Ray Land, Jan H. F. Meyer, and Michael T. Flanagan (Eds.) have done a great job introducing the threshold Concepts. It comes with five parts that include Theoretical Directions, Negotiating Liminality, Threshold Concepts and Interdisciplinarity, The Doctoral Journey, and Threshold Concepts in Professional Practice. \u201cIt seeks authors who can demonstrate their understanding of discourses of the knowledge and learning economies.\u201d (Land et al., 2016). The barriers to education can be daunting especially when it becomes increasingly expensive while finding employment to match the cost of learning seems impossible at times. Land explains regarding the book that they were interested in finding out why some very talented student still gets stuck with certain aspects of their learning.
Great questions indeed, it must be Socrates who said that understanding a question is half an answer and questions become a great starting point for solutions to many of the issues we struggle with daily. I get it, like others who come from impoverished communities I have seen enough challenges to education. I became the first person to earn higher education credentials and speak (or attempt to speak) foreign languages probably not only in my family but also in my clan. Given the circumstances, it was by God\u2019s grace through the generosity of his amazing people that I could make it past elementary school. John C. Maxwell says that a leader knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. Partnering with students while attempting to help them overcome barriers is likely the best way to provide them with needed support.
In Overcoming barriers to Student Understanding edited by Jan H. F. Meyer and Ray Land, they share the troublesome nature of opportunity cost. (Meyer & Land, 2006) \u2018Opportunity cost is the evaluation placed on the most highly valued of the rejected alternatives or opportunities\u2019 (Eatwell et al., 1998, Vol. 3, p. 719). (Meyer & Land, 2006) It was yesterday while the story popped up on my computer, \u201cLawsuit aims to stop Biden\u2019s student loan forgiveness plan\u201d Demetrius Freeman\/The Washington Post. This lawsuit if successful will block President Biden\u2019s plan to cancel some students\u2019 debt. The story reminded me of the challenge many students go through wondering whether to incur debt for education or simply give up and forget higher education altogether. When it comes to politics there are plenteous details and motives I dare not to explore here. There is no question that those willing to keep others oppressed in one way or another would wish to keep them uneducated.
\u201cWe must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.\u201d Martin Luther King, Jr. Speaking of voices for freedom from slavery, genocide, holocaust, and other atrocities, education has been a great vehicle at work leading to the highly needed reliefs. There is no doubt that education has been an influential vehicle of hope in many areas of leadership where individuals and communities stood up and worked together for strength to freedom from various forms of oppression. Sometimes, teachers and experts do unfortunately overcomplicate things. \u201cWe understand the language we get it. We speak in that language, which illuminates nothing and obscures everything.\u201d(Robert Coven, 2022).
The modeling aspect of education as shared by Coven is a great one where teachers commit to empathic presence, not only remembering what it was to be in the student\u2019s seat but giving a room, a chance for students to research, try, fail, and learn. \u201cMy colleague and I decided to try something new, which is modeling, which is to have students take the onus of learning upon themselves to try and create theory\u201d (Robert Coven, 2022).
Land, R., Meyer, J. H. F., & Flanagan, M. T. (Eds.). (2016). Threshold concepts in practice. Sense Publishers.
Meyer, J., & Land, R. (2006). Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding (0 ed.). Routledge. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.4324\/9780203966273
Robert Coven (Director). (2022, October 2). Breaking Through: Threshold Concepts as a Key to Understanding | [YouTube]. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=GCPYSKSFky4
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