Independent bamboo frame builders are going to be speaking at the upcoming North American Handmade Bicycle Show (NAHBS). This concept of giving fish, teaching fish, and the expansions on it are good to hear because we can understand them in this analogy. Similarly we find:
“We’ve all heard the saying , “Give someone a fish and they’ll eat for a day, but teach them to fish and they’ll eat for the rest of their life.” But our friend John Perkins challenges us to go farther. He say, “The problem is that nobody is asking who owns the pond or who polluted it.”
Shane Claiborne - The Irresistable Revolution
The aftermath of nonviolence is the creation of the beloved community, so that when the battle is over, a new relationship comes into being between the oppressed and the oppressor.-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr
The reason I want to be an educator is to help those who struggle with the basic problems of warmth, food, and shelter. The reason I am pursuing training to be a teacher is to have more to offer people in need, meanwhile wrestling the basic problems of a privileged life in a privileged environment. My inclination toward reformation comes not only from my education as a mechanical engineer, but from the rest of my life as well. It comes from the people I meet, from the eyes and hearts of the lost and lonely.
“The reason I want to be an educator is to help those who struggle with the basic problems of warmth, food, and shelter. The reason I am pursuing training to be a teacher is to have more to offer people in need, meanwhile wrestling the basic problems of a privileged life in a privileged environment.”
ReplyDeleteTo begin, this was a fantastic post in that you expressed your motivation for professorship in a bold but from the heart statement. After reading your posts, there is no questioning the results from your TPI. However, I am left wondering…
How will pursuing a teaching career in higher education help those struggling with the basic problems of warmth, food, and shelter? Tenure track faculty in all departments work long hours to submit grant proposals, mentor graduate students, attend/present at conferences, write publications, teach undergraduate and graduate courses, etc. etc. etc. Where is the time/focus to save the world? Would it be more valuable to pursue teaching at a high school or middle school level? How valuable is the pursuit for professorship, when the ultimate goal requires education in the basic sciences, compassion, and empathy?
I can't speak for Landon, but I'm a big fan of the work done by Engineers Without Borders (http://www.ewb-usa.org/).
ReplyDeleteWe all gotta make a living, and it's possible in any profession to be consumed with the helplessness you're describing. On the other hand, think of all the future college-educated professionals in whom you as a college engineering professor have the opportunity to develop not only engineering skills, but also the duty and ability to set and pursue bigger goals.
Lady Empirical and Sir Gowen,
ReplyDeleteHow will pursuing a teaching career in higher education help those struggling with the basic problems of warmth, food, and shelter?
How does any action help those struggling with the basic problems of warmth, food, and shelter? The double sided truth is that there's so much we can do, and there's nothing we can do about it. The problem is more complicated than asking simply "how can I help?" We have to look at the professions we profess and change them. It is not that I simply want to become educated in America and leave it all to go and instruct in developing nations (not too far from my personal desire), but we also have to look at the system we're in. I got into education to gain a skill that I could use to help people to help themselves. I see education as a tool, but it is certainly not the only thing we need, and it is certainly not going to work without meeting physical needs and standing against societal patterns.
Tenure track faculty in all departments work long hours to submit grant proposals, mentor graduate students, attend/present at conferences, write publications, teach undergraduate and graduate courses, etc. etc. etc. Where is the time/focus to save the world?
Would it be more valuable to pursue teaching at a high school or middle school level?
If we could open the hearts and minds of students in High school or middle school through the extra time that comes from not teaching in higher education, then there wouldn't be a lot of use for higher education in the first place. The point of it is that in this higher education we have a great responsibility to relay both what we've learned about math and science, as well as how we've applied this to the human struggle. For me, this is the distinguishing factor between the levels of teaching... Because the professor is working and teaching, he/she is able to demonstrate the direct application of the information he/she is relating to students. The middle or high school teachers are of such value because of the guidance and preparation they instill in these young minds, but the hope is that when energetic and excited high school graduates reach college, they are ready to transition toward application and by the end of it have a concept of why it is that they learned what they learned.
How valuable is the pursuit for professorship, when the ultimate goal requires education in the basic sciences, compassion, and empathy?
The pomp of professorship is not important, but to couple the pomp with humility and serve goes beyond our logical constraints.
I don't know much of the philosophy and mission of Engineers Without Borders, but I have worked in Niger with Engineering Ministries International (EMI [http://emiworld.org/]) and they helped shape my concept of "helping" and pushed me toward my education.
I created a new post on the role of Morality required of teaching and would love to see your input.
Landon, I know I come late to the discussion but your vision of your profession reminds me of someone, my dad. My dad is a professor of housing policy, although more often than not he is studying the impact of the absence of housing or substandard housing. My dad definitely set out in his profession and as a professor to leave the world a better place. On my dad's cynical days he says, "I started out to save the world and ended up saving only my own small piece." On the other hand as a professor he has had numerous opportunities to advise governments (state, city, county) on the impact of different housing policies, on the feasibility of economic redevelopment in blighted areas, etc. As part of a university he has done this for a fraction of the cost of a non-university consult service. I guess what I am saying is that sometimes as an academic it is hard to measure your direct impact. Does the study of the problem help solve the problem or do the studies and suggested solutions go ignored or unimplemented due to political, economic, etc factors too big for one person to control? Sometimes it goes the right way, more often not, but that doesn't mean the struggle isn't worth it for the few times you can make a difference are hard to predict in advance. Sometimes where you have made a difference is hard to see, even in hind sight, but that doesn't make the effort unworthy.
ReplyDeleteCatherine