02 July 2008

A Different Philosophy On Education

From a teacher's perspective, facing a new crop of students in their first or rentering session of college is not too different from writing a brand new blog. That, in turn, is somewhat similar to starting a brand new radio program. I've done all. There you sit, microphone dangling in front of your face, yellow foolscap with notes scrawled to jog your memory in case you are suddenly hit with a case of "dead air," and a rush of dread suffusing your entire body.

Who is going to be listening to the radio at one o'clock in the morning on a Friday night?

Why should they be listening?

Who, if anyone, is going to be calling in?

What will they say?

Accolades or condemnation?

Intelligent discourse or incoherent babble?

Will it be an attractive psychopath, asking you to "Play Misty For Me?" (as in Clint Eastwood's first directorial debut)?

You just don't know and have no idea whether anyone at all is listening. But you start and keep talking when suddenly the light on the first line blinks on. Your adrenaline rushes throughout your system. Someone is calling ! as you ramble on until your engineer throws a broad "thumbs up" and a big grin at you, punching the button that connects you and your caller live on the air.

"Hi! You're on the air..."

Teaching a new set of students has many similarities. As a teacher, you're facing tens of potential new students. As a teacher, you really have no idea what, if anything, they're going to be expecting. You don't even know if anyone is going to find you in the the least interesting. Like an American penny, you're simply going to be "e pluribus unum" - of many, one.

Many new students may have the very same perspective.

As a teacher, you may sit down at your laptop, your warm, plaid bathrobe and a cup of hot chai protecting you against the morning chill as you compose the first few lines of the very first lecture.

Those may be the most important few words you craft. It may be the introduction to the world of academia that helps to shape a student's perspective on higher education.

The students may be young or old or middle-aged, desperately looking for a clue to unravel the mysteries of life.

They may be hypochondriacs, millionaires or paupers, intellectuals or not even high school graduates. Curiosity seekers all, hoping to find just a millisecond of inspiration in a snippet of a thought or phrase.

But, if

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