Controversial prof shuns student opinion
Maryann Harpin
Special to the Capital Times
Take a humanities course with Melvin
Wolf, and you'll get a 16-week course in
critical thinking skills-Wolfian style.
In his classes, Wolf bans his students
from sharing their personal reactions to
the works they study.
"No one is really interested in that
Profile
anyway," Wolf said. Instead, he requires
students to formulate hypotheses and
defend them with verifiable evidence from
the "primary source”-the actual novel or
painting, for example, rather than a critic's
analysis or textbook writer’s interpretation
of it, or even the student's own opinion.
To a student who gives an idea without
textual references, Wolf counters "Are you
conjecturing? Where is that in the text?"
This strict focus on hypothesis testing
and textual verification jolts some
students.
"He's obstinate and highly
opinionated," said one student of Wolfs.
"He's entitled to be that way, but not at
the expense of students."
Another humanities major confessed, "I
didn't take him, because I heard that he
doesn't give out As."
How does Wolf feel about his critics?
He encourages students to apply critical
thinking when considering him.
"How are they evaluating me?" Wolf
asked. "Are they using valid data and valid
criteria? Have they observed me, or are
they just listening to their friends?"
Wolf recalled a mail carrier whose
daughter disliked Wolf, but had never
taken a class with him. Several years later,
the same carrier reported that his daughter
had married one of Wolfs former students
who said Wolf was "a great teacher."
That, Wolf said, is the difference that
first-hand experience and diligent effort in
class can make.
"To do something well is hard," Wolf
said.
He compared his classes to a sports
team with a tough coach, who requires his
players to show up for practice three times
a week.
Wolf's "athletes" miss the ball
occasionally, but after enduring a snide
remark or two, step up to bat again.
Some students avoid Wolfs classes. At
one time, this bothered him, but Wolf
now says his classes are better without
them.
But, this indifference is not directed at
all students. Wolf is very interested in his
students, leaning forward as he speaks of
them, his smile stretching wide across his
face. Wolf said he learns from his students
each semester.
"One of the joys of studying at a
university is that the junior scholars can
help the senior scholars see things they've
stopped seeing since they've been around
the bam so many times," Wolf said.
Mark Weller, a senior majoring in
secondary education English and former
student of Wolfs, agreed.
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Melvin Wolf
"He's willing to change his opinion if
a new or innovative idea is substantiated
with empirical evidence," Weller said,
adding that Wolf "knows where he's
going" when he teaches. "He gives you
something concrete."
Another education major said she
hesitated to take a class with Wolf. She
decided to sign up for spring semester, and
is pleased with her decision.
"If I hadn't taken him, I really would
have missed something special here," she
said. "I really think his methodology does
work. I've tried it in other classes, and it
works well."
Teaching at a school that emphasizes
the humanities and using his methods is
ideal to Wolf. He earned his bachelor's
degree from the University of
Massachusetts, and his master's degree and
doctorate in English and literature at the
University of Michigan.
Although he taught at the University
of Massachusetts for eight years, he
longed for a position that allowed
interdisciplinary teaching.
He was attracted to Penn State
Harrisburg when he heard that an upper
division campus near Harrisburg was
opening, and that interdisciplinary study
was a requirement for faculty.
"In the real world, we don't divide
things up into disciplines," Wolf said.
"We hear, and feel, and see and read all at
the same time.”
This semester, Wolf is teaching his
analytical thinking processes not only in
humanities and literature courses, but in a
class he helped design, applied ethics.
In the class, students are given a
formula method for resolving ethical
dilemmas. The course has received high
marks from employers of former students,
who apply their learning to real-life
scenarios.
This interdisciplinary approach applies
to Wolfs life, as well. Wolf compares his
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life to a "stream with concurrently flowing
corrcnts, each of which deserves
attention."
For example, Wolf said if he had 10
extra hours a week, he'd split his time
proportionately between his profession,
family and hobbies-sailing and bicycling.
"I try to make my life as close to a
good work of art as possible," Wolf said,
adding that the individual elements must
be skillfully combined to achieve the
desired results.
Working at his office computer, Wolf
straddles a "back chair''-a chair with a
small, padded bench seat and wraparound
leg rest which forces the user to sit
erectly.
Bookshelves, filled completely, cover
two walls, almost reaching the ceiling.
Within arm's reach of his desk, Wolf has
assembled a small beverage center, with a
one-cup coffee maker.
Resting on the bookshelf across the
room, but in his line of vision, is a photo
of Wolf; his wife, Joan; his three children
and daughter-in-law, taken before a week
long sailing trip on the Chesapeake. They
are wearing matching red polo shirts so
they would be recognized as members of
the same crew.
Whether he's sailing a 41-foot ketch
with his family, or struggling along with
a class of Wolfian thinkers, Wolf practices
his methodology in every facet of his life.
"You have to evaluate your life in
regard to all your functions, not just one
of them," Wolf said. "Whatsoever my
band f 'vndcvb to do, I want to do it as well
as I can."
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