What do you call a group of altruists?

A selfish individual will always outcompete an altruistic individual, but a group of altruists will always outcompete a group of selfish people. 

E. O. Wilson, The Social Conquest of Earth

Hmm....

I wonder.

This quote comes from an article in the Globe and Mail by David Helfand called We evolve, but the university stands still.

In it, Helfand states that the problem with university education is:

There we have it – a brain evolved for two-way communication in a highly socialized environment in which collaboration leads to success. And we put this brain in a classroom of one-way communication in a highly de-socialized environment that celebrates cutthroat competition for grades and punishes collaboration. It’s brilliantly perverse.

My favourite part might be where he calls grades "meaningless tokens."

As he says, the idea that learning happens best when students can engage, participate and collaborate are not new and there are many educators trying to "evolve" this paradigm.

Here is how they are trying to change the way students participate in their education at Quest University:

Raising awareness about sexual violence

York University students are using their literacy skills in creative ways to raise awareness about sexual violence.

"A group of York University students is using comics to tackle an issue that doesn’t usually get the funny pages treatment: sexual violence.

As part of Design for Public Awareness, a class taught by Prof. Jan Hadlaw, the students created 12 graphic art projects that address issues surrounding sexual assault.

Hadlaw said she wasn’t sure at first about using comics to tackle such a weighty subject.

'I had to think about it for a minute — it’s a challenging topic on many levels — but it was clearly an inspired idea,' she said.

The course material was presented in conjunction with Noa Ashkenazi, the university’s sexual harassment prevention and education adviser.

Sexual assault has been a hot topic at York. Taking action to prevent attacks must go beyond getting security or law enforcement involved, Ashkenazi said.

'We cannot expect police to change the social norms. We need to change the social norms,' she said."

York University students create comics to raise awareness about sexual violence
by Kamila Hinkson, Toronto Star, May 20, 2013