We [architects] tend to idealize the world, that we can smooth the world round. I think that working as you do as an urban designer in the midst of a dialectic of opposites is an intelligent place to be.
— PROF. JULIAN BEINART
Continued Application
Teaching for 36 years, as I have taught this course, raises the issue of boredom. One of the problems about teaching for this length of time is that you have to wake up on a Tuesday morning and feel interested in teaching.
To counter this issue, for example, I hand out newspaper clippings or articles on current events at the beginning of every class. One of the reasons I do this is that it is an opportunity to find something in The New York Times about some idea, and to talk about it. This way, I have a new argument to make, and according to the reactions of the students, I can see whether it is successful.
For instance, we discussed in class the controversy and long process about who should rebuild and what should be rebuilt after the World Trade Center destruction in New York, especially because Robert Moses has a legacy in New York. There was a piece in The New York Times that I circulated around the class. Have things changed since Robert Moses? So I developed a piece of work based on all of the things that the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation did, from the selection process to the final decision not to include any of the architects who were involved in the selection process and that the developers who held the rights to the land had the right to choose his own architect. This, of course, is the result of the Freedom Tower. I postulated that idea of Robert Moses and what he did in New York against what we do now, and tried to get the students to balance the argument one way or another. I have to invent a way to keep things interesting.
It is always me versus the audience. Am I going to fail, or am I going to succeed? I am neurotic in that respect; I am like an actor who needs to overwhelm the audience with the argument. Basically, if you teach for a long time, and even when you start teaching, you have to come to terms with the fact that you must be able to excite yourself and the students about the material.
