Of Education, Fishbowls, and Rabbit Holes: Rethinking Teaching and Liberal Education for an Interconnected World eds. by Jane Fried (review)

Jane Fried's book Of Education, Fishbowls, and Rabbit Holes: Rethinking Teaching and Liberal Education for an Interconnected World is an exposition on how to change the way we think about teaching. It provides both a brief history lesson on the academy—an acknowledgement of where higher education has been and a call to where we might go. The reflective questions and exercises provided help readers redefine and revision their teaching. As the book implies, it employs the kind of circular thinking that will take the reader down a rabbit hole and on a mind adventure.

The book is divided into a preface, introduction, and eight chapters. Due to the meandering nature of the book (which I think is a masterful representation of mind rabbit holes), it is a bit difficult to summarize. Chapters 1 and 2 cover the stories we tell about college and the ways these stories shape the way most academics have been taught to think about teaching. Chapter 1 starts with a look at the way students think about the purpose of college versus the way that faculty think about the purpose of college. The chapter then introduces how Western university systems began to honor objectivity over subjectivity and began to negate personal narratives in teaching and learning. Fried asks us, "Are beliefs that shape our educational institutions taking us where we want to go and giving us the capacities that we need to function in a crisis-ridden world?" (p. 8). Chapter 2 picks up on this idea and furthers it by discussing what she calls The Grand Narrative of Western Civilization (or the stories we tell our selves about how the world works). From here she points out that this story is but a fishbowl we can see through but never look upon or ask if there is another perspective. Fried then explains how the academy's fish bowl developed by giving a brief overview of higher education history and why we should be aware of this fishbowl. Fried concludes Chapter 2 by using several theorists and reflective exercises to help the reader see both their fishbowl and ways to get out of it.

Chapters 3 and 4 take the ideas in Chapters 1 and 2 and move them into discussions on teaching and learning. Chapter 3 asks the reader to think about how they learned and if they are teaching in a way that helps students learn. It provides several exercises to help the reader reflect upon and make meaning of important learning moments and think about how they can apply what they learned through these exercises to their teaching. Chapter 4 talks about the role of language in defining teaching and asks the reader to consider students as subjects rather than objects. It challenges readers to not only teach facts but also, to make those facts meaningful for students by providing "a broader context of meaning and value" (p. 36).

Chapters 5 and 6 teach about students developing a sense of self or self-authorship and is a call to bring the "student's sense of self" into the learning process by aiding students in their search for meaning. In Chapter 5, Fried addresses the issue that arises when students have a differing opinion from material presented and the problem with presenting better evidence—students often feel dismissed, hurt, etc. Fried says most professors lack the training to work with these emotions and help the student understand what they think and why they think it rather than simply giving counter evidence to what the student thinks. Chapter 6 continues the explanation of self-authorship and distinguishes between working with emotional content as students struggle to make meaning of their experiences and counseling. She advocates that professors can help students in their learning by providing opportunities for students to reflect on their lives as they learn.

Chapter...