audit courses<\/a> at any Universities of Wisconsin institution for free. They don\u2019t need to complete assignments or take tests, but many auditors enjoy participating in classroom discussions and reading the materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSo, when Spencer\u2019s mother, Nancy De Malignon, retired last year from her job as a Montessori paraeducator, Spencer suggested she explore the auditor program. But De Malignon wasn\u2019t going to settle for just any teacher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen he told me about it, he was on sabbatical. I was like, I\u2019m not going to take a class until you\u2019re back,\u201d De Malignon said. \u201cI wanted to take a class with Joshua. He\u2019s been in my classes before, so I figured tit for tat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Teaching your parent might seem intimidating for some, but Spencer and his mother have a close bond. De Malignon raised Spencer and two of his siblings as a single parent and often took Spencer to class with her when she was working on some of her college courses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Taking her son\u2019s class was a bit different than what she was used to, De Malignon said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI have never taken a philosophy class before. I realized it\u2019s a lot harder than I thought,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Luckily, De Malignon had time for some personal tutoring; she and Spencer would walk to and from campus together and continue the discussions from the classroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The course focused on free will. Are our actions the result of our own decision-making? Or are they predetermined by the past and the laws of nature? Can both things be true? Those are the questions that Spencer encouraged his students to explore in class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI like the fact that he does make it so open so the students will participate \u2013 and they do participate really well in his class,\u201d De Malignon said. \u201cI appreciate that because I know there are sometimes when \u2026 I\u2019ll have kids (in my class) and I\u2019m like, okay, what did you think? And there\u2019s silence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And how was De Malignon as a student?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe was actually pretty quiet in class,\u201d Spencer joked. \u201cShe was a good student. She had a lot of good questions that she\u2019d ask me on the walk afterwards and was engaged with the reading and thinking about it. It was great to have her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
De Malignon enjoyed her time on 51ÁÔÆæ\u2019s campus, and she would encourage anyone interested in the auditor program to participate. Spencer, too, likes having auditors in his class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMany of them have already had a professional background, and often in an area that\u2019s outside of philosophy. \u2026 They\u2019ll often bring their knowledge of those other areas into the classroom, which is great,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that the auditors are also, especially at the beginning of the semester, a little bit more brave than the students to speak up, and they kind of set a tone that helps the students to feel more comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While this is De Malignon\u2019s first time auditing a class at 51ÁÔÆæ, it won\u2019t be the last. She\u2019s hoping to find a class about quilting in the spring semester, but she\u2019s not done with philosophy. Next on her list is a class on metaphysics \u2013 taught by her son, of course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Professor Joshua Spencer had an unusual student in his \u201cPhilosophy 358: Action, Will, and Freedom\u201d class this semester: His mother. Spencer has frequently welcomed senior auditors in his classes over his years at 51ÁÔÆæ. Wisconsin residents who are 60 years …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":785,"featured_media":30755,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[1648,1961],"tags":[1851],"class_list":["post-30754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-focus","category-in-focus-2026","tag-january"],"yoast_head":"\n
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