The professor reminds students why they are in college.
A professor’s philosophy of education should be student-oriented, and students should value learning because it helps them improve themselves, philosophy Coordinator John Visintainer said Feb. 8.
Professors should be personable and down to earth but insist on a rigorous curriculum.
“They should demand excellence,” he said.
He believes most teachers are passionate about teaching.
No one goes into this field for the money, he said
Educators have to be “in it for the love of the game,” he said. “Alamo Colleges, that’s what we’re here for. We’re here to teach.”
As midsemester approaches, he reminded students of why they should find value in all of their courses.
Visintainer said students should seek higher education not only for the beneficial financial values in the end but for the wealth of knowledge itself.
“Better to know than to not know. Better to learn than to not learn,” he said.
He referred to the philosopher Aristotle, using friendship as an analogy to education:
“Why should you be friends with anybody? To get stuff from them? No. You should be friends with people because you’d be magnanimous; you’d be a larger soul,” he said.
He advises students who find many classes to be unnecessary to learn the material anyway and not take it for granted.
“Don’t just pass your classes. … learn while you’re at it,” he said. “Not everything is learned for extrinsic value. At the end of your career, you’re a different person in a better way.”
It’s important to learn all kinds of things because it makes you a more interesting, understanding and confident person, he said.
“It’s just good to know,” he said.