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My Educational Philosophy |
Excerpts from On the Ethics of Teaching and the Ideals of LearningMutual support in the quest for excellence is a far better standard than the self-conscious tallying of credits for propriety that almost inevitably occurs in settings dominated by a consciousness of rights. ~ Robert Audi, On the Ethics of Teaching and the Ideals of Learning It is hard to be an apprentice to an unfriendly professor, or even one whose warmth or tolerance wears thin when the going gets hard for the student and help is needed. ~ Robert Audi, On the Ethics of Teaching and the Ideals of Learning The need here is professional closeness tempered by emotional distance. ~ Robert Audi, On the Ethics of Teaching and the Ideals of Learning When tact is stretched into indirectness or transformed into perceptibly calculated gentleness, it may render criticism ineffective and offend the intended beneficiary. ~ Robert Audi, On the Ethics of Teaching and the Ideals of Learning Rules are needed for faculty as well as students, but we must resist too much codification. Institutions of higher learning should not be legalistic in tone or litigious in practice. Faculty-student relations should be guided by a rapport, cooperative spirit, and zest for inquiry; to these, legalism and rigid codes are inimical. ~ Robert Audi, On the Ethics of Teaching and the Ideals of Learning To construe all personal views as mere opinion would be to lump the judicious with the foolish; and contrary to a widespread stereotype even an opinion can be a "fact": truth is not always arrived at by rigorous procedures. ~ Robert Audi, On the Ethics of Teaching and the Ideals of Learning Novelty without truth—or usefulness of some kind—can be largely worthless; truth without novelty can be mere platitude. ~ Robert Audi, On the Ethics of Teaching and the Ideals of Learning
Imagination finds subtle differences and discovers new similarities; judgment is needed to balance the two. ~ Robert Audi, On the Ethics of Teaching and the Ideals of Learning Creativity develops best when imagination has the raw materials of wide knowledge, and is tempered by good judgment. ~ Robert Audi, On the Ethics of Teaching and the Ideals of Learning Students must feel fully free to raise questions, and to contribute critically to discussions, without the fear that merely by disagreeing or by making errors they will harm their prospects. ~ Robert Audi, On the Ethics of Teaching and the Ideals of Learning Nothing I have said precludes either professors' loving their students or students' loving their professors, and such mutual affection is often both a natural response to shared inquiry in an atmosphere of respect and an incentive to good learning. This kind of love, however, is neither romantic nor exclusive. ~ Robert Audi, On the Ethics of Teaching and the Ideals of Learning One is never just a teacher. One is always—even if not consciously—an advocate of a point of view, a critic of certain positions, an exemplar of someone trying to communicate, a purveyor of images, a practitioner of behavioral standards, a person dealing with, and indeed responsible for, others in common tasks. ~ Robert Audi, On the Ethics of Teaching and the Ideals of Learning In teaching, at least, the role of moral agent is inescapable. ~ Robert Audi, On the Ethics of Teaching and the Ideals of Learning One may have a right to be unconventional and even eccentric, so long as one is fully competent and a decent person; but one's ideal as a professor should be to conduct oneself as an admirable human being: just, kind, tolerant, competent, committed, and good-humored. ~ Robert Audi, On the Ethics of Teaching and the Ideals of Learning
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