Keith M. Parsons
Philosopher, historian, author; Professor of Philosophy at University of Houston-Clear Lake
The Huffington Post - 05/14/2015
For the first time in many years I am teaching a freshman course,
Introduction to Philosophy. The experience has been mostly good. I had
been told that my freshman students would be apathetic, incurious,
inattentive, unresponsive and frequently absent, and that they would
exude an insufferable sense of entitlement. I am happy to say that this
characterization was not true of most students. Still, some students are
often absent, and others, even when present, are distracted or
disengaged. Some have had to be cautioned that class is not their social
hour and others reminded not to send text messages in class. I have had
to tell these students that, unlike high school, they will not be sent
to detention if they are found in the hall without a pass, and that they
are free to leave if they are not interested. Actually, I doubt that
the differences between high school and university have ever been
adequately explained to them, so, on the first class day of next term, I
will address my new freshmen as follows:
Welcome to higher education! If you want to be successful here you need
to know a few things about how this place works. One of the main things
you need to know is the difference between the instructors you will have
here and those you had before. Let me take a few minutes to explain
this to you.
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