“Studying history and politics is more than just the old-fashioned memorization of names and dates Trivial-Pursuit aspect of history,” Montana Western history professor Sean Eudaily asserts.
Eudaily asks a lot out of his students, challenging them to think critically and fully understand what he teaches and how lessons learned in his classroom impact life outside the campus.
“I want my students to develop those analytical skills, those critical thinking skills that allow them to enter into debates where there isn’t an easy or solid answer,” Eudaily says. “It’s really about navigating a complex problem with multiple forms of evidence and possibly multiple conflicting good answers that can be given.”
Eudaily learned the importance of critical analysis and the importance of pursuing one’s passion as a student at Loyola High School in Missoula, Mont.
“I came to the conclusion when I was a senior in high school that it made more sense to study what I really intrinsically liked, loved and cared about,” Eudaily explains, “and that went back to history and politics.”
Our students are given the opportunity to take their education so much farther in the Experience One model than the traditional model.
Eudaily takes particular pride in using his passion for politics, history and education to inspire his students and help them learn, especially to those students who need help the most. By allowing more time for one-on-one learning, Eudaily says Experience One is crucial in that process.
“For the students who need help, our system is far more conducive to getting them help,” Eudaily says. “As long as they are willing to devote themselves, many of those students who would do very poorly in the traditional system can actually become a solid student in the block.”
Eudaily said that the best students get far more out of their experience on the block as well.
“We ask so much more of them and they can go so much more in depth,” he explains. “It is the difference between just sitting back and getting an ‘A’ on an exam versus doing undergraduate research where you work with the professor. Our students are given the opportunity to take their education so much farther in the Experience One model than the traditional model.”
