Like so many people who use email as a primary means of communication, I have a quotation in my email signature. Mine is from Pablo Picasso, and it reads: “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.” It serves to remind me that, in the rules-dominated world of higher education, I still need to channel my inner artist if I really want to make a difference. Let me explain.
Higher education is undergoing profound change at all levels. Much of this is driven by technology and forces from outside of the academy. This creates very uncomfortable tension and not a small amount of panic. The traditional educational culture smashes against the more business-like culture seemingly dominating institutional and strategic planning, politics, and the marketplace. In the past, I have used the old physics axiom of “What happens when the unstoppable force meets the immovable object?” to describe the clash: “Hang on folks! Something has to give!”
As for me, I am excited about the future and believe that higher education will survive this transformation and come out stronger on the other side. As it has done so many times in the past, it will incorporate the new into the old. What exactly will this new amalgam look like? I am not sure, but I can say that the insular, monolithic, archaic, rules-driven approach of “this is the way we have always done things” in higher education is rapidly coming to an end. We are going to have to start channeling our inner artists if we hope to reshape higher education into something better, something profound that effectively serves an ever-more-discerning and broader audience.
Artists are always at the forefront of cultural change, and higher education with its myriad of outdated habits, policies, procedures, and thinking is ripe for a cultural transformation. Artists are not policy and procedure wonks; they don’t think like managers and directors. They ask “what if?” They think big. They bridge the gap between what the rules say is currently acceptable and what could (and often should) be. I am not advocating throwing away the rule book or belittling linear thinkers. Both are important and to ignore our past and the lessons we have learned from it would be foolish. But, the artist understands that the past should inform but never dictate the future. Right now, the future of higher education is up for grabs. So, you know the rules; now, what does the artist in you cry out to do? Heed that voice.
Jason B. Huett, Ph.D. is the Associate Dean of Online Development and USG eCore.
