A Socratic Teacher
Dr. Alexander Meiklejohn, Visiting Professor in Philosophy, Interviewed on His Dartmouth Experience
DR. ALEXANDER MEIKLEJOHN, teacher extraordinary, took an unusual step when he came out of retirement for one semester to teach an undergraduate course in a college with which he had never before been connected. Since February he has been and until June will be Visiting Professor of Philosophy at Dartmouth. And from what he says, he is getting a great kick out of the experience. Dartmouth is stimulating Dr. Meikle-john no less than he is stimulating Dartmouth. In particular, the 60 or so students in his course on Idealism and Naturalism have become strongly responsive to his ideas. And what is more, he is very human to the members of his class. The first day of the new semester was an unusual moment for them. Here was a former president of Amherst, the founder-director of the Wisconsin Experimental College, one of the most brilliant American minds on the problem of education, about to teach a class. But in the first few moments of his Dartmouth career, any cloak of sanctity which the students had thrown around him completely disappeared.
Dr. Meiklejohn has a genuine simplicity of manner which makes his mind quite approachable. Possessing the dignity and wisdom of a sort of elder statesman, he is warm, friendly, unassuming. He seldom lectures to his class. He converses, discusses, questions. His Socratic method of teaching, the success of which depends so much on the active participation of the student, was at first unfamiliar to his class and it was difficult for them to get in the swing of things. Today, however, the undergraduates have become very articulate on their own part and have made out of the course an experience in intellectual cooperation.
Now that the incubation period is over (it can be called this because his students were learning to think actively rather than passively), there is no doubt that Dr. Meiklejohn is a popular professor. And he is a good teacher, in the sense that he draws out the student's ideas. He makes the Dartmouth undergraduate think by questioning him and challenging him to bring out his point of view in the arena of mental controversy.
STIMULATING CONFERENCES
Dr. Meiklejohn is sometimes sidetracked by his class from a discussion of Plato, for instance, to subjects dear to his heart such as American education and civil liberties. But not often does this happen: he usually sticks to his guns, and says, "Now, I'm willing to keep talking about this if you want to, but really, don't you think we'd better get on with Plato?" The class generally agrees, and then he adds, "If any of you would like to discuss this, or the Experimental College, or the American Civil Liberties Union, or anything else, come over to my house, either individually or in groups, and we'll talk them over."
There is nothing more stimulating than an evening at Professor Meiklejohn's home, or than an hour's conference with him. It is not strange, perhaps, that one of the favorite topics of such a discussion is Dartmouth—Dartmouth as a liberal arts college, Dartmouth as a part of a democratic society. But on this subject, Dr. Meiklejohn wants you to do most of the talking. Ask him what he thinks of Dartmouth and he'll reply that he hasn't been here long enough to know and then will ask you to tell him something about the College. The result is, of course, that you are encouraged to make your own criticisms.
He does feel, though, that Dartmouth is very much interested in democracy, and interested too in being a national institution. He stated the other day in his class that "Dartmouth has a common purpose— the making of a democracy." His basic attitude is that, to preserve the democratic way of life, "we must study, together, our common problems." On how Dartmouth fits into this concept he can comment only in a general way, but he does believe that Dartmouth, as a truly national college, is important for the American democratic civilization.
Not only the students, but also the faculty and the community as a whole feel very fortunate in having Dr. Meiklejohn here this semester. In the first month of his stay, he gave a series of public lectures on the Philosophy of Education, in which he outlined his point of view that the democratic social order depends for its existence primarily upon the schools and colleges. The trouble is, he said, that "we have a tennis education and a baseball world." Adult education, he feels, is the most significant development in the field of learning today. Dr. Meiklejohn is the founder of the School of Social Studies in San Francisco, and was its director until 1935- The aim of adult schools of this type, he says, is the creation of an active and enlightened public mind," and he would claim the same purpose for the liberal arts college, too. It can be said with validity that his educational concepts have acted as a stimulus for the whole Dartmouth community.
From a personal angle, Dr. Meiklejohn likes Dartmouth. The members of the faculty, he says, have made him feel a part of their group. His students are interested and intellectually vigorous—in fact he stated that the set of papers he received from his class just before spring vacation was the best he had ever read in all his teaching experience. As the semester draws to a close, Dr. Meiklejohn feels very happy at Dartmouth. And Dartmouth is happy to have him in Hanover.
VISITING PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY Alexander Meiklejohn who is kept busy inHanover with his second semester work inlectures, conferences, and classes.
