A Message from Jim Hesselman, Dean of Arts & Letters

It occurs to me that my “Dean’s Notes” have always had something to do with what we do here at IU Southeast: teaching and learning.

I have touched on the idea of “fact” being distorted and under attack. I acknowledged the debate over the very need for higher ed., the stamina it takes to keep going in difficult stressful times, the simple kindness it takes to create an atmosphere that promotes productive relationships between students and teachers. But over the last couple of months I have been thinking about the simple “contract” between a teacher and a learner.

No one has ever disputed that learning often involves vigorous discussion and debate. But I fear we are in danger forgetting HOW and WHY we conduct those debates. When people cut off discussion, refuse to engage or “just say no”, our entire philosophy of teaching doesn’t work.

Just before the holidays, I lost my father. He was 85 years old but still always up for debate (argument) from his oldest son. In fact, he still doubted most things that came out of my mouth. After all, I had gone to college. As my dad got older I tended to let a lot of things slide, unless it was something I felt strongly that he should understand. What I always found was that even if (and this rarely happened) I proved my case beyond the shadow of a doubt . . . even if I got him to agree that I was correct, he’d never say something akin to “Oh, so sorry, you’re right, I’m wrong”.

Instead, he would say “So?”, and change the subject. This would infuriate me because it meant that he hadn’t ever really been denying my point, he was simply unwilling or did not know how to fix the problem or address the issue with action. “Dad, the basement walls are bowing in”. “No they’re not”. “Dad, climate change is real”. “No it’s not”. “Dad, you can’t see the television we need to get you some new glasses”. “I see fine”. All that time wasted in what I thought was healthy debate, trying to teach, to inform and to help.

There is a feedback loop to teaching and it certainly rarely closed with my father and me. But that loop is essential for progress.

So why do I bring this up? Because I want teachers and students alike to not forget the basic reason behind learning. Many times what we learn will require us to perform an action that is difficult, unpleasant, expensive, takes too much time, or for whatever reason is undesirable. So instead, we ignore, deny, or just keep arguing in order to delay taking action.

But what are the consequences if we are unwilling to act? What if what has seemed like teaching and healthy debate is simply an empty one-sided exercise with never any intention or good faith effort to honestly engage?

My sister, brother and I are now trying to sell my dad’s house. But first we’ve been told we have to fix the basement walls because they are falling in. No kidding!