On Slacking Off | Fumitoshi Kato, Dean of the Graduate School of Media and Governance
2023.07.18
The hot summer has arrived. This year, the " Camp for Designing the Future " will be held again. The first one was held in 2011, making this the 13th time. I have been involved almost every time since the beginning, leading workshops and documenting the entire event. Even under the influence of COVID-19, the event was never canceled. After being held online for two years, it returned to an in-person format last year. Thanks to its continuation, meeting high school students and spending half a day with them (or two days and one night last year, as it was an overnight event) has become an annual tradition for me.
The workshops are very different from so-called "mock classes." Based on the idea that direct experience is the source of learning, participants engage in lively discussions, use both their minds and bodies, and weave wisdom and words from the field. It's a period of intense engagement. This year, four workshops are scheduled to be held on campus, and two more off-campus (in Nagasaki and Tottori).
I will be in charge of the "Slacking Off Workshop." In fact, this will be the third time this workshop has been held, following 2020 and 2021. Since I have the opportunity, let me briefly introduce the "Slacking Off Workshop." Generally, "slacking off" is considered to be a bad thing. It is understood as lazy behavior, such as looking away, losing focus, or straying from the "main path" when there are things that need to be done. Most participants are surely trying to move toward their goals without getting sidetracked. Therefore, "slacking off" is likely an unwilling action for them.
In the "Slacking Off Workshop," instructors are scheduled to conduct classes each period according to a predetermined "timetable." This is probably a familiar scene for high school students. Participants will play the role of "students attending class" in each session. On the other hand, since the theme of the workshop is "slacking off," they will also have to think about how to escape from the situation of being in class. In other words, they must simultaneously play the role of "a student attending class" and "a student trying to slack off from class."
As this workshop assigns multiple roles and incorporates a strange conflict, participants are naturally perplexed. Since the theme of the workshop is "slacking off," astute participants might think that slacking off is what will earn them a high evaluation. Should they listen to the class quietly, or should they slip out of the classroom? For example, participants in the "Slacking Off Workshop" held in fiscal year 2020 reflected on their own behavior in the workshop and shared the following impressions: "I attended the class because I was interested in it, but I wanted to slack off," "...Since it was a class, I couldn't bring myself to slack off when I thought about the teacher's preparation time," "I was thinking of slacking off from the workshop itself," "I thought slacking off was the right answer, so I just did it," and "I thought it was strange that the number of people was clearly decreasing partway through." It seems they approached the workshop with various thoughts and feelings.
How to behave in the "Slacking Off Workshop" is left to the judgment of each individual participant. Of course, there is no single right answer. They will spend their time observing the other participants, sometimes feeling peer pressure.
Needless to say, the purpose is not to trouble the participants. By conducting the workshop in this setting, we want to re-examine the nature of classes and classrooms, the flow of time, and other things that we normally take for "granted" in our daily lives. During class, you sit facing forward and listen to the teacher. The class ends at a set time, and after a short break, the next class begins. It is a very orderly system, designed to eliminate waste. We are too accustomed to this way of doing things. "Slacking off" is positioned as an opportunity to question this "taken-for-granted" way.
Glancing out the window, doodling in a notebook. The urge for a little "slacking off" arises quite naturally. "Slacking off" might be seen as an escape from what you are supposed to be doing. But we don't have to immediately understand that desire as a bad thing. When we are moving toward a goal, we tend to trim away various "margins" or "empty spaces." It is meaningful to try to understand the value of that "something" that has been trimmed away.
Above all, it is we who have created and maintained the "timetable," the classroom, the way classes are, and all these "norms." To realize this and to make use of it for future changes, I want to conspire in a grand "slacking off" with everyone.