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Faculty Interviews |
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Interview with Charles Pailthorp
Recent Teaching History Recent and Current Areas of Interest My teaching these days revolves around histories - social,
political, cultural, economic - that help one discover, as
Eric Hobsbawm more or less puts it, "how we came to be
as we are and whither we are going." My more specific
interests are, in this light, how and why we think and feel
as we do: the relationship between reason and emotion, thinking
and feeling, takes a good deal of my attention. And this,
in turn, has led me to bring into my teaching a strong emphasis
on music, both music history and musical aesthetics. Are there particular authors/artists/thinkers whose work you interested and which you often ask students to examine? Since my teaching and scholarship have taken a new turn in
the last three or four years, I haven't yet developed a "canon"
that I impose on students. There are many writers and artists
who interest me, of course. Cliffort Geertz I find useful
for his theory of interpretation. Many people have done and
are doing excellent work in music history that relates music
to larger issues of cultural and historical change, fromTheodore
Adorno to Rose Subotnik and Charles Rosen. A particularly
interesting group of writers are working from a feminist critical-theory
point of view: besides Subotnik, Susan McCleary, Tia NeNora
and others. I've also been rediscovering those philosophers
who knew and loved music and who found it central in their
thinking: from Schlegel and Schoppenhauer to Wittgenstein.
Obviously I focus my teaching on Western Euro-American culture,
but I'm also interested in the complex ways inwhich that culture
has been shaped by African and Asian influences. What we most
often think of as avant garde often has drawn heavily on non-Western
sources, whether the genre is music, painting and sculpture
or comics and animation. In broad terms, my orientation to
history and cultural studies is similar to Eric Hobsbawm's,
whose historical work I particularly admire. Specific Skills, Competence, Techniques: The skills of intelligent interpretation - analytic reading,
expository writing, critical thinking (including some aspects
of statistics), critical listening What are key qualities you look for in student work? What techniques do you use to assess their work? How do you help students assess their work? Has the student been able to turn the assignment into a task
that has truly engaged him or her? For example, in "Feeling
and Thought" I had a student who has been assigned a
critical paper on Paradise Lost. He asked if he could write
the paper in verse. Despite my skepticism, I suggested he
take the chance. The result was wonderfully funny and witty:
he had clearly engaged in a text in a way that was valuable.
I appreciate the kind of thinking that take's the "faculty's
work" and makes it "one's own work." Students
must come to terms with an assigned curriculum in a way that
makes sense to them, if they are going to get beyond mere
"schooling." Students often find it difficult to assess their own work. My role, I believe, is to tell them directly whether or not their work meet the standards I have set. I also find it useful (and difficult) to have them give honest, critical, feedback to one another, to tell one another, for instance, whether or not they actually do understand what another student has written or said. Teaching Style:How would you characterize yourself as a teacher? I am more one who thinks out loud than one who professes
what he thinks he knows. I try to avoid telling students what
I think they should know. I want students to engage the material
in their own way. Students come to this institution, I insist,
to discover their authority as learners, not to be certified
as having mastered some body of material. (This is the "truth"
behind our policy of not awarding degrees that identify undergraduate
majors.) Helping students learn to collaborate well together
is important to me, and one of the most practical skills we
teach. A fundamental element in gaining authority is learning
to grant it to others when it has been earned. What types of students tend to do well with you? I hope I work effectively both with those who do well "no
matter what" and those who don't immediately see themselves
as strong students. I'm reasonably patient. Students may find
me arrogant at first, but I believe they won't find me insulting.
What types of students have a hard time with you? Students who are impatient with theory have the hardest time
with me: I'm often interested in issues that are abstract.
On the other hand, my thinking runs less toward broad and
general overviews than specific and detailed differences between
artists, philosophers, cultures, historical periods... Students
who want a Big (and simple) Picture won't be satisified with
what I do. What do your student evaluations say about the way you come across to students? They say I am patient and listen well. One of my favorite evaluations called me a "stimulating teacher, sometimes to the point of paralysis." I need to remember not to offer too much, too fast. One of the qualities that has served me well at Evergreen is that I'm curious about a wide range of things. Expectations about Contracts, Internships, and Evaluations
Prior success with independent projects is ideal. I am more
open to working with students with whom I've worked in a program
setting, and I prefer working with students whose interests
overlap with my own. A sound project is also, in my experience,
something that the student has planned into his or her larger
curriculum: last minute, this-is-all-I-can-come-up-with-projects
most often fail. What information do you want to see when a person comes to look for a contract? I look for evidence that the student is ready to carry out independent work. I expect the project to be well enough defined that the student can make a case that she or he can complete it in ten short weeks. The student should have a clear idea where to begin, how to proceed, and what will count as bringing it to an end. Of course the student must be prepared to present written work on a weekly basis, as well as a more finished outcome by the end of the quarter.
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