My Teaching Philosophy

Statement of Teaching Philosophy

My philosophy as a teacher and scholar is rooted in the values of the liberal arts.  I have a deep-seated belief in the power and value of ideas.  This leads me to estimate the value of education as going far beyond the oft-quoted statistics showing more per capita income to college graduates.  Rather, my belief is that the value of education lies in its ability to improve the lives of individuals, and in so doing to improve society. This places a huge and exhilarating responsibility on teachers: to shed light on the hidden power of ideas, empower students to make use of those powerful ideas, and help them see the inherent value of careful thought.

San Francisco, 1857

As part of my graduate school, I am currently working on a research project with a professor of mine, searching out stories of male partners during the California Gold Rush.  To find these stories I have been reading through issues of two magazines published in San Francisco in the 1850s.  One is called The Pioneer, the other Hutchings' California Magazine.  Both are digitized and can be read for free online.

Reading these magazines, which were circulated throughout California at the time, is as close to time travel as I have ever come.  The pages are filled with general interest pieces on mining, industry, and transportation; tales of adventure and sentimental romances; and odd editorial declamations on poetry or social customs in San Francisco.  I, just like the original readers, am caught up in curiosity.  I can't wait  to read about the workings of a quartz mining stamp mill or the processes of quicksilver refining. It is all new, all fascinating.  To hear the stirring and bold designs of mid-19th century America makes me want to light out for the territories myself. Yet, for me, the inevitable chagrin of historical hindsight also lurks in these pages.  The story of Gen. Sutter, as told by himself, is especially poignant.

The Body Politic

In an attempt to rigorously test and chronicle my own thinking, I have decided to take up this blog once more.  The topics covered previously may crop up again, but the posts will likely take a new tack and become more engaged with my lived intellectual endeavors and concerns.

The title of my blog still fits.  I still believe the bicycle to showcase the most noble traits of human ingenuity and potential.  Bicycles are elegant machines: lightweight, ingenious, and adaptable.  They produce no waste,  the skills to use and fix them are easy to learn, they multiply human mobility tenfold, and they help individuals achieve freedom of mobility.  Bicycles let us be free, they are cheap, they last, and they are egalitarian. Bicycles embody the best of "progress".

The other object in the title, the lariat, then, embodies "tradition".  Still the best way for a cowboy to catch a calf, bull, or even horse, the lariat is simply a stiff rope.  It is the learned manual skill of the worker that makes his tool so effective.  The individual must perform within his inherited culture, must understand how to navigate the physical world, must do well.  The lariat requires the craftsmanship and care of the user--it requires respect for one's place in the larger order, and individual achievement.

The tension between these two values, progress and tradition, is at the core of my path through life.  On this blog, I hope to explore a wide range of topics, issues, and philosophies which I encounter as I try to make my unique way through life.