Campus Review Vol 30. Issue 01 | January 2020 | Page 23

industry & research campusreview.com.au “There is still this thinking that becoming the international soloist is the highest form of musicianship, and those who are lucky enough to have that kind of personality don’t need anything else,” said one. “I don’t think that this is ever the case. “Everybody needs to be curious about everything … whether that is the happiness of teaching young children to play cello, or writing your own music and being a singer songwriter, or … being a famous international soloist.” Bennett believes encouraging students to articulate their passions, legitimise their interests and empower their sense of agency is the responsibility of all higher education teachers. This begins with inclusive conversations in classroom environments. “One of the most beautiful questions I’ve ever asked a group of music students is, ‘Why did you choose music?’” she remembers. “It’s really interesting how few of them actually want to be a soloist.” Teachers will often be surprised by the stories that can open up in these settings Myopic research Are screens responsible for global rise in short-sightedness? By Wade Zaglas A UWA academic contends that screens are not the primary cause of an upsurge in myopia (short‑sightedness) around the world and that more research is needed into the condition. In an article for The Conversation, David Mackey, professor of ophthalmology at the University of Western Australia, says there are genetic and environmental factors too, where students will share fascinating projects they are pursuing outside of the institution. Listening to these stories can help teachers develop a more personal and individualised teaching program. She recalls one student who, unbeknown to anyone, was using music to bridge divides in African villages ravaged by conflict. The student would record and release CDs through a not-for-profit organisation and transfer the profits to Africa. “No one knew. We can enable students to express those passions and say, ‘Do you know what? If that is success to you, then that’s what we need to help you to achieve.’” Another way in which universities can validate the many types of career success could be by disrupting dominant imagery and narratives through more representative marketing. For instance, what images are being used on university websites and flyers to tell the stories of where their programs can take students? Are they perpetuating the semiotics of success in showing a solo violinist (music), a high court barrister (law) or a brain surgeon (medicine)? Or are they also showing composers, journalists or nurses? “If we actually start to have alternative images there as normal, then the students are going to get a very different perception of what is valued,” Bennett says. Finally, she believes that we need to quash the “silly idea” that career success is measured by how far you’ve progressed in the discipline you’re trained in. For example, it simply isn’t true that an undergraduate degree in economics is wasted if the student ends up elsewhere. Cognitive diversity is after all the new catchphrase for smart hiring, and companies are increasingly looking to those trained in fields that give them a unique perspective or approach. “I think it’s really important for students to know that they may be using their knowledge and their understanding in all kinds of settings,” Bennett says. “It may be that they’re able to think very differently about something.” n that contribute to myopia and many are interrelated. According to the most authoritative studies, these environmental factors include near work (activities that require individuals to focus on close-up objects), years spent in education and time spent outdoors. Although parents have for years warned kids not to sit too close to the television because it will damage their eyes, Mackey says no study has shown that to be the case. While some research in the last two years has shown an association between screen time and myopia, the professor argues it is the “near work behaviours” such as reading online that are the underlying cause, not the screens. “Instead of reading from books, children are reading more from screens and changing the nature of their near work. Rising rates of myopia are related to ‘near work’ behaviours, rather than screen use in particular,” Mackey says. “Children are also changing the way they use screens. The simple idea that screen use occurs indoors was completely overthrown by the Pokémon Go craze, as gamers headed outdoors with their smartphones in search of virtual treats. “In addition, we now have children using virtual reality goggles to play games or even study.” Mackey says the rates of myopia have risen dramatically in certain parts of the world, reaching epidemic levels far greater than obesity. He cites, for example, that more than 90 per cent of university students in some Chinese cities have the condition. However, the professor asserts that the myopia epidemic in China preceded the widespread release of smartphones in 2007, and that new technologies have always been suspected of causing myopia, whether it be televisions, computers, laptops and now smartphones. “As far back as the 1600s, the German astronomer Johannes Kepler, who first identified that concave lenses could correct myopia, is said to have attributed his short-sightedness to all his years of ‘intense study of astronomical tables and so forth’,” Mackey says. “But he might well have blamed Gutenberg’s printed books [the latest technology at the time].” While Mackey describes myopia as an “inconvenience” for most people that can be easily corrected, the condition can develop into far more serious conditions, such as retinal detachment, glaucoma and myopic muscular degeneration – all of which can lead to blindness and present a major burden to public health. n 21