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Jonathan Williams | The Appalachian
Dr. W. Thomas Jamison lectures during his Social Foundations of Education class. |
Professor sees 35 years of ASU history
by Amanda Fowler
Staff Writer
The brightly colored shapes taped to Dr. W. Thomas Jamison’s office door in Edwin Duncan Hall seem to scream “teacher.” He is a teacher of teachers. Jamison is one of the many professors who propel Appalachian State University students into their own teaching career.
Between the shapes, Jamison’s office hours and a little sign instructing students to come in are posted, in case the church organ music from his CD player does not make it obvious he is there.
Jamison said posting office hours is not as much of an expectation as it was when he first began as a professor at Appalachian in the 1970s.
If his office hours change, Jamison e-mails students in advance to notify them. He calls his methods “old fashioned,” but he still tries to be as available to students as possible.
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Jonathan Williams | The Appalachian
Jamison said he remembers when Edwin Duncan was the farthest buiding on the west side of campus. |
In his 35 years, Jamison has seen many changes with the university.
He remembers when the parking lot outside Raley Hall was nothing but dirt and gravel and Edwin Duncan was the farthest building on the west side.
Sticking with Appalachian for so long, Jamison has really been able to get a feel for the university.
“I’ve often thought that if you could personify ASU like a person and put it out on a field or in a park with other personified universities, in some ways ASU has sometimes inhibited an inferiority complex,” Jamison said.
Jamison said Appalachian has been trying to compete with larger universities, something he thinks has created a push on the junior faculty members to do research, making them less available to students.
Culture Shock
Jamison has also seen changes in his students, which he attributes to growing up in the ‘90s.
Compared to the ‘60s and ‘70s, the ‘90s were really a “cushy” time for middle and upperclass America, Jamison said.
When he was a world history and geography teacher at Andover High School in Maryland, Jamison had students being drafted into the military. Pressures that his students were experiencing then, like the women’s rights movement and civil rights movement, are not present for today’s younger generation.
Jamison said he is surprised by the disrespectful nature of the younger generations. He said an Eminem song he heard on the radio was “vulgar.”
He remembers the controversy surrounding Elvis Presley’s hip gyrations on the Ed Sullivan Show and his parents questioning him when he went to Presley’s concert in Charlotte.
The controversial issues of Jamison’s childhood are a faded memory compared to those surrounding today’s youth.
“With the Beatle Mania, they almost looked like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir compared to today,” Jamison said.
The New Student
He also sees that his students feel a sense of entitlement. Jamison said that because many of his students were raised in a “comfort zone,” they feel as though they should have certain things.
Jamison has been experimenting with new teaching techniques to accommodate his changing students. He has been implementing more group work, even on tests. The groups can discuss questions among themselves, but students have the option of responding individually.
Jamison uses these new techniques in his class, Social Foundations of Education. The class, a core curriculum class for undergraduate education majors, looks at school in society and the issues and impact of social forces, politics, economics, family and more. The class takes an interdisciplinary approach using aspects of history, philosophy and sociology to tackle difficult issues like religion in the school.
“I refer to this course as the social studies of education,” Jamison said.
Although his passion for teaching has not wavered, Jamison said he still sees retirement in the future, which seems like a logical, but difficult, decision.
“I don’t know what I’d do with myself [if I retired],” he said.
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