This past week my mom sent me an article about the wonderful influence that teachers can have on people. The article focused on a teacher, Professor Charles Taylor, who won a global prize for his work in philosophy, and it really resonated with me. I have long recognized that I am very motivated by, and attached to my teachers (and now that I can, I pick classes carefully based on my teachers). I am lucky enough to have had a variety of teachers who are incredibly various in ways, and they have managed to teach me much more than just the information they may be sharing in class. The most frightening part of the article was that it begins with the statement that “The university teacher… may soon be obsolete.” Perhaps I’m very old fashioned, but I am one of those people who genuinely likes holding books and enjoys lectures. I fail to see how lectures could ever truly be supplanted or surpassed by digital technology; teachers are simply such an integral part of education, I fail to see how learning could be improved without them.
By far my favorite teachers have been the ones who clearly care and engage with their students, from really looking us in the eye when they lecture, to writing things down as students bring up new topics. The author of the original article mentions how his postgraduate research was shaped by his experience with Professor Taylor, and to the extent that I’ve been involved in research, that has been very much influenced by my favorite teachers. I am a history student because of my AP U.S. History teacher, and that is something for which I am thankful for, beyond measure. She made class something to look forward to, had very organized outlines for every lecture, and she set a standard by which I would judge myself if I ever teach.
The first history professor I took a history course with at UC Davis is now my thesis advisor, and she is one of my favorite professors. Much like the author of the article, my work at Davis has been very much influenced by this professor’s influence and encouragement. Although she initially seemed very intimidating, she is actually incredibly kind and generous. To top it off, some echoes of her teaching have appeared in one class or another almost every quarter since that first class. I went to her office hours after that class, and she knew exactly who I was even though I had never been before; she knew just because I had talked during lecture and she was keeping tabs on her students - That’s a really good professor.
My other all-time favorite teacher is an English professor here, and she is an awesome lecturer and an approachable person during office hours (which can make a huge difference). One of my favorite things about her is that she keeps a notepad on her lecture stand during class so that she can write down comments students make. Sitting in one of her lectures really makes you feel like you’re being seen as a student, which is hugely valuable as well; having a professor really speak to the students and engage can make a huge difference (it also helps when you can tell they’re passionate about their work, which all of these teachers are).
All of these teachers have had profound impacts on my learning in different ways, and they are all female—I have had some really wonderful male teachers who have also influenced me, but I think it really makes a difference to see someone and say, “I admire them, I want to be like them,” and to really enjoy learning from someone. A good teacher can always share information, but there’s something about being in the same room as a really good teacher and engaging in their lecture that just isn’t comparable to information received digitally. Here at UC Davis, we are so lucky to have incredible lecturers doing really interesting research. Really good teachers will always be something irreplaceable.
