Teaching Philosophy

Sheldon Wolin once wrote that an education in its fullest sense invariably promotes learning “that is civic and populist” as well as egalitarian and radically democratic. But, he cautioned, such an education is “not a formula that accords with the requirements of American hegemony as elites conceive it.” The questions that guide intellectual inquiry are inextricable from a critical consideration of power. Hence, the teacher’s default adversarial disposition—a willingness to transgress convention that runs from Socrates through bell hooks. Both have shaped my ideas about the meaning of education and the role of the teacher. Like so many others, I also look to Paulo Freire’s classic writings, especially the opposition he poses between oppressive and liberating forms of education. While the former remains uncritical of power and unresponsive to student needs, the latter embodies the deeper sense of παιδεία (paideia) encouraging students to become active participants in their own education. For teaching to be a liberating practice, it must offer students the tools to examine not only the material at hand but the very basis of pedagogical authority itself, including the ethical dimensions that guide classroom decisions. This insight informs my course design and teaching practices.