Professor Ahmed Abdel Meguid

Syracuse University
Department of Religion
512 Hall of Languages
Syracuse, New York 13210
September 23, 2014
Dear Professor Meguid:
I am currently a student in your Sources of the Self religion/philosophy class. I am thrilled and
intrigued at your expertise in the study of philosophy as well as your vast knowledge on the ideas
of early philosophers. Ive enjoyed the privilege of being your student and value hearing from
you in class, but I think there might be ways where students can participate more in class.
In the past month Ive noticed that most of the students participating are those who have taken a
philosophy class before or who have previous knowledge on the topic. While these students
dominate the class discussion, the rest of the class sits in silence. One way to persuade more
lively class discussions is to have the class sit in a circle and simply talk through the text. I
noticed even in my own participation habits that at times I dont know what to say, but questions
that challenge me to think more deeply allows me to participate more often during discussions. I
can imagine it must be frustrating for you when you want the entire class to participate in the
great debates concerning philosophy and only a few people speak up. Perhaps only focusing on
one discussion board post a student wrote to facilitate class discussion, or one passage from the
texts to ask what does this mean to you.
Despite the major challenges of unpacking the dense texts of philosophical thinkers, I admire
your commitment to the class and I benefit from hearing your own interpretations of Plato,
Aristotle and later Kant. If you have any further questions please feel free to contact me at
nrondon@syr.edu. I look forward to the rest of the semester with you.

Sincerely,
Nina Rondon
Nina Rondon