The central purpose of higher education = pursuing the life of the mind
While learning is but one aspect of a full and satisfying life, our primary responsibility as participants in higher education is to be, and to secure the conditions for the success of others to be, good students. What it means to be a good student is as obvious as it is commonly ignored:
Good students attend all classes and arrive on time; put their electronic rectangles and other distractions aside; participate regularly, thoughtfully, and respectfully; consistently strive to produce high quality work and meet all deadlines; consult with the professor during office hours when necessary or desired; seek out assistance when required; and -- most generally -- openly, deliberately, and with genuine curiosity, care, enthusiasm, and humility embrace this and other formal opportunities for intellectual, scholarly growth; that is, for pursuing the life of the (educated) mind.
This pursuit can and should be difficult, often challenging our preconceptions and seemingly at odds with settled convictions and particular goals.
As the educator Abraham Flexner suggests:
Institutions of learning should be devoted to the cultivation of curiosity, and the less they are deflected by the consideration of immediacy of application, the more likely they are to contribute not only to human welfare, but to the equally important satisfaction of intellectual interest.
At the same time, this pursuit can and should be satisfying and enjoyable, since education is both intrinsically and extrinsically valuable; that is, it both instantiates and conditions the good life.
In a somewhat elliptical tone, the American philosopher John Dewey writes:
Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.
More precisely, effective pedagogy engenders the critical abilities and dispositions (see Harvey Siegel on "Critical Thinking as an Educational Ideal") required to live and act more fully; to reveal and work to secure freedom in a world marked by a series of interlocking systems of oppression, exploitation, and domination. Despite recent challenges to free speech and expression, as bell hooks writes:
The classroom remains the most radical space of possibility.
The discovery and instantiation of those possibilities is the central task of education. My class policies and expectations, consonant with this understanding of what it means to be a good, engaged, caring, humble, critical, and curious student are as follows (see also the list of intellectual virtues in the "Philosophy Toolkit"):
Attendance
Missing class (or arriving late/leaving early) is not an excuse for missing a deadline or an assignment. Furthermore, since all of my seminars/courses center on informed, respectful, and inclusive discussion of assigned readings/exercises, attendance -- like its counterpart, participation (see below) -- is obviously required to benefit from or contribute in any significant way to the seminar. However, in the context of a noncompulsory, post-secondary educational setting designed to maximize student agency, it strikes me as errantly parentalistic and possibly pedagogically ineffective to award official credit to those who satisfy this basic requirement (my co-author and I devote a chapter to the parentalism-agency debate in Bridges to Autonomy). Therefore, aside from those instances when the College requires it, I will not take attendance. (I imagine that, in some seminars, our biweekly tests -- often involving materials only discussed in class -- will have a salutary if mildly parentalistic influence on attendance.) See also the official college policy which outlines justifiable absences and their attendant responsibilities. In short: in an effort to promote student agency while avoiding errantly parentalistic, pedagogically ineffective policies, attendance is required but rewarded only (!) with the success that accrues to those good students who, by my definition above, have some success in pursuing the life of the mind.
Attendance
Missing class (or arriving late/leaving early) is not an excuse for missing a deadline or an assignment. Furthermore, since all of my seminars/courses center on informed, respectful, and inclusive discussion of assigned readings/exercises, attendance -- like its counterpart, participation (see below) -- is obviously required to benefit from or contribute in any significant way to the seminar. However, in the context of a noncompulsory, post-secondary educational setting designed to maximize student agency, it strikes me as errantly parentalistic and possibly pedagogically ineffective to award official credit to those who satisfy this basic requirement (my co-author and I devote a chapter to the parentalism-agency debate in Bridges to Autonomy). Therefore, aside from those instances when the College requires it, I will not take attendance. (I imagine that, in some seminars, our biweekly tests -- often involving materials only discussed in class -- will have a salutary if mildly parentalistic influence on attendance.) See also the official college policy which outlines justifiable absences and their attendant responsibilities. In short: in an effort to promote student agency while avoiding errantly parentalistic, pedagogically ineffective policies, attendance is required but rewarded only (!) with the success that accrues to those good students who, by my definition above, have some success in pursuing the life of the mind.
Participation
Likewise, aside from the basic respect due all persons, I will not award any kind of special credit to those who, in fulfilling an equally basic and obvious duty as a member of a community of learners/scholars, regularly and effectively participate in classroom discussions and other activities. While lecture-based methods can be marginally effective (as a consequence of active listening), all learning is inherently active (and often improvisational; see Bridges to Autonomy). Since I design each of my seminars to be discussion-intensive, I expect all students to participate fully. Mandatory classroom participation schemes, however, like policies that award credit for mere attendance, are often little more than misguided incentives designed to trick or force (adult) students into acting like adults.
As E. M. Forster writes:
Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.
In short: in an effort to promote active learning while avoiding errantly parentalistic spoon-feeding, participation is required but rewarded only (!) with the success that accrues to those good students who, by my definition above, have some success in pursuing the life of the mind.
Grading
Despite the heavy financial and opportunity costs which attend post-secondary education, no one, independently of one's scholarly performance, has purchased or contracted for a right to a good or passing grade (but merely (!) the opportunity to pursue the life of the mind). Rather, given that grades are (a somewhat unfortunate) institutional requirement, fairness demands that good grades must be earned. In an effort to resist the triadic wave of grade inflation, social promotion, and consumerism currently plaguing our educational institutions, I strictly adhere to a traditional understanding of the grades A-F (outstanding-good-acceptable-deficient-abysmal).
Furthermore, I fallibly grade (or, more fashionably, assess) students on their individual performance, not on some species of errantly collectivist “curve.” Our responsibility as teachers is to grade student work, not the students themselves. That is, I do not -- and do not think it fair or right for anyone to -- grade student effort, potential, intelligence, character, goals, needs, or any other feature of students' lives aside from their scholarly products and adherence to course standards/expectations. Nevertheless, I will gladly discuss (and reconsider if warranted) my assessment of each student's work at any point in the semester. In short: in the interests of fairness and intellectual honesty, please don't expect to receive a grade higher than the one you earn.
Unexcused Absences/Make-ups/Extra Credit/Incompletes and other Nonsensical terms
Aside from officially sanctioned reasons for absence or lateness as outlined identified in the College's policy documents, I will – on principle and in fairness to those who do their work in a timely fashion – strictly enforce all course deadlines. Therefore, with the lone exception of work voluntarily and with my approval submitted for potential publication in the Program's philosophical journal Thesis XII, I will not offer (undocumented) "incompletes," “makeup exams," “partial credit” for late work, or “extra credit” for those hoping to improve existing grades (but see the paragraph below describing "special accommodations"). In short: in the interests of fairness and avoidance of unnecessary failures, please plan to do all of your work on time.
Civility/behavior/electronic distractions
I believe that nothing is more corrosive to our educational success than incivility -- a broad category which includes all manner of inappropriate or disruptive behavior, including incessant joking, chatting, arriving late/leaving early, expressing socially disruptive anger, engaging in personal attacks (we discuss the merits of ideas, theories, and positions here, not persons) and, most noticeably, attending to a variety of electronic rectangles rather than the seminar and its participants. While honest disagreement and debate (along with occasional laughter, frustration, or surprise) are natural and welcome consequences of our inquiries, there is never a call for disruptive, disrespectful, abusive, or intimidating (let alone hateful) words or actions of any sort in our dealings with each other in a classroom setting (virtual or otherwise).
As Shakespeare describes kindness:
How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world.
In short: please remain fully considerate of others (in class and in life generally).
Special Accommodations/Extra-Academic Concerns
If/when other aspects of your life threaten to interfere with your formal education, there is no substitute for open and immediate communication with your professor. Finally, I will happily honor any officially documented requirements for special accommodations as outlined in the MCLA Student Handbook. Please consult MCLA's "Students with Disabilities" policy statement. MCLA's "Help Directory" usefully outlines all student-related services available on campus.
Special Accommodations/Extra-Academic Concerns
If/when other aspects of your life threaten to interfere with your formal education, there is no substitute for open and immediate communication with your professor. Finally, I will happily honor any officially documented requirements for special accommodations as outlined in the MCLA Student Handbook. Please consult MCLA's "Students with Disabilities" policy statement. MCLA's "Help Directory" usefully outlines all student-related services available on campus.
