Learning to Unlearn
A peculiar practice is taking place at the American University in Cairo, Egypt —Students are learning to unlearn.
Unlearn things that they have been taught their entire lives and learn a little something about themselves as people. Students are encouraged to figure out exactly who they are in life, where they are from and where they are going.
President David Arnold calls students first year ‘disorientation’. Disorientation is when students pursue a different kind of study and ask themselves questions like ‘who am I?’ and ‘what does it mean to be human?’ American University students are “learning to unlearn” and learning how to truly find themselves.
American University was founded in 1919 by Presbyterian missionaries in the center of Cairo, Tahrir Square. Now days, American University educates 5,000 undergraduate students on a 260 acre campus.
With their outside-the-box way of doing things, American University is thriving with students who are learning to think for themselves and gather information about their own lives, pasts and futures, as opposed to just studying from textbooks.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., said, “We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character –that is the goal of true education. The complete education gives one not only power of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate.”
American University’s unusual approach to teaching is something to be admired. In a world where quickly learning for letter grades means quickly forgetting once they are received, America University is helping students conceive something a little more unforgettable – who they are.
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