Passages
Some students, some educators, some of their thoughts about education.
– a film by TMU Student Affairs.
Passages is a film by TMU Student Affairs that we hope gets people thinking about school. Its purpose is no more heroic than that. We want to nudge people here and there in their thinking about what it means to engage in post-secondary education.
About the Film
Passages is an attempt to present a decidedly non-prescriptive interpretation of post-secondary success, what it means, and how students can begin thinking and asking questions about it. Students are inundated, the market saturated, with the text-book approach to post-secondary preparation. Chapter by chapter, students are given the black and white recipe for success. While this is no doubt helpful to students making the transition to post-secondary education, it belies something of the complexity and ambiguity of it all.
We hope this film helps capture some of that complexity and ambiguity. We hope that students, educators, parents, counsellors, administrators, will watch the film and and then talk about it with each other. And then we hope you’ll watch it again.
The Title
Titles are important. We have grappled with this, and toyed with several ideas. In the end, we have settled on the title Passages because, in that single word is captured layers of meaning and interpretation that convey something of our purpose. It’s a title that, hopefully, conveys to viewers that we are inviting them to watch the film, not as an indoctrination to specified learning outcomes, but as a way to prompt thinking. Passages can be thought of in many ways – the provision of access, an avenue, an entrance, a threshold, a pathway, a channel; or it can be thought of as a part of something bigger, a piece, a chapter, an excerpt, an episode; or as a transition, a conversion, a crossing, a departure. There are many meanings and what gets conjured by the viewer will be, no doubt, varied. This is in keeping with our purpose.
The film is best conceived as part of some broader learning context. It is intended as a way to initiate thinking, discussion, and reflection. We have some ideas that should help with that. (PDF file) We’d suggest reading the facilitator’s guide available here. (opens in new window) This gives you a full picture of the thinking behind the film and how it might get used.
Here’s a short list of possible post-film questions to generate discussion:
- What, if anything, surprised you in this film? (What were your expectations?)
- In what ways does this film make you think differently about your own education? (Or does it?)
- What questions emerge for you from the ambiguity of the film? (Are you disoriented?)
- What do you think the title “Passages” means? (What would you have named the film?)
- With whom, or with what ideas did you identify? (Can you see yourself in this film?)
- What stayed with you? (Why do you think that is?)
- What voices are missing from the film? (What were you hoping to hear?)
- In what ways is the campus a character in the film? (Did you notice the locations?)
- What is the purpose of this film? (Something different today, than yesterday?)
- Wait six weeks (or some period of time) and come back to these questions.
This film is intended for students - incoming first-year students, students in transition, students poised to graduate, students in between, students in residence, students thinking about career options, students who struggle, students who thrive, students with disabilities, students full of confidence, students full of doubt.
And it’s for the folks who support and guide students through all of it - educators, parents, caregivers, administrators, counsellors, friends.
Educators - We hope you’ll find ways to bring Passages into your classrooms, syllabi, advising sessions, team development, and more. The film is best conceived as part of some broader learning context – a way to initiate thinking, discussion, and reflection. (PDF file) Download the Passages Companion Guide (opens in new window) to learn about how you can use Passages as a learning and discussion tool. The guide includes questions to engage students after viewing the film, and a path for learning for those seeking a more curriculum based method of using the film.
Host a Screening: If you want to screen the film and you’d like to connect with us, please do be in touch. Contact John Hannah, Director of Special Projects, at john.hannah@torontomu.ca.
Four Questions of Readiness - An open letter to students
Dear Students - congratulations for beginning, or being in the midst of your post-secondary adventure. It’s a bold and big step in your life and we wish you all the best, wherever you choose to take it. And, like all big, bold steps, this one will require of you some deep thinking about whether or not you are ready. Now, this is a thorny question: Am I ready? We never really know for sure. There is no On/Off switch of readiness. Readiness is not a state of being but, rather, a process of growth and setback and struggle and triumph. It’s idiosyncratic. You’ll figure out your own way, I’m sure of that. As you watch this film, think about that question of readiness. And don't look for answers in the film. Just look for ideas - a thought or an insight that interests you and let that guide you into further explorations. Here are four more unanswerable questions that might help you begin.
Naturally there are obvious, instrumental reasons for being here—the satisfaction of good grades, making social and professional connections, the increased likelihood of a successful career. All of that is important. But it is also important to identify something even more meaningful in your pursuit of education, something that evokes history and civilization, humanity and peace. By pursuing your education, you are participating in that most profound and noble feature of the human experience—learning; learning for the sake of learning, learning to liberate ourselves from the shackles of ignorance, learning to advance the principles of goodness and peace in the world. Yes, this may seem lofty and pretentious, but why not? The pursuit of an education is not a trivial thing. It’s an ancient and beautiful human ritual and now it’s your turn to take part. Remember that and hold your head high.
Your pursuit of higher education is, no doubt, motivated by various things. But firmly in that mix should be an innate curiosity about the world, a desire to know things, just for the sake of knowing them; an itch for knowledge and ideas and insights. You should have at the heart of your educational experience a desire to know something more about the world when you go to bed than you did when you woke up. You should be driven, not by answers, but by questions.
Learning is difficult. It requires, at times, a reckoning with new ways of understanding the world that conflict, sometimes deeply, with our current ways of understanding the world. In some instances, this will mean having to abandon old ways of knowing so that we can accommodate the new. This is a messy, gnarled, uncomfortable process that can be a kind of grieving. This is what learning is, and if you don’t encounter it in this way, you’re not doing it right.
Often, this will be difficult, it will be challenging, unsettling, uncomfortable. It will require effort, and perseverance and resilience. This discomfort you will feel at times is not equivalent to being treated unfairly. It is simply a necessary, inevitable part of the process. Do not waste your energy trying to avoid that discomfort. Does this mean that the institution providing you with this education is beyond reproach, beyond critique? Absolutely not. By all means take a critical approach to your education and towards those traditions and institutions who provide it. This is what moves us forward. But, in that critique, be armed with something more than mere complaint.
Your ability to be independent, to find solutions to problems on your own, to persevere through challenges—these are all important dispositions to have. They make you strong. But, the true hallmark of the strong person is the ability to recognize the need for support, the need for help, the need for guidance, and the wherewithal to seek that support. It means knowing where to go for help, how to ask for it, and how to fruitfully accept it. An education is not a solo trip. It involves others in front of you and behind you, those whose help you need and those for whom you can provide it. Accept both responsibilities.
Let those questions sit with you. Think about them. Talk about them. Return to them. I hope they help in some way. Good luck everyone—enjoy the ride.
Download the Passages Companion Guide to deepen your viewing experience or use it in classrooms or other educational contexts.
Feel free to reach out to us to learn more about the film and how you can share it with audiences. Contact us at: studentaffairs@torontomu.ca
We collaborate with the structures of separation because they promise to protect us against one of the deepest fears at the heart of being human — the fear of having a live encounter with alien ‘otherness,’ whether the other is a student, a colleague, a subject, or a self- dissenting voice within.
- Parker Palmer,
The Courage to Teach
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