‘Teaching Students to Think for Themselves’ Starts with Political Self-Awareness

Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair

My nomination for the most predictable platitude invoked by university professors when describing the essence of their job is “teaching students to think for themselves.”

During my 26 years at the University of Texas at Austin, where I was sometimes accused of politicizing the classroom, I repeated that phrase many times, not as a dodge but because I believed it’s the right goal.

As with many platitudes, the problem isn’t that it’s incorrect but inadequate.