Higher Education: Learning How to Pay Attention

Abstract

In this paper, I discuss the idea that the university should provide a training of the mind that is not reducible to techniques for the efficacious screening and shifting of information. That does not mean that the latter is unnecessary or undesirable. To the contrary, given how bombarded we are with information from morning to night in the digital age, it is clearly beneficial, essential even, that we learn how to manage it all, and to navigate treacherous waters with skill. Nonetheless, there is a risk that we devote so much effort to developing methods and protocols for preparatory and prophylactic information management that we lose sight of the question of why we read, study, teach, and learn. There is especially a risk that a reorientation in how we read and study ultimately implies a transmutation of why we read, the aim and function of reading and studying themselves. As our proficiency in scanning and skimming becomes second nature, it can come to supplant our hard-won aptitude for careful analysis, concentration, reflection, and self-correction. In short, we should not take our capacity for focused attention for granted. In an era of perpetual distraction, the question of what is required for paying attention is an urgent one for higher education.