COLUMN | The hidden curriculum: why learning by doing should be the norm in naval architecture [Aft Lines]

When at university one is taught about the “hidden curriculum”, the stuff that goes on outside the lecture room: meeting people from different backgrounds, living in a new location, for some a different country, etc, etc.

This is the other side of the education one is getting at university, to broaden one’s horizon beyond the subject being taught.

Is this simple process of learning beyond what is says on the tin still valid? Is the hidden curriculum being discarded in this day of Google searches and clicks and likes on social media?

Ask any graduate of naval architecture a question they are unfamiliar with, and more often than not, one will see them whipping out their phone and doing a quick Google search, or at their PC if in the office. Just like AI, this is outsourcing one’s research and learning to a third party. Nothing is learnt nor gained in this process. The young master has acquiesced their knowledge base to being the slave for their entire career with no learnt memory recall other than which buttons to press on their smartphone.

The notation that 10 years of hard-learnt experience can be acquired in a quick 10-second search is becoming the norm. Impatience rules the day, speed is king and taking time is for fools or those with no ambition. Everyone wants to be an instant subject matter expert without taking the time to earn that badge of honour bestowed on them by their peers.

The computer, for all its wonders (and there is plenty to marvel and wonder at) in the 21ct century, is becoming its own worst enemy. By that, I refer to the software that is used on these ever more powerful PCs.