing worthy models and opportunities

that are full of merit.

By way of transitioning to another

context of influence, Edwin Smith examinesthe effect of foreign artists on the works and

lives of Bermudian artists in A Global Cycle

of Influence. He establishes context for this

by reflecting on the influence that Canadian

artist, Evelyn (Byllee) Lang, has had on

Bermudian artists. The focus of the

discussion, however, is the influence of

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Introduction


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American artist, Joe Jones, on Bermudian

artist, Alfred Birdsey. Through the discourse

between these two artists, Smith engages the

search for inspiration, fresh ideas, and

confidence in a broader application of

influence in order to move Bermudian artists

towards modernism.The tension that is usually evident in

social change is also apparent in Geoffrey

Rothwells article, The Consumption of

Knowledge. Herein, it is expressed that

change in the nature of capitalism has

produced changes in the perception and

function of knowledge in colleges and

universities: for students, faculty, and all

persons engaged in any capacity of tertiary

education. Rothwell indicates the concern

that, as education comes to be seen as a

product, colleges become little more than a

service based industry. In the current

environment, he poses that colleges and

universities must consider what they offer in

that they have become just one more entity

for consumers to contemplate, rather than the

halls of advanced learning and inquiry.

Consumption of another sort is

evident in Amy Harveys article, Save Our

Sushi! The joy of sushi is at the foregroundof a looming problem that is both local and

global. She engages us gastronomically and

globally by considering sushi and our oceans

through the lens of plasticplastic waste, to

be precise. Along with her environmental

students, she is active in gaining data on

plastic litter debris and to monitor the

impacts that they have on our local and

global ecosystems. The benefits of this data

are implied in that this research contributes

to the work of action groups locally and

overseas.

This Journal is a new frontier for

Liberal Artsand, it carries the possibility ofbeing a harbinger for inspiring and

compelling quests to come . . .

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Sajni Tolaram, D. Litt.

English Professor

April 2012


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Faculty across Divisions at Bermuda College

express concern about the lack of

responsibility some students take for their

learning. The Success and Retention

committee acknowledges disquiet with the

state of student responsibility and hosted a

student forum on the topic. Additionally, theywill conduct a Student Success Study that

will, in part, examine responsibility as a

characteristic of successful students. What

can higher education faculty do in the

classroom, if anything, to encourage students

to take command of their own learning

experiences?

Many pedagogues are suggesting that

a shift from traditional teacher centered

approaches to learner centered tactics will

contribute to a growth in student

responsibility for learning (Marzano, 1992;

Blumberg, 2008). In the book Learner

Centered Teaching, Weimer (2002) describes

five characteristics of learner centered

approaches including a shift in the balance of

power from teacher to student, a change in

the function of course content and an

exchange in responsibility from teacher to

student, as essential for the development of

responsible learners. She posits, when lessonstructures place students in control of their

learning, they experience higher motivation

and greater enthusiasm toward learning. With

the reality of canceled classes and other

perceived punitive measures resulting from

small class sizes at Bermuda College in play,

will faculty, despite having student

responsibility as a desirable goal and

evidence of a potentially successful measure

toward that end, have the inclination and take

the risk to relinquish control of classrooms?

Does our environment support such a bold

step?

If yes, what theories, methodologies,and technologies support the learner centered

approach? Hubba and Freed (2000) in

Learner Centered Assessment on College

Campuses, hold the cognitively active,

socially adaptive, subjectively self-organized

pedagogies based on the assumptions of

Constructivist Learning Theory as effective

teaching strategies for Learner Centered

pedagogies. However, it may be prudent, as

members of a 21st century academic

community, to blend, as Chen heralds (2010)

in Education Nation, well researched

traditional methods with effectively

complementary technological tools and

supports. Some possible methodologies are:

The Flipped Classroom

Teachers use technology such as

Screencast-O-Matic to pre-record lectures.

Students must take on the responsibility of

watching the lectures on their own. The

function of the content during face to facetime changes from its delivery to its use. In

math, class time is spent working on the

problems individually or with peers

answering each others questions, thereby

garnering a greater understanding. In physics,

the class time can be for real world

application and problem solving; while in

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Can Pedagogy Influence Student Responsibility?


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music, students have time to analyze and

evaluate music collaboratively, rather than

simply listening to it.

Social Networking and Wikis

These web 2.0 platforms are

opportunities to combine not only techniquesacclaimed by high level research, such as

formative assessment, with the technologies

of today; but also to explore new theories of

learning born of the Technological

Revolution, such as Holmes, Tangney,

Fitzgibbon, Savage, and Mehans (2001)

Communal Constructivism. The title of their

paper, (presented at the Centre for Research

for IT Education in Ireland), defines

Communal Constructivism as Students

constructing knowledge for as well as with

others (pg.1).

Child and Youth Studies students of

Bermuda College who engage in activities

based on this theory, report a growing level ofconfidence in their ability to design their own

learning that adheres to the learner objectives

of courses, to taking greater pride in the

quality of their work as it is often peer

reviewed, and to having a sense of

responsibility to validate and support content

in a scholarly manner, as their work may be

the foundation or a resource for subsequent

students.

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While these and other learner

centered approaches are time consuming for

educators, due to the frequency of feedbackand the shift in roles from imparter of

knowledge to facilitator of knowledge

building, it may be worth attempting for at

least a few lessons, if it nudges more of our

students toward taking responsibility for their

own learning.

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Ru-Zelda Severin, M.M

Music Lecturer

ReferencesBlumberg, P. (2008). Developing learner-centered teaching: A practical guide for faculty. San

Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Chen, M. (2010). Education nation: Six leading edges of innovation in our schools. San

Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Huba, M. E. & Freed, J. E. (2000). Learner-centered assessment on college campuses: Shifting

the focus from teaching to learning. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Marzano, R. (1992). A different kind of classroom: Teaching with dimensions of learning.

Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision & Curriculum.

Tangney, B., FitzGibbon, A., Savage, T., Mehan, S., & Holmes, B. (2001). Communal

constructivism: students constructing learning for as well as with others. Proceedings of Society

for Information Technology Teacher Education International Conference 2001. Trinity College

Dublin. Retrieved from http://www.scss.tcd.ie/publications/tech-reports/reports.01/TCD-CS-

2001-04.pdf

Weimer, M. (2002). Learner-centered teaching. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.


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Responsibility is one of the vital

characteristics in the profile of the successful

student. It is not a characteristic reserved

exclusively for the education arena, but rather

a vital ingredient for lifes arena. Widely

acclaimed philosopher and educational

reformer John Dewey declared, Education isnot preparation for life, but life itself. In

preparing for lifes stage, it is imperative that

the successful student develop the attribute of

responsibility. Student responsibility is a topic

that commands attention in educational

arenas across the globe and it is a subject of

supreme interest to those within the realm of

higher education. Although there is a

proliferation of research that emphasizes

student success, there is a dearth of research,

particularly in the area of higher education,

about the culpability of the student as a key

component in the discussion on

accountability (Borden & Pike 2008). Borden

& Pike (2008) suggest that there be shared

responsibility and collaboration in the quest

to improve student learning outcomes. This

article will present a snapshot of the western

society community college student in context,

giving consideration to the confronting

socioeconomic and political climate; willhighlight key research findings on student

responsibility; and will articulate initiatives

and programmes offered by Bermuda College

in the equation of shared institutional

responsibility to improve student learning

outcomes.

The community college student in

western society, of which The Bermuda

College is a part, may be a strong academic

student who is re-entering the academic

world after an extended lapse from the

classroom; the mature student who wants a

career change; the young adolescent who is

undecided about a career; the professional

student who believes in lifelong learning; the

exchange student who desires to study in

another country; and the list continues. The

community college student in western

society, may also be one who attends part-

time; a full-time worker; one who only knows

the practices of a traditional classroom; a

product of a broken family; a victim of

emotional unrest in the home; one who is

required to lead the household; a parent; one

who is unwed; one who is diagnosed with a

learning disability, and the list continues.

Community colleges are a microcosm of the

wider society in which we all live. Students,

like all of us, are expected to manage their

lives against the backdrop of varying personal

circumstances and societal conditions. The

global economic recession that is plaguing

societies is also threatening educational

arenas and the community college is not

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Who is Culpable for Student Success?


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exempt. Students with multiple life

challenges in the face of glaring and imposing

socioeconomic conditions are still expected

to perform, and not only perform, but perform

well. Despite the circumstances, students are

still willing to have a fresh start to embark onthe tertiary tier of their educational journey

hoping for far-reaching success with tangible

rewards. Some students at Bermuda College

enroll and excel as evidenced by the annual

and bi-annual graduation lists and award

ceremonies.

The community college lecturers task in

western society is to facilitate student learning

and to see that all students have opportunities

for success. Lecturers, likewise, as citizens on

the life stage, are faced with similarsocioeconomic pressures, personal

challenges and political pressures. They too

are expected to perform, and not only

perform, but perform well in the face of a

stifling recession. The community college

administration and support staff equally have

the responsibility and are expected to serve

students by providing the best customer

service.

Upon understanding the imposing societal

conditions and the uniqueness of the student

population, one is forced to ask the questions:Who is ultimately responsible for student

success? Is it the student? Is it the lecturer? Is

it the institution? Researchers have raised

these questions in an attempt to find answers

(Borden & Pike, 2008; Dey& Associates,

2008; Peterson, Rubie-Davis, Elley-Brown,

Widdowson, Dixon, Irving (2011).

Student responsibility is of particular concern

to those in the world of higher education

because clearly this is the phase where the

young adult develops a greater sense ofindependence and freedom. The community

college offers students a menu of freedom

choices that allows them to select their

classes as they wish, appear for advising

sessions when they so choose, attend extra

curricula activities of their choosing etc. How

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they navigate their choices will ultimately

determine their level of success. Amid the

sense of independence and wider freedoms,

students are no longer threatened by

detentions or in-school suspensions for failure

to attend class. Neither are they forced tostudy, required to attend improvement

workshops, ordered to do their homework, or

even commanded to seek help, yet they are

expected to be successful. Some students are

able to navigate their commitments well,

while others do not. There are some who

simply get lost in the shuffle because they fail

to be responsible. Whereas some students

have genuine challenges with navigating

success, there are others on the flip side of the

coin who have become experts at riding thesystem, often pleading their cases before

wanting ears and evading their

responsibilities in their relentless quest for

paper success at any cost. One such

example commands attention and is worthy

of noting in its fullness in this article to

reinforce the point. Lent (2010) writes:

One October day, one of my most

delightful and smartest students looked me

straight in the eye and without hesitation

explained that she couldnt turn in the project

that was due that day because she and her

father had had to rush her mother to the

emergency room the night before. Oh,

Nikki, I said with compassion. What

happened? Is she OK?

Nikki told me that the doctors had to

perform an emergency hysterectomy, but that

her mother would be fine. But I didnt finish

my project, she said. I reassured her that she

could have more time to complete the projectwithout penalty.

Fast-forward to spring. The same

delightful student approached me one

morning and explained that she couldnt turn

in her project that day because her father had

had to rush her mother to the emergency

room the night before. A bit doubtful, I

nevertheless asked once again whether her

mother was OK. Yes, Nikki replied,

oblivious that she had used this line on me

before. She had to have an emergency

hysterectomy.Nikki, I said pointedly, you told me

that your mother had to have an emergency

hysterectomy last fall.

Oh yes, she replied, without missing a

beat. She had to have another one.

It is highly probable that many a college

lecturer has faced similar scenarios, perhaps

some not so comedic, but nevertheless cases

where students have craftily played the game

and succeeded in manipulating their way all

in the name of success.

The aforementioned scenario raises

other poignant questions about the issue of

responsibility. To what degree is the student

responsible for success? To what degree is the

lecturer responsible? To what degree is the

institution responsible? Should lecturers or

the institution make multiple

accommodations for students who abuse the

system in the name of success? According to

researchers, there is great ambiguity andcontroversy surrounding the issue of

responsibility and, in particular, who should

take responsibility for student learning

(Peterson et. al 2011). The University of

Michigan School of Educations Center for the

Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education

conducted a survey in 2007 to gain feedback

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from undergraduate students and campus

professionals (faculty, academic

administrators and student affairs staff)

regarding the institutions core commitment:

Educating Students for Personal and Social

Responsibility. Researchers felt the need torevisit the subject of student responsibility as

one of the institutions core values. The goal

of the survey was to determine whether

personal and social responsibility should be

more of a priority in college education. The

data gained from the survey dissected this

core value into five key areas: (1) striving for

excellence; (2) cultivating personal and

academic integrity; (3) contributing to a larger

community; (4) taking seriously the

perspective of others; and (5) developingcompetence in ethical and moral reasoning

(Dey& Associates, 2007). There were 23,000

students and 9,000 campus professionals

participated in the survey. Researchers

concluded that both students and

professionals alike were in strong agreement

that personal and social responsibility should

be a strong focus for college education.

In discussing the issue of student

responsibility, Borden & Pike (2007) stress the

point that shared responsibility and

collaboration are critical for successfulstudents in higher education. In other words,

accountability does not rest at the door of one

tier of the community college, but rather at

the door of all parties. They write: Shared

responsibility can also help resolve the

tensions between top-down or outside-in and

bottom-up or inside-out approaches. If the

various responsible parties do their part, the

effort proceeds from all directions

simultaneously.. Collaboration has the

added virtue of breeding respect (p. 85).Borden and Pike also recognize the role of

faculty as an important variable for student

success. According to Borden and Pike

faculty demonstrates responsibility by having

high expectations and by holding students to

high standards of performance.

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Who, then, is culpable therefore

when students fail? Should the lecturer feel a

sense of failure if a student fails due to

insufficient effort and preparation? Peterson

et. al (2011) reinforce the point that at the end

of the day it is students who must takeresponsibility for their learning experience.

According to William and Clark (2010),

insufficient effort on the part of students

produces failure, however they insist that

failure need not be defeating. They argue that

students have control over the degree of effort

that they make which ultimately contributes

to their success. Although little effort often

leads to failure, students possess the power to

turn their failure into success with greater

effort (William & Clark 2010). One canconclude therefore that failure can become a

valuable teaching tool if students take

ownership of their shortcomings to empower

themselves to have greater control over future

outcomes.

The issue of student retention and

responsibility is a complex one and a concern

not unique to Bermuda College. The greater

issue is not whether students can be retained,

but rather who bears the greater responsibility

for student success and retention. Politicians

in the United States are equally concerned

about responsibility in higher education.According to Pike (2007), the key question

is not whether higher education will be more

accountable, but what form this

accountability will take (p. 83). He states:

the diversity of colleges and universities

makes it virtually impossible to develop a

one-size-fits-all system of accountability. In

fact, such a system would be

counterproductive by pushing toward

homogeneity a system that is strong by virtue

of its diversity (p. 84). Pike reinforces thefact that each college and university possesses

a uniqueness that distinguishes one from the

other. Therefore to expect a uniform system of

accountability is unwise.

At Bermuda College there is an

awareness of the need for facilitating student

success as evidenced by several student

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services. Some of these services include the

following:

1. Advising. Students have the

opportunity to meet with their lecturers

during the course of the week outside ofteaching time. Lecturers are available to

students for a minimum of 10 office hours per

week. Many students make impromptu office

visits and contact hours for lecturers extend

beyond the prescribed times.

2. Academic Resource Centre. Students

are provided with services to assist them with

their academic needs outside of the

classroom. They receive tutoring and

academic support with supplementary

materials to aid their understanding of core

content. Students with learning disabilities are

also serviced through the ARC.

3. Student Services Workshops.

Students have the opportunity to improve

their skills by participating in workshops. They

learn skills that help to prepare them for the

job market.

4. Career Counseling. Students who

seek direction for their career choices receive

career counseling.5. Personal Counseling. Students who

have social and personal challenges have

access to counselors on campus to assist them

with their personal needs and challenges.

6. Liberal Arts Division Orientation for

students. The Dean of Liberal Arts holds an

orientation session for all Liberal Arts

students. Students can ask questions and

clarify concerns about The Liberal Arts

Division at Bermuda College.

7. Student Council. Student Council isan active student-directed organization where

students take leadership roles and address

pertinent matters of interest to students and

Bermuda College.

8. The Retention Alert System. The

Retention Alert system is an electronic system

managed by Faculty and support staff. There

is an active committee that manages the Alert

System. Lecturers across the various divisions

input the names of students who are having

challenges academically so that they can

receive additional support for success.

9. Blackboard. Blackboard is an

electronic system that allows lecturers to post

announcements and course content to which

students have access 24-7. Students who

have missed class can go into Bermuda

College Portal to access information needed

to be prepared for the next class.

10. Web Advisor. Students have 24-7

access to Web Advisor to check their academicperformance in their classes.

11. Student Forums & Focus Groups.

Students have the opportunity to attend forums

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and to participate in focus groups for a deeper

understanding of topics of interest.

12. Online Registration. Students have the

convenience of registering themselves online.

13. Registered Students Organizations.Students have the opportunity to join

Registered Student Organizations (RSOs) to

support their individual interests.

Bermuda College, like community

colleges around the world, is concerned

about student responsibility and ultimately

student success. Of particular concern is how

the institution can best support students to

increase desired results. Balancing college

life with daily life can be overwhelming and

intimidating for students. The available

services that Bermuda College offers support

student success and demonstrate the

institutions shared responsibility. For the

young adult who is unable or unprepared to

handle challenges, the struggles will be even

greater. For the student who has not mastered

the art of balance likewise will have great

hurdles to climb. For the college student who

is disciplined and well balanced with fewer

issues to navigate, the challenges will be

more manageable. Shared responsibility,

according to the research, eliminates the

blame game and puts the onus on both the

institution and the student. However, even

with the support mechanisms, students areultimately responsible for their learning. They

must position themselves first as the focus for

their learning. No one wants to fail. Students

must therefore take personal responsibility

and make the requisite effort to achieve

success. Greater responsibility will have the

ultimate benefit of leading everyone on the

pathway to greater success.

12

Andrea Lightbourne-Webster, Ed.D

Spanish Senior Lecturer

ReferencesBorden, Victor, M. H. & Pike, Gary R. (2008). New Directions for Institutional Research,

Assessment Supplement 2007. Fall 2008.Published online in Wiley InterScience.

www.intercscience.wiley.com

Dey, E. L. & Associates (2008). Should Colleges Focus More on Personal and Social

Responsibility? Association of American Colleges and Universities. Published online:

http://www.aacu.org/core_commitments/documents/PSRII_Findings_April2008.pdf

Lent, R. C. (2010). The Responsibility Breakthrough. Educational Leadership. September 2010,

pp. 68- 71.Peterson, E.R., Rubie-Davies, C. M., Elley-Brown, M J., Widdowson, D.A., Dixon, R.S., Irving,

S.E. (2011). Who is to blame? Students, teachers and parents view on who is responsible for

student achievement. Research in Education, 86 (1),1-12.

Williams, R.L. & Clark, L. (2004), College Students ratings of student effort, student ability,

and teacher input as correlates of student performance on multiple-choice exams, Educational

Research, 46, 229-239.


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As a community we are at a crossroad.

Recent violent acts threaten our peaceful

island and potentially our overall way of life.

While this does not represent the automatic

ruin of our island home, it does represent a

need for adjustment. When looking at the

gang activity and gun violence on the island,one thing in particular stands out. An obvious

observation is that most of the gang activity

and gun violence involves young black males.

Like many others in our community, I believe

that this behavior is symptomatic of deeper

issues that exist in our society.

For example, education is one of the deeper

issues that is being addressed. New

curriculums have been put into place within

public schools to improve academic

outcomes of the students (in general, and forblack males in particular). The notion is that

if students did better academically, they

would be less likely to get involved in the

types of activities associated with gangs and

violence. Within this brief article, we plan to

spread the notion that schools are not only

institutions for academic development.

School is a potent tool in the

socialization of our young black boys.

Schools seek to impart instruction in

mathematics, English, and the like. Schoolsalso play a major role in socializing our

young people. Approximately one-third of a

young persons life is spent within the school

environment. This enables the school

experience to impart more than academic

proficiencies to our young.

Schools should continue to be used

to empower young black males through

productive and healthy socialization. Young

black males are not unique in this regard. The

commitment to conscious and concentratedefforts towards the creation of a school

environment that is well-meaning towards

young black males should be continued.

Direct efforts in dispelling the conscious and

13

The Informal Curriculum

The informal curriculum involves the process of socialization. An important

aspect of learning and the school experience is the development of personal

values, beliefs and expectations. The social environment of schools, or the

informal curriculum (for example, the belief that young boys may be better

served pursuing a vocation in the trades) has a significant influence on the

development of these characteristics as well as the overall identity formationwithin a young person.


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unconscious perpetuation of negative

stereotypes about black males are worth the

time and effort. Professional development,

that highlights positive models in academic

achievement and leadership, that also help to

increase sensitivity towards young black

males (for example, work shops on learningand teaching styles) are important for teacher

trainings seminars.

As a community, we are engaging in

an ongoing brainstorming exercise to

implement new ways to address crime and

violence on the island. Focused attention to

ensure that negative stereotypes about black

males are not perpetuated within the school

environment should continue. Embracing of

school as an institution of socialization is an

important factor towards improving our

society. This is what we refer to as, the

Informal Curriculum.

14

Quinton Sherlock, MS

Adjunct Lecturer

Psychology/ Child and Youth Studies


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In 2008, the Bermuda National Gallery

featured an exhibition tribute to the late

Evelyn (Byllee) Lang. Hailing originally from

Canada, Lang lived and worked in Bermuda

producing art for approximately twenty years.

At the opening reception, much was said not

only of her expertise but also of her positive

interaction with Bermudian artists. Many of

these Bermudian artists, fairly representative

of the diversity of Bermudas population, were

her students and many of them appeared in a

short video accompanying the tribute

exhibition speaking of her influence on their

lives and work. The exhibition was well

received and it inspired me to look more

closely at the influence on Bermudian artists

by artists who have come to work here from

other places.

It is evident that Bermudians exhibit

the full range of self-concept. On one hand

there is the self-deprecating ideology that

individuals and companies must look for

expertise from somewhere else. This concept

that the water is sweeter from foreign wells,

is however counter-balanced with the effort

and expression of many individuals and

companies to have the community recognizeand value the expertise that locals have to

offer. Also, it is not unusual to find that locals

quite regularly evaluate local works harshly

(disappointing sameness and staid

predictability) while simultaneously having

adverse reactions to the equally harsh

criticism received from those who have come

from outside of the community.

With this diversity of thought in

mind, and while I align myself with those

who recognize and celebrate the amazing

talent of Byllee Lang and many other artists

who have come to live and work in Bermuda,

I have been analyzing established

relationships in an effort to determine the

actual influence and benefits that have come

as a result. One relationship I have

considered is the one that existed between

American artist, Joe Jones, and local artist,

Alfred Birdsey, in the 1950s.

Although coming from very different

backgrounds, Joe Jones and Alfred Birdsey

had much in common. Both were white

males from humble beginnings who were

passionate, self-trained artists that reached

international acclaim including

representation in prestigious international

collections. Both also received numerous

commissions from significant institutions such

as the Associated American Artists of New

York.

Alfred Birdsey (1912-1996) has long

been one of Bermudas celebrated artists. In

fact, he was and still is regarded by some asthe islands Artist Laureate. His work has

achieved iconic status. Even those members

of the community who claim to know little

about art and artists readily recognize his

stylized modernist watercolors. His interest in

the visual arts began when as a teenager he

worked in a bookstore that sold art supplies.

15

A Global Cycle of Influence


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In this employment he had direct interaction

with local artists, some of whom eventually

provided mentorship for him.

Birdsey immersed himself into the

arts, reading extensively and experimenting

with various media and techniques. He was

fascinated with everything around him as life

in Bermuda was so different from his

childhood home. He painted the sailboats in

the harbor, the residential architecture, and

people, especially local blacks involved in

everyday mundane activities. Most of these

subjects would become reoccurring elements

in later work although in a much more

simplified and abstracted style. Never

satisfied, however, he constantly searched for

more effective and liberating ways to create

his representations of life around him. All of

this changed however, after he met Joe Jones.

According to The Royal Gazette reporter,

Nancy Acton:

However, it was a meeting with Joe

Jones, an American modernist artist who

came to Bermuda to paint in the winter

of 1958, that led to the development ofthe style with which Birdsey is most

closely identified. As the duo

experimented with various painting

styles and imagery, the Bermuda artist,

working in watercolour, began to

develop his characteristic mature style of

loose brushwork and minimalist imagery.

By the late 1960s he was the complete

master of a medium that was uniquely

his. (Acton 2008)It is not surprising that Joe Jones

(1909 - 1963) came to Bermuda. He had

achieved much of his fame in New York City

and Bermuda was already the popular quick

getaway destination for the US northeast

especially for the elite including master

artists. Jones has been considered to be a

major twentieth century painter and

printmaker. His name is mentioned

alongside Thomas Hart Benton and other

master regionalists and he was also one of the

leading artists of the social protest movement

throughout the Great Depression and until

the end of World War II.

James Jones ofTime magazine wrote:

Joe Jones was one of the angriest

proletarian painters of the 1930s. His

canvases were packed with

demonstrators, motherless waifs and

starving victims of capitalist greed. In his

milder moods, he turned out farm scenes

in the best Midwestern tradition, with

bright, theatrical coloring. Said Joe Jones,

simply and violently: I want to paint

things that knock holes in walls. (Jones

1951)

Jones had certainly established

himself as an artist with a social conscience

but by the time he visited Bermuda his work

had already undergone significant changes.

He had sought for and found a new and more

fulfilling direction. The depictions of an angryprotesting subaltern were replaced with

abstracted modernist explorations of the

relationships between the elements of art.

Jones had been looking for a new direction

and he found it in the far eastern art of the

color silk-screen. He dedicated himself to the

exploration of this new medium and the

resulting works, as with his previous works,

are seen as masterworks of their time.

Jo Birdsey Linberg says that sheobserved her father and Jones spending many

evenings together painting at the kitchen

table. They shared their aspirations,

challenges and techniques late into the night.

Birdsey was fascinated with Jones newly

acquired technique and saw its abstracted

approach as providing the liberating

16


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dimension that he was looking for. Birdsey,

embraced and adopted Jones modern style.

His brushstrokes became minimalized and

were not much more than mere suggestions

of his favorite subject matter. Eventually

Birdsey had adapted Jones technique to a

new and unique level with an aesthetic

quality appropriate for representing

Bermudian imagery, light and color. While

this made Jones work seem mechanical and

rigid, he never-the-less impressed with what

Birdsey was creating.

Before this research, I was not aware

of Joe Jones, but upon seeing his (later) work,

what is instantly apparent to me is the

technical influence he had on Birdseys work

which I have been familiar with for many

years. However, while one cannot deny the

technical influence of Jones on Birdsey, it

must also be recognized that both were artists

involved in a search for inspiration, fresh

ideas and confidence. In addition to the

slower pace of life that Bermuda offered at the

time and the rejuvenation benefits, Jones

benefitted from their interaction by the

intense sharing of ideas. Their collaboration

helped him further along in the development

of his own new direction that began with his

17

Joe Jones. Mural section of The Struggle of the South. 1935.

University of Arkansas, Little Rock Archives.


21/28

exposure to Japanese modernist techniques of

creating art including silk-screening.

I consider the influence of Jones on

Birdsey, and by extension Bermuda, to be

significant. Jones influence on Birdsey had a

positive effect for Bermuda as it contributed

to the efforts by several artists to introduce

modernism to the island and to encourage

other artists to venture out from their safe

representational work. It can also be

concluded that since Jones was heavily

influenced by the Japanese, the Japanese

indirectly played a part in Bermudas

movement toward modernism.

In my selfish regard, I would like tohave seen Birdsey influenced by Jones

angry period as well. Bermuda was facing

its own social challenges at the time and only

one year after the Birdsey/Jones 1958

collaboration, Bermuda experienced a

momentous protest demonstration against

racial discrimination. Fortunately, there were

visual artists who did choose to create works

based on the event at the time, works that

have since been regarded as Bermudas first

artworks with overt social commentary.

Despite their place of origin, artists

are, to varying extents, involved in searching,

cross-fertilization, and the development of

their confidence. Those coming to Bermuda

are searching for something just as much as

the local artists are. They seek inspiration andways in which they can more effectively make

their statements. I recognize that visual artists

18

Alfred Birdsey. Untitled. Circa 1960. Collection of E. Michael Jones


22/28

users. Roadside litter is becoming more

apparent in Bermuda as we become more of a

throwaway society by consuming items that are

for one time use. That littered candy wrapper,

water bottle, plastic bag, or plastic sushi

container may eventually make its way into ourocean.

The aim is to think before you throw.

Make sure that your plastic trash really ends up

in the garbage, otherwise it may come full

circle, ending up on your plate when you go to

enjoy that delicious spicy tuna roll at your

favourite sushi spot.

For more information, visit www.algalita.com

or www.5gyres.com

are notorious for working independently, but

artists, perhaps more than is readily admitted,

and particularly in the Bermuda context, do

collaborate and take advantage of the other.

In fact, both parties benefit tremendously

from the other. This is not an unusualphenomenon but instead reflective of a global

cycle of influence.

ReferencesActon, Nancy. Alfred & E. Michael. The Royal Gazette. 1 2 February 2 0 0 9.

Calnan, Patricia. The Masterworks Bermudiana Collection. The Bermudian Publishing

Company Ltd.: Bermuda. 1994.

Brooke, W. Michael. Blacks in Bermuda: Historical Perspectives. Island Press:

Bermuda, 1980.Jones, James. Art: Angry Man Calms Down, Time. Monday, 22 Oct. 1951.

Painters in Paradise: The Masterworks Bermuda Collection at the Guidhall Art Gallery.

Catalogue, Bermuda 2004

Slayton, Marina. ed. Four Centuries of Friendship: America-Bermuda Relations

1609-2009. Bermuda Maritime Museum Press, Bermuda, 2009.

19

Edwin M. E. Smith, Ph.D

Art & Design Senior lecturer

Save Our Sushi!

continued from page 24

Amy Harvey, MSC

Earth & Environmental

Science Lecturer


23/28

Baudrillard (1981) argues that there has been

a significant break between the classical form

of capitalism, as analyzed by Marx, and the

development of capitalism following the

Second World War. This rupture is not

restricted to the economic and political

spheres, but includes the cultural as well(Baudrillard, 1983). While earlier forms of

capitalism fostered an ethic of production

based on Fordist economies of scale (Harvey

1990), its latter mode reveals itself in a no less

rigorous ethic of daily consumption

(Baudrillard, 1975, 1998; Featherstone 1990;

Jameson 1991; Ritzer 1999).

In this brave new academic world,

colleges and universities are no longer places

in which knowledge is produced but rather

peddled. In language borrowed from

managerial newspeak, students come to be

seen as customers, or conversely, having

dropped out they become lost revenue,

faculty become human capital, and nearly

everyone is a stakeholder. Enrollment itself

comes to be seen as little more than

marketing strategy to sell a brand.

Branding in higher education is most

evident in the various systems for ranking

colleges and universities; the higher a schoolsranking, the greater the brand recognition.

Education has entered the realm of pure

consumerism, much like the rankings of top

selling CDs or box office hits. However,

institutions of higher learning must not only

be able to attract customers, they must also

satisfy them. As Bauman (2007:10) writes,

buyers will wish to obtain commodities for

consumption only if consuming them

promises gratification of their desires.

Consequently, some have come to

see colleges and universities in the same light

as shopping malls, theme parks, and fast-food

restaurants (Barnett and Coate 2005:37;

Hayes and Wynyard 2002; Ritzer 1998). Suchan approach moves us into the postmodern

perspective of dedifferentiation: the idea that

traditional divisions and boundaries have

collapsed or imploded one upon the other

the interchangeability of shopping, leisure,

eating, sport, education and so on. Ritzer

(1999: 181) argues that this is one of the

hallmarks of modernity/postmodernity in

which formerly non-commercial settings are

becoming cathedrals of consumption.

Gottdiener (2001) sees such dedifferentiation

as a result of theming, leading to such

concepts as edutainment.

Such comparisons reflect the

pressures that tertiary institutions have come

to experience in marketing their

commodities. Accordingly, colleges find

themselves responding to the vulgarities of

the market, appealing to the masses,

providing what the customer desires. To

accomplish this goal they find themselveshaving to eliminate as many negative

aspects of education as possible. This is

evident in the phenomenon of grade inflation,

an ailment particularly infectious at Ivy

League (top brand) institutions (Rojstaczer

and Healy 2010). After all, one can hardly

consider a poor grade to be the promised

gratification of their desires. To avoid such

20

The Consumption of Knowledge


24/28

disappointments the savvy shopper can now

log on to CBS Money Watch to get a listing of

the easiest and hardest marking schools in the

United States (O'Shaughnessy 2010).

A culture of consumption has altered

our perception to the point that all reality isfiltered through the logic of exchange value

and advertising (Baudrillard, 1998). When

students approach education as consumers,

they are weighing the costs, the quality and

the convenience of getting an education.

When the college hierarchy adopt the same

perspective, faculty find themselves pressured

to change their course delivery to meet

specified measurable learning objectives.

Time is taken away from learning, the

institutions raison detre, to measure

customer satisfaction, assess the quality of the

service provider, and improve brand loyalty.

As education comes to be seen as a product,

colleges become little more than a service

based industry.

And yet, can a student ever truly be

a customer? We can think of students as

customers when they compare the cost of

tuition, availability of classes, access to thelibrary, the distance to commute, and the

ranking of the schools athletic teams. But can

they be customers with respect to what it is

they are taught? In order to be able to judge

the subject matter at hand, customers would

need to be experts in that particular field. If

that were the case, there would be no need

to enroll in a course (or to enroll in college).

21


25/28

Consequently we must accept, that in the

classroom, they remain students, any other

option is pure folly. The business model

declares that the customer is always right, and

with respect to students, they are clearly not.

Additionally, such a framework ignores thatactive role that students play in producing

knowledge. Learning is not a matter of passive

consumption, but rather a product of work.

Students must exert both mental and physical

effort in order to learn.

As colleges come to be run more like

a business, they risk losing sight of the reason

for their existence, perhaps they need to take

a long hard look at their educational mission.

It must be kept in mind that unlike a business,

colleges do not exist to earn money andconsequently they should not be responding

to market demand. The notion of simply

discarding an academic subject due to low

enrollment (a.k.a. poor sales) can have

disastrous effects on the integrity of higher

education. Decisions about what courses

should be taught, in the absence of faculty

vetting, raises the whole question of

academic autonomy. Subjects should not just

be evaluated in market terms, after all, we are

dealing with knowledge. Such an approach is

reminiscent of Dickens character Thomas

Gradgrind, who, in his novel Hard Times,

espoused an educational philosophy of

teaching facts because facts alone are

wanted in life" (1854/1970: 15). However,

even he came to see the error of such a

perspective. If colleges evolve into an entitythat provide an education system whose only

concern is technical skills and knowledge that

have an immediate economic application, we

run the risk of producing a population of

unimaginative uncritical cogs in an economic

system with no greater ambition than profit

(cf. Nussbaum 2010).

But then, again, as colleges find

themselves responding to the needs of a

capitalist economy, perhaps that is what the

stakeholders desire, at least those who have asay.

22

E.M.E. Smith

ReferencesBarnett, Ronald and Kelly Coate 2005. Engaging the Curriculum in Higer Education. McGraw-

Hill: Maidenhead.

Baudrillard, Jean 1975. The Mirror of Production. St. Louis: Telos Press.

Baudrillard, Jean 1981. For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign. St. Louis: Telos

Press.

Baudrillard, Jean 1983. Simulations. New York: Semiotext(e).

Baudrillard, Jean 1998. The Consumer Society: Myths and Structures. London: Sage.

Bauman, Zygmunt 2007. Consuming Life. Oxford: Polity Press.

Dickens, Charles 1854/1970 Hard Times London: Collings.

Featherstone, M. 1990. Perspectives on Consumer Culture. Sociology 24(1) pp.5-22.

Gottdiener, Mark 2001. The Theming of America: American Dreams, Media Fantasies, and

Themed Environments (2nd ed.). Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press.

Harvey, David 1990. The Condition of Postmodernity. Cambridge MA: Blackwell.

Geoff Rothwell, Ph.DSociology Professor


26/28

23

Hayes, Dennis & Robin Wynard 2002. Whimpering Into the Good Night: Resisting

McUniversity in George Ritzer (ed) McDonaldization: The Reader. Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge

Press.

Jameson, Fredric. 1991. Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Durham

NC.: Duke University Press.Lyotard, Jean-Franois. 1979/93. The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge.

Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Nussbaum, Martha 2012. Not For Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities. Princeton

University Press.

O'Shaughnessy, Lynn 2010. Grade Inflation: Colleges With the Easiest and Hardest Grades

Date Published: September 28, 2010 http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505145_162-

37243170/grade-inflation-colleges-with-the-easiest-and-hardest-grades/, Date Accessed:

5/3/2012.

Ritzer, George 1998. The McDonaldization Thesis: Explorations and Extensions. London: Sage

Publications.

Ritzer, George 1999. Enchanting A Disenchanted World: Revolutionizing the New Means of

Consumption. Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press.

Rojstaczer, Stuart and Christopher Healy 2010. Grading in American Colleges and

Universities in Teachers College Record, Date Published: March 04, 2010

http://www.tcrecord.org, Date Accessed: 4/3/2010.


27/28

The ever popular take-out sushi may also be

an indicator of our mass consumerism and

throwaway society. The plastic trays, plastic

grass and disposable chop sticks are all

intended for one time use and destined for the

trash. These very items, however, if not

properly disposed of could potentially harm

the fish that we deem safe to eat cooked and

raw alike! Plastic pollution, in particular, is

causing overwhelming problems in our

oceans and their food chains which

ultimately affect the top predator, humans!

Plastic is a product made to last

almost forever; it is created by man, usually

for a onetime use. The problem with plastic is

that it is non-biodegradable i.e. it will not

break down. Plastic that ends up in the ocean

wreaks havoc on the smaller organisms that

ingest it. It also affects larger marine

organisms that not only eat plastic

contaminated food but also face death by

entanglement by ghost nets and stray fishing

line that have been abandoned by fishermen.

The fact that marine life is ingesting plastic

that they cannot digest is bad enough, but

research also shows that this plastic can be

poisoning them. Plastics can act as magnetsto pollutants such as pesticides, oils and

Bisphenol A (BPA). They are finding that the

plastics are much more concentrated in these

pollutants than the surrounding water. Also,

these persistent (do not break down)

pollutants bioaccumulate in the food chain

which means that by the time we eat some of

the top predators, like tuna, the

concentrations will have significantly

magnified to the point where they can be

toxic to us.

Over the last three years,

environmental science students at Bermuda

College have been carrying out visible debris

surveys at Elbow Beach. The purpose of this

on-going survey is primarily to identify and

collect plastic litter debris and to monitor the

impacts that they have on our local and

global ecosystems. This data is shared with

the Marine Plastics Debris Taskforce, Keep

Bermuda Beautiful, and the 5 Gyres group

which is a US based charity. If our waste is not

properly disposed of, it will ultimately find itsway to our oceans. It is suggested that 80% of

plastic pollution in the ocean comes from

littering on land. Only 20% comes from marine

activity like containers falling off of ships,

littering from the fishing industry, or recreational

24

Save our Sushi!

continued on page 19


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bermuda college liberal arts journal 2012

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