In light of Wednesday’s class being canceled (at least I
think it was, as per Thad’s proposition during Monday’s class), I would like to
take the opportunity to discuss what I felt worked, and what did not, for this
course. For starters, I absolutely loved the student-led lectures; however, I
think the delivery of the material also permitted a lot of unnecessary
discussion. As I have touched upon in some prior blog posts, there was a
tendency for a select few students to get caught up on trivial technicalities
in philosophical jargon or pragmatics. Alas, this sort of vulnerability is the
product of the conversation-rich environment which was sought from the outset.
In other words, there isn’t much that can be done, preventatively speaking,
unless Thad were revert back to the traditional teaching style—but again, this
defeats the purpose of, and often impedes upon, truly open discussion. As frustrating, frequent, and frustratingly
frequent as these digressions were, I completely support the open-discussion
approach to this course as it seems to mimic, and further stimulate, the
process of philosophical deliberation. Furthermore, I believe having students
teach the material is a requisite for optimal comprehension. This is because
students tend to think like other students, not like well-versed philosophers.
It is no surprise that the material presented, while fundamental to the
understanding of existentialism, is considered largely esoteric to many. This
said, student-led discussions make the material more accessible, presenting it
in terms with which the majority can relate. One suggestion that I might offer
for making the material even more engaging concerns the blog post requirements.
In my experience, myself included, students tend to make only as many responses
to others’ posts as are required of them. Needless to say, this isn’t true
discussion—this is one individual creating a post and another individual
responding to it, once, with neither party remotely interested in returning to
the topic. If authentic engagement is the objective, I would suggest making
multiple responses to the same topic a requirement for the course. All in all,
I thoroughly enjoyed the material, the discussion and the growth I experienced
as a result of having participated in existential dialogue—so thank you, PHI
304!
Yours Tru.ly
Well Truman, first I'll confirm that Wednesday's class was in fact canceled... I used the classroom to film a video essay during that time, and only the few who didn't know were there. I think that the tendency to deviate on tangents is itself a necessary part of existentialism. Seeing not only what the material means to us, but where that meaning takes us is something worth exploring.
ReplyDeleteI also wanted to make a tangent of my own on here to applaud your courage. The comment you made (I expect you know the one I mean), is the kind of thing I wish I had the courage to do. I can never find myself willing to put all that out there at once, and just admit everything I feel. I can only ever attempt the slow path, and hope that it leads somewhere. But I applaud the fact that you made that comment, I wish I could.
I truly appreciate your kind words, Seth, they mean a lot. And yet, I'm no exemplar. Like you, I lack the forwardness that I envy so greatly of others at times. In this particular situation, I had literally nothing to lose. Here I am, hiding behind my keystrokes like it was my first crush. The difference was that the semester had concluded, I know nothing about her (at least no more than what I had acquired through simple observation), she knows nothing of me, and I have no other ties to anyone else in the class. Any potential for humiliation in this situation was greatly outweighed by the bliss to be had from freely expressing oneself.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I thought I was the only one who thought some of the discussions in class were unnecessary haha. Sometimes, I felt that people just want to argue simply because they can and in my opinion, that was not the point of the class. However, at the end of the semester, I could see how that was relevant to class. Near the end, you could see how the class as a whole had changed and the conversations became more intense because our conversations and discussions got deeper than it had ever been before.
ReplyDeleteI felt that there was a lot more respect for one another at the end also. Before, there was a lot of pointless argument regarding the surface of the readings instead of getting deeper. Overall, I think that is the way an existentialism class should go because at the end, you clearly see change. You can see that people have been listening, reading, and really “wrestling” with the course materials and allowing it to have an effect on them.
At first, I thought the class wasn't serious enough because I was really into the readings and what Thad said but because of the on the surface arguments, I felt discourage to come to class for a bit. But after a while, I noticed that class had gotten more intense with everyone's views and came to class more often. It was a lot more fun too near the end because I felt that we all had an understanding of our existence and was able to laugh at it. In my opinion, I really think the class as a whole was really awesome and that we were very lucky to have an instructor like Thad :)
PS. I love what you did to your blog. It looks really cool!