Teacher Spotlight: Dr. Beals
Dr. Beals is universally considered to be one of OHS' favorite teachers because of his sense of humor, generally kind way, and of course, his being a Broncos fan. Co-editor, Zaid Badiger, speaks to Beals about his time at OHS.
Pixel Journal: How did you decide to become a teacher?
Dr. Beals: I love reading, thinking and talking with others about philosophy, so to have the chance to get paid to do so seemed like a dream come true to me. As time has gone by I’ve come to appreciate more and more all of the rewards and joys of teaching, in particular having an influence on the intellectual development of students, but in the beginning it was all about the fun of discussing philosophy’s big ideas with students.
PJ: Why do you teach the field you teach?
B: I teach philosophy (Core at OHS, of course :) ) for many reasons, but the most powerful is that it, more than any other discipline I can think of, wrestles with the biggest, most important questions that anyone could ask: How should I live, be and act? What can we know? What is the ultimate nature of reality? My specialty is on the ethical side of this discipline because, at least in part, learning how to better answer ethical questions in particular (e.g., how should I live, be and act?) is of the greatest importance for all of us, regardless of personal academic interest. And, I have never found another subject that could remain so continuously engrossing to me: no matter how long, hard and frustrating trying to solve these problems can be I never feel bored or alienated from doing so.
PJ: Do you have outside research, published work, etc.?
B: My current research interests are focused on issues related to having meaning in one’s life, the affirmation of one’s life as an ideal, and the relation between these things and the requirements of impartial morality systems like Kantianism and Utilitarianism. The contemporary philosophers whose work I engage with the most in these areas are Bernard Williams, Harry Frankfurt, Susan Wolf and R. Jay Wallace. The only thing I’ve published (so far?) in a scholarly journal (i.e., not my dissertation) was an outgrowth of my initial dissertation work on the 19th Century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, which focused on his moral psychology. I ended up changing course and writing a different dissertation but one very much influenced by Nietzsche’s thought.
PJ: Outside of school, what does your life look like?
B: Very busy being a dad, as anyone who has taken a class with me could attest to (I probably talk too much about my kids in class)! My wife, Kelly, and I have two young boys, Jackson (4 years old) and Henry (nearly 2 years old), so almost all of my time away from teaching is spent learning from them how rewarding, difficult and meaningful parenting is. When I am able to sneak off to do my own thing I like to play golf and watch football (go Denver Broncos and Stanford Cardinal!) with friends and watch TV and movies.
PJ: What do you like about OHS?
B: So much, but the students, other instructors and the curriculum are all at the top of the list. I am constantly bragging to other people about how amazing OHS students are: your interest and engagement in learning for the right reasons, intelligence, assiduity, maturity, creativity…I could go on and on. And, that I get to work with such great students on the kinds of topics that I care most about, philosophical ones, makes for a perfect storm, in a good sense. I absolutely love that the OHS requires students to take philosophy courses all four years: to have the kind of vision and audacity to do something as important and avant-garde as that is remarkable (though hopefully it will become less cutting-edge with more and more schools following our lead). And, to have the opportunity to work with other instructors who combine a love of teaching with pedagogical wisdom and scholarly depth makes me very grateful to work here. A day doesn’t go by that I don’t learn something important or useful from the other instructors and students at the OHS.