My Pedagogical Praxis

I have always known how extremely powerful the spoken word can be. It has been responsible for moving people into action and helping them form opinions in just about anything under the sun. Thus, it has been impressed upon me how truly powerful a teacher or a professor can be. They can either set their students on a path that would define their lives or they can ruin their lives for good, all on account of what they dish out in their classes.

The history that we subscribe to, in the Hegelian sense; and the history that we become responsible for, in the Spenglerian sense, can both be traced in no small terms to the ideas we have heard our mentors  give life to in their lectures or lessons.

Mindful of this awesome power, everyone who dares  to wear the mantle of an educator has to always ask himself the question of whether he is teaching his/her students anything that would help them understand the world. For before they can even contemplate of changing it, they ought to understand it. In this regard, I always pay heed to Heidegger‘s dictum of unraveling the world first from top to bottom before even thinking of changing it. His exhortation is grounded on the possibility that if you choose to shortcut the process, you may actually be fashioning out your own world view. Meaning to say, you did not actually change the world at all but simply tailor made it to your own liking.

As a teacher, therefore, I strive that I do not impress upon my students my view of the world in the hope of transforming them into little robots created in my image. Rather, I consciously make an effort to help them think for themselves. So to speak, to form opinions for themselves and by themselves. The world will not be best served with the peripatetic musings of men and women who mimic me. It would not serve evolution‘s interest.