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Volume CXXXIII, Number 16 |
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Is it the students, profs or society?
INA HOXHA
The first week of this semester, I sat in on literally seven different
classes, ranging from Astronomy to Government, because I could not make
up my mind as to which ones I wanted/had to take. After deciding-the very
last day-on my four classes, the only impression left with me was how
differently each of the professors imbued knowledge.
After some thought, I realized that each of these professors and some
from past semesters seemed, more or less, to fall into two categories.
There are those who set a stage and give students the tools to even go
beyond that stage, if they so wished, in their own spare time. Their hope
is that students will take learning outside of the classroom and expand/discuss
ideas with fellow students, and in a community of this sort, knowledge
will take its true form and shape.
The professors of the second category seem to imbue much more knowledge,
often in quite sophisticated and alien language and in such quantities
that it seemed hard to believe that anyone would go out to dinner and
talk about it with his/her friends. It was even less likely to use that
knowledge as tools for more expansion.
I was so taken by this phenomenon that I brought it up with a teacher
of mine, and quite proud of my assessment, presented to her my two nebulous
and somewhat artificial categories of professors.
She added that this dilemma is even more complicated than I had thought
at first. She said that most teachers want to be designated as members
of the first category, but that they have started to doubt that students,
if only given the tools for knowledge, will sit in the dining hall and
vehemently discuss classes and their connection to societal issues.
Therefore, she continued, many professors decide that it might just be
better to simply teach everything in class, so as to be certain that students
get the necessary knowledge, even if it is given to them in a more factual
and straightforward way.
I was quite baffled, because I realized that we often see qualities in
teachers that we don't particularly like but don't think that our behavior
as students has an impact on how professors teach.
So a question follows: why don't most students, in informal settings
with their friends, talk and argue about what they learn in class? Yes,
we are busy, but somehow we find time to talk about Hollywood and the
weekend's gossip. I think that individuals in closed societies like Bowdoin's,
and America in general, hesitate to articulate their reasons, because
they might come up with negative judgements about someone else's tastes
or practices, which might then lead to persecution of sorts.
Fear of hurting someone's feelings predispose Americans-students, in
this case-to avoid discussions of issues outside the classroom. This problem
doesn't arise often in actual class settings, because we, as students,
feel relatively safe within the boundaries of teachers' authority.
Although a foreigner in America, I have a predisposition to like America, and thus hope that observations from an outsider like me are not perceived as condescending. After all it was the French philosopher Alexis Tocqueville who, although being amazed by America, made some of the most penetrating observations about defects of democracy and society in America. Of course, I would not even dream of equating myself with Tocqueville, but I do share his amazement and desire for further inquiry into this civilization.