Visual Medium in the Service and Disservice of Education

Abstract

sual medium is chosen in this attempt. Utilizing the conceptualizations of Suzanne Langer, Christine Nystrom observed that American symbolic environments have undergone a massive shift from discursive (rational, analytical, logical, and reflective) to nondiscursive (gestalt, appositional, emotional, and presentational).1 Currently, such a shift is widely regarded as a global phenomenon in modem social systems. Traditionally, classroom teaching was characterized by the control of visual stimuli and constant variation of speech. Being threatened by the accusation that classroom life is increasingly unattractive and irrelevant to the younger generation, many educators seek remedies in strengthening the visual medium in the learning process. In her polemic article written more than two decades ago, Nystrom reminded us of the virtue of traditional practice and the danger of modem trends in relation to education: through the control of visual stimuli, focused attention on the discursive mode can be attained as a principle. A near-total preoccupation with a non-discursive mode, on the other hand, may lead to the eclipse of rationality and the evolution of immediate man.2 Being immersed in a visual culture, what sort of symbolic environment is desirable and practical in schools? While Nystrom has warned us about the disservice that visual medium does to education, we shall see how original and sharp intellectual analyses can deepen our understanding of its potential service. Three rounds of discourse are considered as particularly worthwhile: Rudolf Amheim's idea of visual thinking and its resonance; Walter Benjamin's unfinished Arcades Project and his idea of materialist pedagogy; and Henri Bergson's concept of intellectual effort and its implication for the development of the human mind.

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