Teaching Philosophy​

            I believe that the period of undergraduate education is a time for students to both call into question their existing beliefs as well as experiment with new ways of thinking about the world.  They need not adopt these new beliefs; in fact such questioning and experimenting can strengthen a student’s existing beliefs by forcing him or her to uncover the reasons grounding the belief and those opposed to them.  By encouraging students to see the world in different and challenging ways, undergraduate education can help students understand both the complexity of the world and competing ways to make sense of it.

            The goal of studying political science, and political theory more specifically, should be threefold.  First, students should learn the historicity of the political concepts: many of the political concepts and values that we hold dear do not have universally accepted meanings across different times and political cultures.  The second goal is to show that political questions, precisely because of the lack of universally shared values and meanings, are questions where there is not a single definitive answer and where the results lead to differential outcomes.  To study politics is to study the competing claims and justifications given in political disagreements, as well as the resulting distributions of power and resources that accompany a political settlement.  Finally, the third aspect of a political science education should be to introduce students to different approaches, frameworks, and methods to the study of politics, and how they can be applied to particular cases.  Additionally, students should learn to be critical readers and writers.

            To pursue these three goals in the classroom I utilize a variety of techniques.  My first goal is always to encourage discussion and debate, either by playing devil’s advocate and questioning a student’s claim, forcing him or her to defend it or by encouraging others to disagree and debate opinions offered.  I often institutionalize such disagreements through organized debates and group work.  For example, I have staged debates over proposed sanctions against a fictional country, Qumar, over its nuclear program, over how different theories of political power explain the public financing of a new basketball stadium for DePaul University in Chicago, and over different explanations for economic development.  These debates and activities are aimed at both exposing students to different arguments and explanations of political phenomena and the means by which they are evaluated and defended. 

            Additionally, I work to connect abstract theories and ideas to concrete political situations through simulations and media accounts of current events.  For example, when teaching Rawls’ theory of the “Veil of Ignorance,” I use a simulation in which students choose the distribution of extra credit points based on whether or not they have knowledge of their current grade.  Furthermore, when discussing the effects of framing on perceptions of vulnerability and grievability, I used charts comparing the deaths of civilians and American soldiers in Iraq as well as data on homicides in Chicago to demonstrate the idea that some lives are grieved more than others with a timely example.  I often use video clips of news reports, popular culture, and scholarly debates to present alternative view points and draw new connections in content.

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