Q&A
John Harman, a political science professor on campus, discusses what led up to his arrival at Fisher, from serving in the Navy for 40 years to working with the DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency).
By Justin Woodward
Last Updated:4:40 PM EST 1/27/10 Section: News
|
Introduction to Political Theory, because I have the most fun in terms of getting people to think about political thought. I think that they learn a lot of concepts and things they can use in everyday life and arguments about politics. Most of them get a kick out of it. And I happen to like political theory. It is nice to be able to turn some people on to it.
Q: If you were not a teacher what would you like to be?
Isn't that obvious? A cowboy.
Q: What class would you like to teach that you are not teaching?
I'd like to teach a class on anarchism.
Q: What would you teach in a class on anarchism?
Well history and theory, current manifestations of anarchist thought and politics. And what it tells us about politics and about human nature.
Q: Do you think Google should pull out of China?
I think Google probably won't pull out of China. It depends on what the Chinese government does obviously. I think Google will probably cave on some of the stuff. They caved on allowing the Chinese government to restrict access and be able to identify, the surveillance functions that the Chinese government wanted to adopt.
What they choked on was the attack on their software, which of course is critical to Google's ability to function. They can't be viewed as a clean search engine. Then they're going to be dropped like a hot potato. It is a business decision from that stand point. To the extent the Chinese government comes up with some face saving explanation. [If] they guarantee that this won't happen again, then Google will be more than happy to jump back into that situation.
Q:How did you choose political science?
When I graduated from high school, I went to John Marshall high school and graduated from there. They had a class in international relations, I took the class and was really fascinated by it. It was a college level course, we didn't get college credit for it. I was very interested in it.
Originally I wanted to farm. If my family had land I would have done that. I love being in the outdoors. That's what we were doing in Redbrook before my mother died.
But since I couldn't do that, there were a lot of things I didn't want to do. What my dad did as teaching, I like the idea. By the end of my first year at Wisconsin I was concentrating on getting a master's degree to teach in high school. I figured I could just get a Ph.D. and stay on, and I like teaching.
Be the first to comment on this story