APA Newsletters
Fall 1999
Volume 99, Number 1

Articles

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Andrew Kelley
Bradley University

More and more, I find that the manner in which students evaluate their courses and their education in general is drawn from their experience as consumers. Thus, in teaching introductory philosophy courses, the factor that has given rise to the most problems for me is being able to deal with this consumer mentality of students. By "consumer mentality," I mean the attitude whereby students view their classes and their education solely in terms of a product that they are purchasing or a service that they are being rendered. In the past few years I have had the opportunity to teach at institutions ranging from large state universities, to community colleges and small liberal arts schools, and I have seen that this mentality appears in all of these settings. In this short piece, I would like to provide some strategies that have aided me in coping with this mentality in introductory-type philosophy courses.

What the consumer mentality reinforces in many of our students is the idea that a good product is one that has immediate and tangible results. Because of this expectation, the standard for a good course or a worthwhile discipline is one that involves the quick and easy conveyance of a product. Thus, in education the product is understood to be not only information, but information that has direct relevance to a chosen career path. However, philosophy, by its very nature, tends to be antithetical to many of the ideals that are reinforced by this consumer mentality-perhaps more so than any other discipline. Because philosophy courses tend to focus on the process of asking questions and the process of arriving at answers as much as they do on the answers themselves, beginning students often have difficulty in seeing the value of what they are experiencing. Philosophical questions are difficult to "resolve," let alone address, within the confines of an hour, a week, or even a semester. Finally, although there is a growing literature on such topics as the environment, biomedical ethics, business ethics, etc., philosophy has never been directed toward the preparation for any specific profession.

The consumer mentality is too pervasive for any professor to overcome it completely in one course. However, below I give some strategies for coping with this mentality that I have used with some measure of success in my introductory philosophy classes.

1. Begin the semester with a unit on the value and purpose of education.

More and more, students view their time at college or university solely as vocational training. Many students have never been asked to think seriously about what education is or should be. Hence, if they do not see a direct connection between the course in which they are enrolled and their chosen career path, they may view the course as a waste of time. I have found that if I begin an introductory philosophy course with a unit on liberal education as contrasted with vocational training, some students become more accepting of philosophy and the goals of a philosophy course.

2. Show students that much can be learned from issues that are difficult to resolve.

Because the consumer mentality of many of our students conditions them to see value in terms of tangibility and immediacy, and because philosophical issues do not admit of easy and/or determinate answers, philosophy seems to them unworthy of attention. Students must be shown that it is not the expectation of coming to a resolution of a philosophical issue that makes that issue important, but rather that in thinking through an issue, we learn an immense amount about our current values, principles, and beliefs, and perhaps also about the values, principles, and beliefs that it is worthwhile having. We must show students that even if we cannot come to a final conclusion on some philosophical issue, the process of analyzing the issue can teach them much about themselves and where they stand.

3. Focus the course around one major theme that will be important to the students, then bring other major philosophical issues in "through the back door."

I used to teach introductory philosophy courses by spending several weeks each on certain major, although loosely related, topics such as "free will," "the existence of God," "deontological ethics versus consequentialist ethics," etc. I gradually found that students became frustrated with the course because they had difficulty seeing the relevance of the individual topics to issues that were important for their lives. One can, for example, make forgiveness the topic of the course. In the course of discussing forgiveness, one can bring in more traditional philosophical topics, such as personal identity. When we forgive a person for a transgression, we need to know what characteristics make the person we forgive the same person as the one who committed the transgression. The topic of free will may also be addressed insofar as forgiveness might be a moot point if there is no free will. Furthermore, the nature of forgiveness as either a duty or as something that simply has good consequences necessitates a discussion of deontological and consequentialist ethics. Finally, epistemological issues could be raised insofar as it may be important to be able to know when one has forgiven or what justifies one in believing that one has truly forgiven or been forgiven.

It would seem to me that a professor could set up similar courses focused on topics such as the good life, the value of a career, libertarianism versus state paternalism, etc.

4. Make students realize that they are "getting somewhere."

Oftentimes students become frustrated because it is not always easy in a philosophy course to see that one is making progress. However, there is an effective way in which students can be helped to realize that they are indeed "getting somewhere." At the very beginning of the semester, the professor can either ask students to write a short essay about their initial opinions on the topic that is the focus of the course, or have the students fill out a questionnaire about attitudes, ideas, and views relating to philosophical issues that they will encounter over the course of the semester. At midsemester, the instructor can then have students write an essay on the same topic, or fill out the same questionnaire without allowing the students to look over their submissions from the first day of the semester. Finally, at the end of the semester, the instructor can ask her students to read the first two essays or questionnaires and then to write an evaluation of how their views and values on the topic(s) have evolved during the semester. Both exercises force the students to become aware of the very evolution that they are going through by forcing them to take note of how they have changed their thinking about the subject(s), and the reasons that have led to those changes.

5. Make discussions task-oriented.

I have always considered student discussion to be an important part of a philosophy class. Unfortunately, students can become frustrated with class discussions for several reasons. First, some students believe that they can only gain something when it comes from the professor's mouth. As a result, such students often view segments of class devoted to discussion as a waste of time because they see it merely as an opportunity for outspoken classmates to voice their own "irrelevant" views. Second, small group discussion sometimes degenerate into "bull" sessions. Third, since the professor may not be present for the whole discussion of any one group, students believe that they will not be held responsible for what they discussed, and hence, may view the discussion as pointless. There are several ways of helping students to see that time granted to student discussion is important. First, the groups-whether large or small-should always be given a specific task to complete and in a short amount of time. With a specific task and only several minutes for discussion, the amount of idle chatter will be reduced to a minimum. Second, if possible, hand out the tasks the period before they are required and make the tasks involve picking out material from the reading. Third, make it clear to students that, because they all have participated in the discussions, any one of them may be called upon to present findings of the group. Indicate to them that they will be held responsible for knowing the material addressed in these discussions on exams and in papers. Finally, regularly make the discussion assignments focus on reviewing the material that the professor has presented during the class. This will serve to reinforce the ideas that the professor has raised in the class and will appease those students who think that they are only getting their money's worth when they are hearing the professor speak.

6. Write out objectives for each class period, express these objectives to the students, and then reiterate them at the end of the class period.

Although much can be gained from allowing the material and the class discussion to determine the flow and direction of the course, it can often be difficult for many students to see what they are getting from the course as a whole or each individual session, when they do not see an apparent structure. Hence, inform students of objectives at the beginning of each class period, and then reiterate them at the end of the hour. Such a practice shows the students that the professor is, in fact, taking them in a particular direction and that, by the end of the hour, they have arrived at the goal they were aiming for. If a professor wants to allow for the possibility of days or discussions in which the students or the readings determine the direction of the discussion or the flow of the session, then she can build this in to the process by telling students that sometimes she will allow discussions to follow their own direction.

7. Make all expectations for assignments explicit so that there can be no room for confusion about what is being demanded of the students.

An "Introduction to Philosophy" class will usually be the first time that students have been asked to write and think philosophically. They can become frustrated because many times they have no idea where to begin in constructing a good philosophy essay or paper. Thus, prepare students for the type of thinking and work that you expect from them by providing them with a sample of what would you would consider to be a good response to an essay question. Better yet, spend class time literally constructing a model response for an exam essay or a model outline for a paper; take them step by step through the thinking, editing, and revising processes. Even for students who have had a significant background in writing, such an exercise can serve as a good review.

8. Teach material that you like instead of material that you feel you must cover.