OT group assignment

Education as Engine

Name

Institutional Affiliation

Education as Engine

Education as Engine was a lecture delivered in 2014 by Maralynne D. Mitcham, a professor who worked towards development of occupational therapy. The lecturer started with the quote, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.” The lecture had several pearls of wisdom that include:

1. Education is a commodity meant for societal benefit rather than personal gain. She compared education to food where one considers important ingredients to make good food. Likewise, education should establish a stimulating and accomplished society.

2. Resources and choices in education should not necessarily please individuals. Virtues in education should be used to put communities back on track once they start shifting away.

3. Learning as a process ensures people interact and share different professional and personal experiences to be used for the betterment of others.

4. Life is a journey of constant improvement and people can achieve many things in the process of living. Lifetime journey has power to demonstrate better living standards and conditions among humans.

5. Living is a process. We might stumble in unfamiliar difficult territories but we should keep moving because we have experience gained from the learning process.

6. She advised graduates to keep their education engines oiled for easy running and in case anyone lost track in life they should get up and keep fighting.

The lecture focused on three themes: education as a produce, learning, and living as a process. Mitchen considers education as a product that should be designed in a way that benefits the society through vetting its needs. Education should be objective in producing citizens who are resourceful, mindful, and innovative and can impart the same skills and knowledge to future generations. She argues that as much as graduates should continue to add more knowledge, they should train themselves to acquire what they need in solving problems (Mitchen 697). Every product requires raw materials; therefore, it is important to have the correct entry points for occupational therapy to ensure delivery of a proper education outcome.

In the lecture, Mitchen discussed how learning as process is different from education, especially in occupational therapy. Learning is considered as a personal search for new knowledge and skills. It is based on individual decisions and capabilities because people decide the paths they want to follow. Besides, it is a process because it develops from simple to complex, and individuals are always compelled to garner new information. She noted that in the past practitioners thought they had the needed knowledge in occupational therapy, but new knowledge keeps emerging with every learning experience (Mitchen 702). She notes that with technology, there is a wide range of knowledge out there for individuals to continue learning.

The final theme in the lecture stated that living is a process gives people a chance to correct what has been wrecked. It is both a personal and societal journey because the progress of one person sets the pace for others. Living as a process succeeds when learning keeps taking place, just like an engine should be maintained for a comfortable journey (Mitchen 707). She stated that learning as a process should be used to energize people’s journey through life in order to arrive in a desired destination. Just like revolution, living is a process, and when one alights at a destination, they pick up a new one. These new territories might be difficult but life experiences can be used to proceed.

Image courtesy of the Guardian

Image courtesy of CSUDH News

Work Cited

Mitcham, Maralynne D. "Education as Engine." American Journal of Occupational Therapy, vol. 68, 2014, pp. 636-703.