All the World is a Classroom

Delaney Couri

My mom called me the other day just to say hello. I had recently left my family and journeyed back to College Station for my final semester of coursework. While talking with my mom, she reminded me of this fact, that it is my last semester of coursework…ever. From my first class ever (a chemistry lab in Heldefelds of all things,  sheesh) to what will be my last (a class ironically on space & place as a topic…), I have spent eight years on Texas A&M’s campus learning from the best.

Needless to say, this place means a lot to me and I can’t fathom being done with classes. Of course, as a doctoral student, I am not done with my work, but never again will I step into BLTN 213, put on three jackets to fight off the cold, watch one of many professors fight with the technology, and then spend the next two plus hours rocking violently in my chair while lovingly arguing with my classmates. Graduate classes are very different from undergraduate classes (thank goodness), so they consist mainly of three things; reading, talking/arguing/debating, and writing.

In this model of education, a student’s job is to read the text and then come prepared to talk about it, while the professor’s job is the same. Now, this is not a peer reviewed definition of education, but I didn’t really want to dive into literature for a blog post, so for now let’s pretend like someone really smart defined education this way.
I love this model of education as both a former education major and notoriously bad student. I always performed well in school, sure, but I never really liked it much. My least favorite kind of education is the type where I get talked at and am expected to sit still for an hour. That education bores me. But classrooms that are interactive, that thrive on communication, those classrooms are the ones for me.

When I told my advisor that I could not believe that I was going into my last semester of coursework, she just looked at me and said, “Well, that’s going to be the rest of your life.” I know what she means. I will never again sit down in a classroom to learn from someone hired to teach me.

And yet, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that my preferred type of classroom is actually everywhere -- and I don’t think it has to be confined by schoolhouse walls.

Let me explain. Referring to that really smart definition of education given earlier (having intellectual conversation based around a reading), my church is a classroom. People read the Bible or some other sacred text then they come together and talk about it. In Bible studies and on Sunday mornings, church services feel more like class than class does sometimes. Maybe that is why I love working at a church and have been drawn to faith more and more over the years.

Stadiums and arenas are also classrooms. While there is no traditional reading list, audiences at sporting events “read” the actions on the field/court/pitch and then, during breaks, exceptional play calls, or bad moments from referees, discuss what they have read. My shouts of “Let ‘em play, ref!” or “What game are you even watching, ref?” or “Get back up and play!” are not as eloquent as the things I say in class, but are in their
own way a form of learning and sharing wisdom. After all, how would the fan behind me know that was a bad pass interference call if I didn’t yell it loudly? The twenty minute conversation my mom and I had during the Ohio State vs. TCU game the other day regarding a touchdown that was called back (if you know you know; it was a touchdown, for the record) proves that learning and relearning rules is an ongoing form of education every fan should participate in from time to time.

Book clubs are classrooms. Family gatherings are classrooms. Any time I can get three of my friends in the same room, it’s a classroom. The beauty and joy of these spaces doesn’t come from some cheesy adage or self-satisfaction that comes from being a “lifelong learner,” but instead from the diversity and unconventional wisdom that flows forth from the unlikeliest of teachers.

So, I am going to miss going to class. But I won’t be lacking in educational opportunities for the rest of my life. Because, riffing off of something Shakespeare once said, not only is all the world a stage, all the world is also a classroom.