My tutorials this afternoon went exceptionally well. Discussing an area that you really know a great deal about with someone who is interested but just starting out in their scholarly examination of it is both engaging and rewarding. I am especially enjoying the tutorial on distributive justice. I remember how interesting it was to first read Rawls, Mill, Singer, et al and it is particularly gratifying to be sharing such ideas with someone else. The only danger is assigning a reading list that is far too long. As far as the tutorials on globalization and global justice go, I need not have worried about being short on communicable knowledge.
The other tutorial, on OPEC and the oil price shock, was also quite interesting. I have gone over 20th century Middle Eastern history enough times now that I feel quite comfortable talking about it and have a list of sources in mind basically all the time. In general, the tutorials were a reminder of the excitement that can be associated with the conveyance of knowledge.
I am looking forward to the four tutorials that remain with these two students.
Were I in Oxford, distributive justice would have ideally suited me. All I got offered was the UN…
Ben,
You would probably have been even more overwhelmed than I was, teaching someone who had never heard of utilitarianism or seen an economic graph of any sort. That said, I am pretty confident I can give her a good jump start on first year level political theory as it relates to distributive justice.
The two I had last month were a mix – one really good, interesting and challenging; the other an easy run through basic material. Obviously very different, I’m not really sure which I prefer on balance.