I’ve mentioned before that I hate the term, “The Real World.” We tell students that they’re only doing/learning/seeing stuff for the purpose of the real world all the time.
“This is something you’ll need to know when you enter the real world.”
“You’ll encounter this situation all the time in the real world.”
“Adults in the real world have to deal with this on a daily basis.”
“The inevitable heat death of the universe is only something you have to worry about in the real world.”
What is the message we’re sending?
You, students, do not currently exist in the real world.
Your thoughts, beliefs, and actions have no real consequences at this time. They do not matter because they are not yet part of the real world.
You exist in a state of hibernation. You are in stasis.
Yours is a world of Eventually — Eventually you will matter, but not yet. Eventually your thoughts and opinions will have the potential to make a
n impact, but not yet. Eventually people will respect you and count you as a worthy human being, but not yet.
What are students supposed to believe? That they’re living right now in a dream world? Nightmare world, maybe. It’s ridiculous.
What a horrible position to force students into. What a horrible mindset. What a horrible message we’re sending. As if the world of education — which takes up their lives from age four or five all the way to twenty-two and beyond — is a dream. Is just practice for the “real” thing. Is inconsequential.
I try to avoid using that term. I try to remember to tell my students all of the above reasoning for why I don’t use “The Real World.” I try to insist that what my students are learning and doing matters now. Not later. Not in some nebulous and far-off time known as “the future.”
Now.
You. Matter. Now.
Tell them that. They deserve to hear it. They need to hear it.
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