If you could study with any one soul, living or dead, who would it be?
This intriguing question comes via the folks at The Huffington Post's HuffPost College. Their article, which includes the top 10 Twitter responses to this question, is here: Your Dream Professors
I thought about this for a minute and would love to share some of my own musings while soliciting yours. Please nominate your favorite professor in the comments section below.
1. First thought: I love philosophy. Would I pick a classic philosopher, like Aristotle? I don't think so. While the classic problems of philosophy are timeless, the discussions I would benefit from require a modern perspective. Perhaps a more modern philosopher, then? Maybe, but one of the things I like about philosophy is the struggle with life's most intractable problems. It occurs to me that I might get frustrated philosophizing 24/7. At some point, I need to feel a sense of forward progress. The fact that philosophers are still trying to figure out where we came from and why we are here does bode well for the achievement oriented.
2. Productivity, then? Would I select a Captain of Industry? Someone fabulously rich and powerful? An entrepreneur on the order of Steve Jobs? An investor like Warren Buffet? A mogul like Bill Gates? A chairman like Jack Welch? These characters loom large in the lore of American business, but would I want to actually be like any of them? Hmmm. This question is harder than it looks.
3. I would not pick an athlete, certainly not any modern athlete, regardless of talent. What would Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong, or Derek Jeter teach me that I want or need to know? How to play a game? No. How to focus my brain so intently that I can drive my body to super-human feats of performance? Yes, maybe. But if I do not aspire to be revered, then why would I pick a professor who is accustomed to being worshiped by adoring fans?
4. I would not pick an entertainer, either, not even my beloved Elvis Costello. As much as I love the arts, and as much as I appreciate artistic expression in all its many forms, I believe the reason I like some artists more than others is because they are authentic, and something in their authentic vibration resonates with me. I want to be authentic, too. It seems I need a variety of arts and artists to resonate with the full spectrum of my spirit. What can any one artist teach me about being my authentic self?
5. Politics? Economics? Diplomacy? The Military? Architecture? Thomas Jefferson comes to mind. Actually, a modern version of Thomas Jefferson comes very close to what I have in mind as an ideal professor. He's not any one thing in particular, but a whole, complex bundle of interesting skills, roles, and professions. The fact that he was a brewer helps, too.
6. It just occurred to me that I am on my sixth paragraph about my dream professor and I have yet to mention anyone who is or was an actual teacher. I'd like to teach. Would anyone want me as their ideal teacher? Could I become the type of professor that springs to mind when someone asks the rhetorical "best professor" question? Randy Pausch comes to mind. What makes me think I could ever be anyone's favorite professor when I don't even think of my own favorite professors when given the same opportunity? Are the professors I know disqualified from the pantheon of ideal professors because I know them?
7. As a side note: Would I pick someone based similarity or differences? Could I learn more from someone with whom I generally agree--someone who could presumably help me improve what I am already good at? Or would I be better off to chose someone with whom I disagree, on the grounds that such a contrast could potentially change me the most? I was very compatible with Professor Jaime Bellalta, my Architecture thesis adviser. I learned a lot about myself under his nurturing style. On the other hand, Professor Father Timothy O'Meara shined a light into some dark corners that I otherwise would not have explored. The answer is that the ideal prof and I should disagree sometimes without being disagreeable.
8. So clearly I am looking for a polymathic Renaissance Man. Why not go to the prototype, the man who is polymath personified, Leonardo da Vinci? That would give me an excuse to brush up on my Italian and my mirror-writing. Nice, but again, I would prefer a modern take. What about Stephen Hawking--so much more than a mathematician and theoretical physicist? Would I be patient with his ALS? Would I be patient with myself, trying to learn from someone with a much bigger brain? Perhaps the real question: would he be patient with me?
9. Would I choose a spiritual leader, prophet, or guru? Well, the modern ones fall out of contention quickly. L. Ron Hubbard? Tony Robbins? No way. Honestly even Joel Osteen, the best televangelist out there, still gives me the creeps. Life just isn't that sweet and I am not interested in learning how to sugarcoat it. How about His Holiness the Dalai Lama, then? Perhaps. Yes, I can imagine soaking up lots of wisdom from him. But if that's the case, why not just go straight to the source and learn from the Buddha himself? And on that note, since I profess to be a Christian, why has it taken me this long to mention the obvious choice: Jesus Christ? Answer: I know I am unworthy.
1. First thought: I love philosophy. Would I pick a classic philosopher, like Aristotle? I don't think so. While the classic problems of philosophy are timeless, the discussions I would benefit from require a modern perspective. Perhaps a more modern philosopher, then? Maybe, but one of the things I like about philosophy is the struggle with life's most intractable problems. It occurs to me that I might get frustrated philosophizing 24/7. At some point, I need to feel a sense of forward progress. The fact that philosophers are still trying to figure out where we came from and why we are here does bode well for the achievement oriented.
2. Productivity, then? Would I select a Captain of Industry? Someone fabulously rich and powerful? An entrepreneur on the order of Steve Jobs? An investor like Warren Buffet? A mogul like Bill Gates? A chairman like Jack Welch? These characters loom large in the lore of American business, but would I want to actually be like any of them? Hmmm. This question is harder than it looks.
3. I would not pick an athlete, certainly not any modern athlete, regardless of talent. What would Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong, or Derek Jeter teach me that I want or need to know? How to play a game? No. How to focus my brain so intently that I can drive my body to super-human feats of performance? Yes, maybe. But if I do not aspire to be revered, then why would I pick a professor who is accustomed to being worshiped by adoring fans?
4. I would not pick an entertainer, either, not even my beloved Elvis Costello. As much as I love the arts, and as much as I appreciate artistic expression in all its many forms, I believe the reason I like some artists more than others is because they are authentic, and something in their authentic vibration resonates with me. I want to be authentic, too. It seems I need a variety of arts and artists to resonate with the full spectrum of my spirit. What can any one artist teach me about being my authentic self?
5. Politics? Economics? Diplomacy? The Military? Architecture? Thomas Jefferson comes to mind. Actually, a modern version of Thomas Jefferson comes very close to what I have in mind as an ideal professor. He's not any one thing in particular, but a whole, complex bundle of interesting skills, roles, and professions. The fact that he was a brewer helps, too.
6. It just occurred to me that I am on my sixth paragraph about my dream professor and I have yet to mention anyone who is or was an actual teacher. I'd like to teach. Would anyone want me as their ideal teacher? Could I become the type of professor that springs to mind when someone asks the rhetorical "best professor" question? Randy Pausch comes to mind. What makes me think I could ever be anyone's favorite professor when I don't even think of my own favorite professors when given the same opportunity? Are the professors I know disqualified from the pantheon of ideal professors because I know them?
7. As a side note: Would I pick someone based similarity or differences? Could I learn more from someone with whom I generally agree--someone who could presumably help me improve what I am already good at? Or would I be better off to chose someone with whom I disagree, on the grounds that such a contrast could potentially change me the most? I was very compatible with Professor Jaime Bellalta, my Architecture thesis adviser. I learned a lot about myself under his nurturing style. On the other hand, Professor Father Timothy O'Meara shined a light into some dark corners that I otherwise would not have explored. The answer is that the ideal prof and I should disagree sometimes without being disagreeable.
8. So clearly I am looking for a polymathic Renaissance Man. Why not go to the prototype, the man who is polymath personified, Leonardo da Vinci? That would give me an excuse to brush up on my Italian and my mirror-writing. Nice, but again, I would prefer a modern take. What about Stephen Hawking--so much more than a mathematician and theoretical physicist? Would I be patient with his ALS? Would I be patient with myself, trying to learn from someone with a much bigger brain? Perhaps the real question: would he be patient with me?
9. Would I choose a spiritual leader, prophet, or guru? Well, the modern ones fall out of contention quickly. L. Ron Hubbard? Tony Robbins? No way. Honestly even Joel Osteen, the best televangelist out there, still gives me the creeps. Life just isn't that sweet and I am not interested in learning how to sugarcoat it. How about His Holiness the Dalai Lama, then? Perhaps. Yes, I can imagine soaking up lots of wisdom from him. But if that's the case, why not just go straight to the source and learn from the Buddha himself? And on that note, since I profess to be a Christian, why has it taken me this long to mention the obvious choice: Jesus Christ? Answer: I know I am unworthy.
10. Calling a TED-talker, adventure-seeker, beer-lover, motorcycle-rider, Art + Science + Spirit super-achiever who believes in world peace yet knows how to fight for it: David H. Petraeus.
Thanks for reading my musings on this interesting question. What do you think about it? Do you know how you would pick your dream professor? Are you willing to nominate that person? Put your vote in the comment section below.
Hat tip to MFL
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