I respect the rights of faculty to develop their own approach to their
classes and decide for themselves how they will deal with the unfolding
tragedy in a sensitive manner. I guess the idea of "teaching moments" has
become trivialized by the contemporary production line of
factory-universities and the carnival atmosphere of teaching to be popular?
Is this what teaching activities or lessons have become? I understand what
respondents to my original post are saying and I have to agree that, in our
times, the classroom has become the venue for dispensing commercialized
packets of busy work disguised as pedagogy. I am not blameless here either.
The phrase still means something special to me however. Teachers,
educators, scholars, should have a responsibility to take the discussion to
their students and fellow citizens, not wait til the discussion comes to
them. Again, I agree we should be careful as to how we present material in
class.
I am just somewhat surprised that psychologist-scholars would so quickly
diminish or inhibit their efforts to inspire students to think and question,
to instill a scholarly curiosity and respect for the phenomena we study, and
to teach and educate about psychological science when real life
psychological phenomena are going to be so salient and powerful in the next
months. Knowledge and understanding will be sorely needed.
Education should move people to face life's challenges and provide not
mere comfort, but knowledge and understanding. I know I must be naive, but
I feel it is this rather than comforting illusory beliefs alone that provide
real ability to cope with life's challenges. It is what our students need
more of right now. The call to educate a citizenry---one that at present,
sorely needs knowledge and understanding about global affairs, the power of
cultural indoctrination, the diversity of people's beliefs, economics, and
yes, psychological science--is not an easy one to answer at a time when
people are angry and afraid. We know they will stubbornly cling to
ideologies and behaviors tied to such fear and anger in their own cultural
networks. Yet, education is what we do and is a responsibility we should
especially embrace at a time like this.
Sorry for this rambling rhetoric. I am going to work on some
(old-fashioned) teaching moments. It's a responsibility I embrace even
though it may involve some threat and challenge to the fears and comfortable
preconceptions that are brought into the classroom. I will be sensitive and
respect the needs and views of my students, but I will try my best to teach.
I will be very lucky if I can promote a few moments this academic year, or
indeed, if I will have many in my teaching career, but it's those moments I
will strive for. Gary Peterson
Gerald (Gary) L. Peterson, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Psychology
Saginaw Valley State University
University Center, MI 48710
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
1-517-790-4491
