More on the theme of knowledge. Every year, we have a award program for senior high school students. It's usually related to an exhibition. This year's in on the theme of peace. Since that is one of the exhibitions I am working on, I get to be on the review panel.
I've done this for six years now and it's always interesting. Students have a lot of flexibility in how they can respond to the theme: they can write, paint, make a Web site or compose music. Some are absolutely brilliant: grasping the theme, and demonstrating great creativity and a clear talent for their chosen medium. Others, well, not so much. It can be tedious to read the same plodding, awkward prose for page after page. But it can also be pretty darn funny: exuberant reparations? memorizing gaze?
What was most interesting this time was to see the patterns in the students' responses and compare that to what visitors said they know about peace. It was pretty similar: Canada's connection to peace keeping, Lester B. Pearson, doves, past military sacrifices and a little bit of social justice.
So again, I am wondering if this is what people know about Peace, how do we reconcile the content (knowledge) of the exhibition with the messages (understanding) that we want to communicate?
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