The Catalyst (Professor's Introduction)

By way of introduction, let me note that I am the "Professor" referenced in the title above, which was chosen by the students in my Popular Nonfiction class. And I want to share my perspective from the start, which is that I don't think that I am really "making" anyone do anything. On the contrary, this is an opportunity—an opportunity to engage with other bright minds and share the fruits of experience with each other and a broader audience.

But then, too, this is for a grade. So I suppose there's that...

Our individual perspectives greatly shape how we experience the world and even what we experience in the world. To a certain extent, that experience is shaped by our backgrounds. (As the old joke goes: "Everything's relative. It all depends upon who you're related to.") But we also have a great deal of power to shape our own experience—including and especially how we think about what we do and why we do it.

So, from one point of view, you might say that I'm forcing my students to write. But I don't believe that is always or necessarily true. At some point, interest takes over and we write for other reasons: because the subject compels us, because we want to learn more about it, because the piece itself has lodged itself in our heads and we must get it written down.

Or at least, that's what should happen. We all have some very interesting insights to share, even if we ourselves may not be so sure about that at the moment.

Still, lots of people would prefer to remain silent, and insofar as I'm denying them that option, I plead guilty. Their professor is making them write this. Hopefully some of them will forgive me.