IDEAS
Philosophically Speaking
Two Philosophy students teach a course at San Juan Diego High School. By Hans Christianson MLA ’11 In January, Philosophy majors David Tamez ’11 (left) and Eric Hall ’10 (right) stood before a class of 20 San Juan Diego High School students. Over the course of one hour and 20 minutes, they discussed classic philosophical concepts such as logic, deductive reasoning and catharsis. The session was an overview of what they would be covering during the twice-weekly semester-long class. Tamez, a San Juan Diego alumnus, came up with the idea of offering his own course after volunteering as a teaching assistant at the school. He wanted to not only give back to the school that helped him on the road to college success, but he also wanted to provide a glimpse of the college classroom to current students. “All of the topics we’re covering in this class will help these students when they go to college,” says Tamez. Tamez invited fellow classmate and recent graduate Hall to join him in the endeavor. Together, they made several pitches to the San Juan Diego administration team and created a lesson plan. “It’s been a learning experience getting this course approved. It has been a great experience for us since we’re both interested in teaching at the college level one day,” says Hall. Assistant Professor of Philosophy and director of the Center for Ethics and Leadership Jack Green Musselman has served as an unofficial advisor for this project and helped to arrange for free philosophy textbooks from Hackett Publishing. He says that this course will allow the classic texts in philosophy that Tamez and Hall know and love to come alive all over again as they teach perennial questions to bright, young teenage students. “I think this teaching experience will reignite their love of philosophy and give them a pretty rich and robust experience of what it is like to teach philosophy, too,” says Green Musselman.
” — David Tamez ’11
10 St. Edward’s University
JESSICA ATTIE ’04
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All of the topics we’re covering in this class will help these students when they go to college.