NTLF Vol. 13 No. 1 2003 - Editor's Note

Volume 13 Number 1

Editor's Note

How often does it happen that we set out to teach one thing and discover later that we taught another? Often, I think. In this issue's CARNEGIE CHRONICLE, for example, what were the teaching objectives? They were many and it's probably true that many more were touched than were imagined. "Oppression"? "Theatre of the Oppressed"? We don't like to think of these things, much less think of ourselves as oppressors, but isn't it amazing that, in looking into them, students developed profound critical insights into themselves and how they learn and operate in their lives?

Theater figures with some prominence in this issue of the FORUM. While Suzanne Burgoyne et al.'s CARNEGIE CHRONICLE looks at a formal theater course, Pauline Gagnon's looks at her own approach to a large class as theater and contemplates the shortcomings of this view. It may take a missionary to reach a "small country," as she calls it, but whether it's a small country or a large class, a missionary or a lecturer, the message brought must respect the culture found if good things are to come of the effort.

Theater and dance often find themselves grouped together. At some point, they both occupy a stage, after all, no matter how Artaud they may be. It's appropriate, then, that Anne Wessely, godmother of "Teaching Squares," started out in dance before she found a career teaching accounting. The low-cost, intimate and effective program she created, aimed at embedding thoughtful reflection on and appreciation of good teaching at St. Louis Community College, offers the fellowship and healthy exercise of a old-fashioned square dance. You swing different partners and you go home with the one who brought you, renewed and more lively for the outing.

Not all dances move so smoothly or so easily. For many months now, DEVELOPER'S DIARY columnist Ed Nuhfer has been outlining a philosophy of faculty and teaching development and curriculum improvement based on "fractals." Ed, a geologist, thinks what he's outlining is actually science. I, a humanities guy, think it's a metaphor, a philosophy. No matter; it's a fascinating, systemic way of looking at the articulation of issues that affect the entire teaching enterprise. With this issue, Ed sets the stage for his next installment; that is to say, he sets the context for a concrete look at the most vexing of issues—content and coverage.

Ed's fundamental point, that interconnections knit our work together in meaningful ways, enjoys general acceptance. But as Jeff Nesteruk acknowledges in his essay on what his new job as an administrator taught him about his old job as a mere faculty member, we often forget the big picture. Nesteruk sees a role for liberal arts centers like his, a role in helping us remember what we're about. Perhaps it's come to that: we have to delegate remembering what we're about to others because we're too absorbed in what we're doing? Centers for the Liberal Arts can serve a good purpose. I just hate to think our general memory has grown so weak.

Linc. Fisch's AD REM . . . columns are among the most popular and eagerly awaited parts of the FORUM. Why? Common sense. We all long for its fresh, useful honesty. This issue's piece on the "small stuff" reminds us of the importance both of judgment and of proportion. Your "small stuff" may be vital to me and vice versa. If everything is "big stuff" or "small stuff," nothing gets done well. Linc. says this all much better than I. Read him.

In the meantime, let me wish the FORUM's loyal readers the happiest of holidays and the most optimistic and productive of New Year's.

-- James Rhem

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