Saturday, February 03, 2007
Intellectual Life at Stanford on a Downward Trend?
I became part of a new group called "Blog for Stanford" during fall quarter. It's being run my fellow SLE and SIW-alum Galen and is meant to foster a centralized place for Stanford students to blog on, well, anything and everything. I think it's a great idea, though we're still working to get off the ground.
At our most recent meeting, a fellow group member suggested we go over to another, similar group that he's helped founding: Task Force for Intellectual Life at Stanford. This group, which has John Bravman's full support (and funding), feels that in recent years "intellectualism" has drastically declined at Stanford; they hope to fix this.
Personally, I don't really see the problem. It's true that you're not really going to find a ton of good old fashioned bull sessions nowadays, and you won't often find people discussing the merits of Kant vs. Nietzsche vs. Arendt, for example. But I think that this is because students want to keep their academic and social lives "separate," which is fine. Philosophize with your classmates in lecture or section, and talk about more lighthearted things to relax your mind afterward. I agree that we perhaps need to foster an environment that's conducive to greater intellectual expression, but it's also true that you can't force students to be intellectual with each other. Most just aren't built that way. I love reading History, politics, and some philosophy, but I don't necessarily desire to have that be the first thing I discuss with my friends.
My proposal, then, is to get faculty more involved. They love talking with students about intellectual "stuff" (remember, another big part of the problem is how one defines "intellectual," even if it's broadly conceived), and, frankly, students are often afraid to approach them. I know, for example, that Dr. Mulaney--new blood in the History Department this year--posts a non-historical, philosophical question on his door every week, to which he encourages students to respond. I personally haven't responded yet because (a) they're a bit too techie for me and (b) I don't feel that I know him well enough. So perhaps if there were more events like "Ethics at Noon," at which a professor talks about an...ethical issue at...noon, every...Friday, that encouraged student/faculty interaction, there would in turn be more student discussion.
Again, you can't force students--even Stanford, former SLE students, like me--to be intellectual. But you can provide them with plenty of opportunities.
At our most recent meeting, a fellow group member suggested we go over to another, similar group that he's helped founding: Task Force for Intellectual Life at Stanford. This group, which has John Bravman's full support (and funding), feels that in recent years "intellectualism" has drastically declined at Stanford; they hope to fix this.
Personally, I don't really see the problem. It's true that you're not really going to find a ton of good old fashioned bull sessions nowadays, and you won't often find people discussing the merits of Kant vs. Nietzsche vs. Arendt, for example. But I think that this is because students want to keep their academic and social lives "separate," which is fine. Philosophize with your classmates in lecture or section, and talk about more lighthearted things to relax your mind afterward. I agree that we perhaps need to foster an environment that's conducive to greater intellectual expression, but it's also true that you can't force students to be intellectual with each other. Most just aren't built that way. I love reading History, politics, and some philosophy, but I don't necessarily desire to have that be the first thing I discuss with my friends.
My proposal, then, is to get faculty more involved. They love talking with students about intellectual "stuff" (remember, another big part of the problem is how one defines "intellectual," even if it's broadly conceived), and, frankly, students are often afraid to approach them. I know, for example, that Dr. Mulaney--new blood in the History Department this year--posts a non-historical, philosophical question on his door every week, to which he encourages students to respond. I personally haven't responded yet because (a) they're a bit too techie for me and (b) I don't feel that I know him well enough. So perhaps if there were more events like "Ethics at Noon," at which a professor talks about an...ethical issue at...noon, every...Friday, that encouraged student/faculty interaction, there would in turn be more student discussion.
Again, you can't force students--even Stanford, former SLE students, like me--to be intellectual. But you can provide them with plenty of opportunities.
