Education is what's left: some thoughts on introductory archaeology

Abstract

In over 30 years of graduate and undergraduate teaching, I have taught everything from large introductory offerings with an audience of 300, to advanced undergraduate seminars, even a graduate course for two people on writing about archaeology. In all these years, I am struck by two constants: the general enthusiasm of my students for archaeology and their startling lack of ability to think for themselves and be intellectually self-reliant, something found in every academic discipline. These same 30 years have encompassed a period of remarkable change in archaeology-new theoretical paradigms, the increasing emphasis on stewardship and management, startling and sometimes dramatic discoveries, and a quantum jump in our ability to extract fine-grained information from the archaeological record. Yet, every winter, when I step into the classroom to address another audience of impressionable undergraduates, I find everything is the same. The expectations of my colleagues and students, the university regulations surrounding testing and scoring, the questions students ask, even the distinctive aroma in the classroom on a wet day.