Checked Out
It’s the last week of the quarter and students—the ones who’ve shown up—appear to be here mainly just in body, hardly at all in spirit.
I suppose to some degree, that’s my fault—it’s up to me to make my classes more interesting and engaging—but even today, in the Philosophical Questions class, when I did an exercise to introduce Existentialism, an exercise that usually brings out the best in students, most just sort of went through the motions and couldn’t leave fast enough when I let them go a bit earlier than usual.
Perhaps it’s the weather, which continues to be wetter and colder than normal for this time of year, or maybe they’re all just let down after Big Brown’s loss in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday. But if sports and popular culture are the cause, then, by contrast, they all should be thrilled about Holland’s big win over Italy today in the Euro Cup, and delighted by Apple’s announcement of a cheaper, faster iPhone.
In any event, their mood is somewhat infectious; I find myself very ready for the quarter to finish up, too. Of course, with philosophy, there isn’t any endpoint to the course content; we’ve covered pretty much all the topics I had hoped to touch upon; the Meaning of Life got the short shrift, but all things considered, that seems appropriate.
My goal for coming quarters is to figure out more and better ways to make my assignments meaningful and relevant to students’ lives; this strikes me as an extra challenge for philosophy; on the one hand, I do believe that the study and practice of philosophical reasoning is among the most important skills a person can develop; on the other hand, it’s not at all obvious to me—especially today, seeing all those sleepy eyes avert whenever I mentioned some point from our readings—that studying what philosophers have to say is the best way to promote that.
I suppose to some degree, that’s my fault—it’s up to me to make my classes more interesting and engaging—but even today, in the Philosophical Questions class, when I did an exercise to introduce Existentialism, an exercise that usually brings out the best in students, most just sort of went through the motions and couldn’t leave fast enough when I let them go a bit earlier than usual.
Perhaps it’s the weather, which continues to be wetter and colder than normal for this time of year, or maybe they’re all just let down after Big Brown’s loss in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday. But if sports and popular culture are the cause, then, by contrast, they all should be thrilled about Holland’s big win over Italy today in the Euro Cup, and delighted by Apple’s announcement of a cheaper, faster iPhone.
In any event, their mood is somewhat infectious; I find myself very ready for the quarter to finish up, too. Of course, with philosophy, there isn’t any endpoint to the course content; we’ve covered pretty much all the topics I had hoped to touch upon; the Meaning of Life got the short shrift, but all things considered, that seems appropriate.
My goal for coming quarters is to figure out more and better ways to make my assignments meaningful and relevant to students’ lives; this strikes me as an extra challenge for philosophy; on the one hand, I do believe that the study and practice of philosophical reasoning is among the most important skills a person can develop; on the other hand, it’s not at all obvious to me—especially today, seeing all those sleepy eyes avert whenever I mentioned some point from our readings—that studying what philosophers have to say is the best way to promote that.
posted by Professor Dave at 3:16 PM
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