Peter Kenez–Teaching Statement 2003-04
Professor in History

            I have been teaching at UCSC for 38 years. I chose this university in 1966, at a time when the Soviet Union still loomed large on the horizon and therefore it was not difficult to find a position in my field, Russian history. I was attracted to Santa Cruz because it offered something new. The colleges, as envisaged by Dean McHenry and Clark Kerr, aimed to bring students and teachers closer to one another, and thereby to overcome the impersonality of the “multiversity”, against which young people had been rebelling. More than other major universities UCSC placed emphasis on teaching. It was exhilarating to teach here in the 1960s. The slogan: “learning in the company of friends” was not meaningless. Much has changed since that time, some for the better and some for the worse; nevertheless the campus has retained a culture of teaching. It matters to me a great deal that my colleagues take their teaching responsibility seriously, and that good and conscientious teaching is appreciated. It is easier to be a good teacher in such an environment.

            No genuine educator wants simply to spread a message, or to win over the students to a particular point of view. We want the students to think for themselves. My task as a historian of Russia is to make a different world accessible to an American audience. In some ways I think of myself as a translator, that is, making another history and another culture comprehensible. A translator has to know not only the language from which he is translating, but just as much the language of the audience. That means that my task is to describe Russian history and culture in such a way as to be meaningful and comprehensible to the students. My task is to make my audience appreciate that there are different ways of being, different ways of thinking and thereby to enlarge their mental worlds. In juxtaposition to a very different society, the students might be able to understand and appreciate their own. They may not learn lessons, but might acquire a broader view of the world and a bit of wisdom. I consider myself successful if I am able to convey to my audience why I find another culture, in this instance Russian, interesting, rich and worthwhile to get to know.

My goal, as a teacher, is to be able to establish contact with each and every one of my students. This is, of course, easiest to do in the course of an independent study. I like to read research papers together with my students, and make comments, ask questions concerning each paragraph. (I find it much harder to make written comments on student papers.) Perhaps in the variety of teaching situations I like the seminars the most. Seminars are exciting because their success do not entirely depend on me, but on the interest and involvement of the students. However, when seminars are successful they are the most satisfying. I ask a great deal of the students. In each week we read a different book and the students are required to write weekly papers on these books. (In addition, I also assign a research paper.) The students formulate questions concerning their reading, and my responsibility is, of course, to lead the discussions. I usually try to restrain myself and not to give answers, but to listen. When discussions become heated, this degree of self-effacement can be difficult. Conversations often take unpredictable turns and they are usually interesting, not only to the students, but also to me.

In a lecture course I also aim to establish contacts with students. The largest class I teach is on the Holocaust, and I teach the course with my friend Murray Baumgarten. This class on occasion has had as many as 300 students; nevertheless I attempt to speak in such a way, as each student would think that I am talking to him or her. I periodically stop speaking in order to give an opportunity to my audience to respond, to ask questions or to express disagreements. The students almost always take advantage of the opportunity.,

As much as it is possible (in courses that have no more than forty students) I give oral examinations in my classes. I ask every student to come to my office and we spend about 20 minutes together talking about our common interests based on the assigned reading and my lectures. Although some students at first might find this way of being examined a somewhat unnerving experience, I think they all come to like it. In such an examination there can be no question of unfairness. Good students, after demonstrating their knowledge of the material, have an opportunity to discuss their ideas with me.

I have never believed that there is a contradiction between publishing and teaching. A historian and also a teacher must have a degree of empathy for the people he or she is talking about in order to make them comprehensible. My research interests, I believe, have enriched my teaching. My lectures notes for Soviet history became “A History of the Soviet Union from the Beginning to the End”, which is now one of the best selling textbooks on the subject. On the other hand, I wrote a book on the history of Soviet film before I ever attempted to teach on this subject. Perhaps one can be a good teacher without research interests; I do not know. But I am certain that scholarly engagement with one’s subject matter is something that the students sense and appreciate.

Teaching has been a major part of my life. After teaching many years I have many ex-students, and it is a great pleasure to see them. In fact, I now teach the children of some of my ex-students. Some of my ex students have become scholars, and are making contributions to my field of study. Some have published books that have started out as seminar papers in my courses. I cannot imagine doing anything else, but teaching. I have no desire to stop, and I plan to go on doing it as long as I can.