I am writing this letter to you in order to disclose what it means to be human, a human that can only deal with and understand life as seen through these eyes. But for all of us, today is a new day, a day that defines and defies an ever-changing voice, a blurred “I”. —Il Barrow
And so ... here I stand.
The question at hand is attempting to define academic advising. Advising is inevitably intertwined with the concept of education. Advising is an important component of the learning process, but how? My goal in this discussion is to both ground the notion of advising in education and to recognize and define the importance of advising in the context of the process of education. In other words, advising is fundamental in understanding what education is about, yet, at the same time, advising facilitates the process of education. Fundamentally, we come to know not only the world around us, but also ourselves, by means of a developmental process of understanding, taking responsibility, and ultimately making choices that continually define and affirm who we are. Habley (1995) identifies three types of advising training that provide the groundwork for understanding and defining the notion of academic advising. Furthermore, in order to think through a definition of advising, we must also understand its fundamental relationship to education.
When one thinks of advising, one must first begin with the question of context. Namely, advising presupposes the fact that advisers must be informed and knowledgeable about courses and majors in order to define and/or communicate that understanding effectively to advisees. During this communication process, the question of self arises. Where do the adviser and advisee stand within and alongside this context? Who are the participants advisers are working with, are sometimes in opposition to, and sometimes in conjunction with? Advisers sometimes fail to recognize the human element of what they are doing and who they are being. It is important for advisers to address and account for the happening of choice. Choice is an act of choosing, an act of testing and examination. Ultimately, it is critical to examine choice as the question (a questioning) of human doing—a movement, a happening, and a way of criticalness that forces and allows us to present (and/or represent) what it means to be human.
Choice implies that possibilities and options exist. It is imperative that advisers carefully address each possibility, be informed about each of these options, and clearly communicate the pros and cons of each option. However, making decisions based on this approach can be inadequate in dealing and coping with a world and self that is complex, meaningful, and real. Choice also seems to dictate a love for questioning, evaluating (or re-valuating), and creating a world that suits us—where we feel belonging and responsibility, where we act (or re-act). In other words, advising cultivates and exemplifies critical thinking by investigating possibilities and making decisions and valuations based on being informed and informing others. It is through this doing that identity of self and world comes together, carving out experiences of responsibility and accountability.
Finally, advising is an act of leadership—a process of informing students and helping them to make appropriate and thoughtful choices. Not only must advisers inform and guide, but the process of advising entices students to become self-actualized with a deeper understanding of both the world and themselves. The goal of advising is not to reinforce a static approach in dealing with and within a world but to demonstrate to students how to actively internalize and create a meaningful and insightful way of participating within a world they can call their own. Advising is this dynamic relationship through which an exchange of ideas and information occurs. The goal of these discussions is to facilitate a realization of where and how one stands and, most importantly, how one ought to stand, both actively and critically.
For the ancient Greeks, education, or paideia, meant the process of bringing up a child. It is important to understand that, for the ancient Greeks, particularly Socrates, education presupposes a constant movement, a continual forming or bringing about of self. The Germans used the word bildung, which means formation or the act of building. In synthesizing these two concepts, education can be understood as the upbringing or the formation of an individual. So how does this relate to advising? Like education, advising reveals itself in stages that are dialectical and ever changing in nature. That is, the first stage brings about a need for the second, which ultimately will bring about a third stage, and the process continues from there. To ground this concept further, I will use the examples of parenting and teaching interchangeably.
As a parent or teacher, we begin educating our children by helping them to identify and define basic sense experiences. We focus on establishing meaning by providing them with basic words and concepts. They begin to understand the world around them through the use of these simple yet meaningful ideas. Not only do children begin to create and understand the world around them, but they also begin to identify and develop an understanding of self—the first stage. As you know, this stage ultimately lacks genuine valuation or judgment. So we begin to introduce more complex notions of meaning through multiple systems of evaluation. Here, children—students—begin to make choices. They develop skills of reasoning and critical thinking. They are able to understand possibilities, consequences, and responsibilities. The third stage, which is even more complex, involves an understanding of the notion of value.
As parents, teachers, and advisers, it is our fundamental responsibility to model how to make appropriate choices based on correct information and facts. We demonstrate autonomy in hopes that our children or students will do the same. They project this self-understanding and self-awareness in order to see what it means to be who they are or who they will become. With this understood, I believe that Habley's three components of adviser training can help us to define academic advising. Habley (1995) asserts that there are three types of adviser training: informational, relational, and conceptual. In general, these three components are consistent with the idea of education as discussed above. I propose that the informational component is similar to the first stage, the relational component relates to the second stage, and the conceptual component is aligned with the third stage. Although Habley's three components are not necessarily presented to us as movements between stages, I believe that he provides us with snapshots of the process of advising.
In conclusion, defining advising is an elusive yet necessary task. I believe that by grounding academic advising in education we are able to illustrate the inherent relationship it has with the process of education. As advisers, we must stay away from defining academic advising as a modern-day bureaucratic phenomenon of higher education. Advising is not epiphenomenal; rather it is rooted in the very nature of education.
And so ... I am standing.