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“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
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