Oxford University famously uses the tutorial system to teach its students — each student has the ability to study specific subjects with professors individually.
This same system often occurs on Hillsdale’s campus as well. Some students take them as a way to make up for three-credit classes they were unable to take at an earlier time. Others request one-credit independent studies on subjects that fascinate them.
Doug Johnson, assistant professor of management for the business department, said Hillsdale has more independent studies than any other institution at which he has taught. Though Johnson has only been here at Hillsdale for two years, he has already taught four independent studies.
“Usually at the beginning of a term, I ask my students what their particular interests are and what they want to do after Hillsdale. Then I customize a course or two to fit their needs,” Johnson said.
Johnson himself did an independent study as an undergraduate that influenced the course of his education afterward. An economics major, he took an independent study on the economics of research and development.
“Initially, I thought I was going to get a Ph.D. in economics. That was what I was going to do — economics of R&D, but then I became more interested in business strategy,” Johnson said. “But I would say it impacted my future direction.”
Independent studies can provide an opportunity for students to study a subject they are passionate about under the guidance of a professor. But they can also be enriching for professors. Assistant Professor of History Matthew Gaetano said he loves teaching them.
“What independent studies allow me to do as a historian that I’m not able to do in my classes is really to focus on one text or one theme,” Gaetano said. “In Heritage, I’m covering centuries in a semester, and I really enjoy that. I think that’s important — to give the lay of the land. But it’s also important for students to realize how much more there is to learn about any of the figures we’re studying.”
Gaetano, too, who is in his fourth year of teaching at Hillsdale, has held several independent seminars. To name a few, he has taught on Luther’s “Commentary on Galatians” and on Calvin’s “Institutes of the Christian Religion” as well as the texts of Thomas Aquinas’ teacher Albert the Great. He usually teaches one or two texts per study, reading them with students in the original language and working through them by the Aristotelian model, from logic to natural philosophy, to metaphysics.
Currently, Gaetano is leading an independent study with senior Josh Benjamins, junior Tomás Valle, and junior Jack Shannon. Together, they have been working through a whole range of material in the original Latin. Gaetano has enjoyed seeing them apply what they’ve learned in class to other subjects.
“It’s been really inspiring to see. There have been some moments in their papers for other classes that really bring to bear what we’ve studied together on other subjects,” Gaetano said. “They are able to pose questions that come out of this slow, disciplined march through an Aristotelian, old, textbook approach to philosophy.”
Johnson remembers an independent study with a student at Purdue University, who put together a business plan for a company that ended up in the pages of Fortune Magazine.
Associate Professor of Classical Studies Eric Hutchinson has also led several independent studies over the years, including one on Augustine’s “On Catechizing the Uninstructed”; an early Christian work called the “Epistle to Diognetus”; and, this semester, a selection of Ovid’s “Heroides,” which are love letters from (mostly) mythical heroines to their absent love-interests.
Hutchinson said he doesn’t believe independent studies to be superior to regular classes, except in that the students who take them are usually very eager and excited about the subject being taught, which leads to real learning.
Johnson encourages students to talk to their professors if they have a subject they’re particularly interested in.
“I think if somebody has something that they want to study independently, they should certainly seek out that opportunity. Professors here are pretty open to doing those types of things,” Johnson said.
