Teachers First

While Harvard touts its many big name professors, we hear much less about Harvard’s world-renowned teachers. The distinction may seem trivial, but it is not. It’s great to have professors with excellent reputations and distinguished accomplishments, but these in themselves don’t make a two-hour lecture stimulating or even bearable. What grabs our attention, makes the time fly by, and, in some cases, even sparks our inspiration are great teachers. We all hope for professors or teaching fellows (TFs) who are not only knowledgeable but engaging, not only experts but teachers.

As the semester comes to an end, we are losing two educators who fall perfectly into this category. Soon-to-be ex-Hazel Associate Professor of History in the Social Sciences Peter E. Gordon, who has been teaching Social Studies 10 for the last five years, and Bruce D. Watson, a famed TF of Social Analysis 10 (better known as Ec 10), are both being forced to terminate their current teaching posts at the end of this year. Gordon, recently tenured by the History Department, will be unable to teach Social Studies because of his new departmental teaching requirements. Watson, who is in his sixth year TF’ing Ec 10, the most popular class at the College, is no longer able to teach because of the College’s six-year teaching limit for non-tenured professors. His resignation will deprive next year’s new Ec 10 professor of a seasoned veteran of the course, and Lowell will lose one of its most active resident tutors. While we realize that these two cases are different, allowing both of these exceptional teachers to continue teaching to their abilities and inclinations is in the best interest of both undergraduates and the College.

In Gordon’s case, he will no longer be able to teach Social Studies 10 because of his teaching obligations within his new department. While these requirements are necessary to some extent, there must be at least some room for accommodation. The Committee on Degrees in Social Studies has no senior faculty of its own, and the History Department, as well as other departments, must be encouraged to allow its faculty to take on Social Studies classes for the greater good of the students and the committee.

Gordon’s accomplishments as a teacher in Social Studies are well-known, and his newly acquired tenure, most assuredly signifying his accomplishments as a professor, should not force him to relinquish his teaching post. On the contrary, letting senior faculty teach within various departments is not only beneficial for the professors who want to teach to their desires, but also for the students who are not limited to the teaching staff of only one department.

While students are able to choose classes based on the merits of a particular professor, students don’t usually take into account, and shouldn’t need to, the quality of the classes’ teaching fellows. Yet reality dictates that most undergraduates’ experiences with TFs are hit or miss. When an exceptional and dedicated TF distinguishes himself, as Watson has done, the College must make an exception to its six-year rule.

To this end, we suggest a policy by which committed TFs can apply to teach for an extra two years at a time beyond their six-year limit. There should be an application process that takes into account consistently high Committee on Undergraduate Education (CUE) guide ratings, as well as the recommendations of the faculty teaching the courses in which these outstanding TFs work. As long as the threshold of achievement in teaching is high enough, TFs who are not both devoted to their students and exceptionally gifted at teaching will be unable to stay past the limit. We don’t believe that this policy will lead to a large amount of TFs staying past their expiration dates, because it seems clear that most graduate students are ultimately here for degrees, not Levenson teaching awards (Watson has two). The opportunity for extension will only be taken by a few of the top teachers, Watson among them.

In reaction to Watson’s resignation from the teaching staff of Ec 10, Ropes Professor of Political Economy and Chair of the Economics Department Alberto F. Alesina dismissed the possibility of Watson staying on, saying: “Rules are rules.” We don’t share his and the College’s faith in these rules. Harvard College students should not have to enroll in the Extension School—Watson’s next teaching destination—to ensure the quality of their instruction.

An ultimate goal of the College must be to give undergrads the best classroom experience possible, and thus teaching in itself must be stressed. As the College commendably moves to consider teaching ability during the tenure process, it must reaffirm this commitment by allowing these two great instructors to continue teaching to their strengths.