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Mentoring
The value of Sociology to majors, & perhaps more importantly for
non-majors is to "Learn where you stand." College, & education
in general, gives students all the information that modern society can
assimilate & disseminate during students' educational experience.
This amount of information, knowledge, facts, questions, etc. is not specifically
designed to help people develop a world view. But I believe Sociology
is well suited to this task. Sociology is eclectic in nature in that
it brings together social issues from a number of disciplines to examine
the impact that they may have on society, or a particular group.
Let's look at Sociology as a chance to develop our world views, as a chance
to learn where each one of us stands. This does not mean that we
need to develop a point of view in class & stand by it as if our life
depended on it. It means that we must learn to explore, debate, listen,
talk, think & test different points of view for ourselves. I
believe that I cannot really know where I stand until I am truly tested.
Until that point, I am standing somewhere, but when push comes to shove,
I may find I am not where I thought I was. Thus, let's view our collegial
experience as a chance to explore our points of view, to look at various
places where I may stand. Then when we must stand somewhere, we will
be ready.
Stop in and see me-- check out my office hours. |
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Mentoring
I know you've heard it a thousand times before: your education is a gift, a wonderful gift. And many people report that college is one of the most rewarding & enjoyable times of life. You are between the trials of young teenager-ism and the approaching adult career life. In the former, the stresses of becoming an adult & the absolute peer pressure from other early teens makes this era interesting... After college, the career becomes nearly all consuming in this workaholic nation. The college years are still blessed w/ a degree of youthful freedom, and people are treating each other as respect deserving adults. And best of all, it is a time, like no other, when you have a time to explore the world and hence yourself. As I Professor I have the golden opportunity to share this time with you. I believe that establishing a collegial, professional relationship between student & professor adds even more to your college experience. To me, a collegial, professional relationship is one of the best learning environments: mutual curiosity, respect, desire for learning, aimed at the simple joy of learning and the creation of a career /life project for the student. Stop in and see me-- check out my office hours. |
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Mentoring
Allow me a moment.... please feel free to chat with me about whatever is going on in the course, the big life out there or your life... career choices, courses to take, anything about UVW, or whatever. I know at times I appear gruff (it's the beard and the middle aged-ness!), but I'm really just a middle-aged panda bear. I positively love this academic life because where else do you get a chance to spend hours talking about the issues that influence all of our lives? And this talking is done with you. So I hope I we can have some fun and get the work of learning sociology done at the same time. And while it is presumptuous of me to think I could be your mentor, please feel free to rely on me as your paid consultant or better yet, a friend. Stop in and see me-- check out my office hours. The picture below is of me in my office, putting out paper-work fires. (1999) |
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