XplanaZine

Labels can be extraordinarily confusing, especially if they lack a certain precision or congruence with reality. Take the name Labor Day for example. This is a label for a holiday in the United States, a day that families have typically reserved as a time for relaxation and fun gatherings.

And w hen it comes to Labor Day, most people seem to get the fact that its denomination as a holiday trumps any implications that might be associated with its actual label. In other words, no one is really confused by the word “Labor” in the title. It’s a day of relaxation, right?

Well, not so fast there. There actually is a small percentage of the population, mostly from the generation before mine, that view Labor Day as an extra day to get things done. In other words, it’s a free day of labor. Un fortunately, my father fit into that group so as a child I dreaded the advent of Labor Day each year. You see, for my father, this was a special day when the boys weren’t in school and when he didn’t have to go to work. So each Labor Day, he would roust us out of our beds as some unreasonable hour, huddle us together in the living room, and read aloud to us his list of tasks for that day. And believe me, the tasks all involved serious labor.

So, while all our friends were headed off to the lake or getting ready for outdoor parties, we worked and worked and worked. When dusk would fall on those days, we were always too tired to even think about going out and having fun.

Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t blame my father for any of this. He was and is a most reasonable and loving man. The problem was and is with the name of the holiday itself. I mean, really — if you don’t want people getting the wrong idea, you shouldn’t create confusing labels. You shouldn’t call it Labor Day if you don’t want people to think it has something to do with laboring!

Of course, U.S. holidays aren’t the only place we see the abuse of inaccurate or confusing labeling. Heck, we don’t have to look any further than online learning to find some real doozies. So I ask you to consider the following labels that might seem confusing, at least from a philosophical point of view:

1. Distance Education/Distributed Education – These labels are about logistics and, in particular, spatial realities. Isn’t one of the major points about online learning that it reduces or eliminates the notions of space and time normally associated with traditional classroom education. So why bring up space or location at all and, more to the point, why put it in a label or title?
2. Homework — Now this is a good one. Online learning is supposed to cut the traditional tethers that fix learning to a specific place or time. And yet, we advertise to online learners that they must do a particular portion of their work in a specific place.
3. Online Teachers — I’ve been involved in online instruction for some time now and I can’t figure out how these other teachers are actually getting online. I’m stuck in my living room and having to use a computer as an intermediary for communication. Evidently, some teachers are finding a way to jack in and do their work directly. Either that, or we’re all being replaced by digital teachers that don’t require any pay or housing subsidies.
4. Synchronous and Asynchronous Learning – This is one of the funnier ones. Now don’t get me wrong. I believe in love at first sight and all that. But I’m not sure I get synchronous learning. I always thought it was a process that took time and evolution. I thought it required reflection and study. And aren’t both of these labels about time? And isn’t the notion of time something we’re trying to get away from?

Naturally, this is just my personal list of potentially misleading labels in online education. And, admittedly, I’m still sensitive to bad labeling from all those Labor Days spent toiling in the fields.

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