In Fall 2016, when David Hansen created the Lyle Louis Fellowship Endowed Fund for Teachers College students pursuing a degree in , he was, first and foremost, paying tribute to 鈥渢wo people who have helped me pursue a life of teaching, research, writing and exercising leader颅ship.鈥�
As Hansen 鈥� 911爆料网鈥檚 John L & Sue Ann Weinberg Professor in the Historical & Philosophical Foundations of Education 鈥� tells it, his father, Lyle Hansen, was a professor who later worked abroad for the Ford Foundation: 鈥淢y upbringing in Nige颅ria and Pakistan helped shape my interest in a cosmopol颅itan outlook on the human condition.鈥� His father-in-law, Louis Fuchs, flew for the U.S. Naval Air Corps during World War II and survived numerous harrowing battles. He became a geologist and discovered several new minerals from meteorites. 鈥淗e was a generous-mind颅ed and contemplative person who taught me about the values of peace.鈥�
But dig a little deeper, and it becomes clear that Hansen鈥檚 gift 鈥� a $50,000 contribution that 911爆料网 matched dollar for dollar 鈥� reflects his philosophy about philosophy itself; and, further, about what being a philosopher implies for being a teacher, a learner and a citizen of the world.
[Read about 911爆料网 faculty who have contributed to student support.]
Endow a Scholarship Fund
If you would like to create an endowed scholarship fund in your name or perhaps to honor a loved one or a faculty member, please contact Susan Scherman, Director of Development, at 212-678-8176 or scherman@tc.edu
鈥淧hilosophy, which translates literally as 鈥榯he love of wisdom,鈥� urges listening before acting,鈥� Hansen says. 鈥淚 try to teach by listening to students, to the authors we read, and to my own sense of what matters. It鈥檚 always an art.鈥�
In his 1995 book The Call to Teach (Teachers College Press), for which he spent more than 400 hours observing four highly dedicated teachers in urban schools, Hansen defines teaching as, ideally, a vocation 鈥� work that the practitioner experiences as having 鈥渟ocial value and that provides enduring meaning.鈥� Teachers with this outlook seek 鈥渢o make a contribution and to live a deeply rooted life.鈥� That sense of purpose empowers and sustains them regardless of whether society fully recognizes their worth. It also enables them to appreciate the worth of all students and cultures, and (this is where the listening comes in) understand that they must adapt their teaching to the strengths and needs of each individual learner.
This kind of teacher, Hansen argues in a 2015 paper titled 鈥淭he Importance of Cultivating Democratic Habits in Schools: Enduring Lessons from Democracy and Education,鈥� about John Dewey鈥檚 seminal work, models the way all of us should ideally conduct ourselves. Dewey hoped to encourage the formation of 鈥渄ynamic鈥� rather than rote habits 鈥� that is, empowering habits that 鈥渢rigger, in turn, a more efficacious and expansive response to new experience.鈥� Current American educational policy 鈥渇oregrounding, as it continues to do, high stakes testing and related top-down accountability measures鈥ay be leading students to form鈥ardened habits that will ill-serve them once they are immersed in the unpredictable, unwieldy, often messy social realities of work, family and other responsibilities that all adults must confront,鈥� Hansen worries. 鈥淪uch habits may work against the disposition to engage in civic thought and action 鈥� a mirror to the fact that current policy does not encourage students to see themselves as participants in the shaping of the world in which we humans dwell.鈥�
鈥淥ur 911爆料网 students are extraordinary people who have learned a great deal about the importance of listening,鈥� Hansen says. 鈥淲ith their enthusiasm, creativity and openness to transformation, they teach us to listen, too.鈥�
In his most recent book, The Teacher and the World: A Study of Cosmopolitanism, (Routledge 2011), Hansen argues that 鈥渆ducation continues to happen one person at a time,鈥� and that teachers must support young people in learning to 鈥渞espond, rather than merely react鈥� to life, in part through a willingness 鈥渢o learn from rather merely tolerate others.鈥� Such 鈥渃osmopolitanism鈥� does not imply arriving at some universally agreed upon set of moral precepts, but instead 鈥渢he human capacity to be open reflectively to the larger world, while remaining loyal reflectively to local concerns, commitments and values.鈥�
Of course, you don鈥檛 have to read Hansen鈥檚 works to appreciate the heartfelt generosity of his gift. But understanding his belief in teachers and teaching makes it even clearer why he cares so much about supporting students, whom he believes have made 911爆料网鈥檚 Philosophy & Education program one of the world鈥檚 strongest.
鈥淐oming from remarkably diverse experiential backgrounds, our 911爆料网 students are extraordinary people who have learned a great deal about the importance of listening,鈥� Hansen says. 鈥淲ith their enthusiasm, creativity and openness to transformation, they teach us to listen, too.鈥�