So many interesting topics; so little time

Ralph Luker, below, links to an interesting statement by Margaret Soltanabout not revealing one’s personal or political positions in class. It’s a good argument; however, I suspect that there is not a “one size fits all” position here, largely because there is not a single best approach to teaching, period.

Despite the desire of some administrators and acreditors to make teaching a simple transmission of skills and facts, it is a complex process that, at its best, continues long after the student has left the class, or even the college or university. Sometimes long term thoughtfulness is engendered by challenge, at other times by objectivity. So long as the student and his or her views are respected clearly, I think there must be room for a range of approaches.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Iraq. In the same posting linked above, Ralph provides access to several articles on our lack of competence in Iraq. All true. Yet, despite the administration, the Iraqis may well muddle through to something considerably better than what they had. And maybe, just maybe, what they build may be stable. If that happens, will that mean that the Bush administration was right, despite their incompetence? And, therefore, that they were competent after all?

Same sort of thinking, longer term. It’s natural in teaching a US survey to link our 1954 intervention in Iran, and our subsequent support for the Shah, to the 1978-79 revolution and to subsequent anti-Americanism. But is that too facile? Forgetting pesky things like values for a second, having a relatively reliable ally/client for 25 years on the border of one’s enemy can be considered a pretty good triumph. Is that the light by which the CIA coup should be evaluated?