What is college for?

Katie D.

December 16, 2011 - 7:47 PM

A couple of days ago, this article, "What is College For?" ran in the New York Times: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/14/what-is-college-for/ The article's author, Gar Gutting, is a professor of philosophy at Notre Dame, and addresses the essential aspects of college and college life: is the most important learning done in the classroom, or in the context of the college?

Here was my favorite part of the article, and the reason I thought I would write about it here:

"Students, in turn, need to recognize that their college education is above all a matter of opening themselves up to new dimensions of knowledge and understanding. Teaching is not a matter of (as we too often say) "making a subject (poetry, physics, philosophy) interesting" to students but of students coming to see how such subjects are intrinsically interesting. It is more a matter of students moving beyond their interests than of teachers fitting their subjects to interests that students already have. Good teaching does not make a course's subject more interesting; it gives the students more interests - and so makes them more interesting."

I have experienced some great classes in my time as a student. Some of my best learning has taken place outside the standard classroom, or now as a teaching assistant as I've been leading discussions. But I also find these statements to be true: that a college is such a valuable and dynamic place because of the classes being offered and the opportunity to dive into new subjects and find their inherent value. In addition to the facts or theoretical frameworks presented in any given class, there is also a perspective offered which provides insight into some explanation of the world. I am not particularly scientifically-minded. But I value that approach, and have enormous respect for the work scientists do, and appreciate the expansion of my understanding of their work. I don't always see eye-to-eye with economists. But that field is essential for some of the big-picture cause and effect understandings of our world.

This article is also a helpful reminder of what teaching is and is not. Professor Gutting references the basic idea that you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink: a good professor can bring out the root importance of a topic, and can clarify and illuminate that subject. But there is a two-way relationship in teaching, in which a student has to arrive at that subject with a willingness to embrace the ideas and bring an enthusiasm to the classroom.

One of my favorite parts of being an Honors College student was taking all those classes with peers from multiple backgrounds and disciplines. When discussing social theory or the physics of a green economy, there is enormous value added by having different opinions and knowledge bases in the classroom. College at its best not only informs, it also empowers differing opinions and creative perspectives.

As a graduate student, I have to balance the work I do with the courses I take. I've had to cut back dramatically on the number of classes I can commit to in a given term, and I miss both the variety and the challenge those classes offered me. I agree with Professor Gutting-the broader our interests, the more interesting we become.