Sunday, March 4, 2012

Brent Peacock

I began working with Brent at the Advance Auto Parts warehouse in 2008.  One day on break we had an interesting conversation and became friends.  When the idea of who to interview came up I decide Brent would be a good subject due to the fact that other being from Canada I didn't know much about his past.  So with that being said I' ll let Brent tell you what brought him here and what his version of the American Dream is enjoy.


While I was at the University of British Columbia two professors from the Ohio State University were visiting.  One of the professors was Christine Balleng-Morris, who is my current advisor, and the other was Patricia Stuhr.  After meeting these professors we went for lunch and I got to talking to them and they recruited me to come to OSU to the art education department.  It has been during my pursuit of my PhD. that I realized what my true calling is and that is to be a teacher at the university level.  I have almost eight years’ experience teaching at post-secondary institutions.  I can honestly say that I enjoy it.  The growth of the students, that is what I enjoy and it is also what you learn from your students.  Once you become open to the idea that your students have as much to offer to you as you do to them, than teaching becomes really enjoyable.  It is about the interchange or the exchange of knowledge between student and teacher.  Now after some setbacks; I am refocused on my dissertation and teach at a small liberal arts college.  This is because during my research for my PhD I come to realize that a lot of university professors teach less and research more.  I think that when I finish my PhD. that is why I am inclined to teach at a liberal arts college where I more exclusively teach than research.  Not to say that I don’t like research I just like teaching more than research. 
            I came to America to complete my PhD. at a renowned university and it was here that I realized my dream to teach and this is what I am working toward.  I guess what you would call the American dream.  After, coming to Ohio State I noticed that there seems to be two American Dreams.  One seems to be to graduate from college, get married, and make as much money as possible.  The other is working in the blue collar world, where their dream of what they want to be is probably go to the doctor and go to the dentist, to be able to make enough money to pay for everything and hopeful one day get a house.  Hope that their children go to a better place.  I would have to say that my dream is a combination of both versions of the American Dream.  My goal is to complete my doctorate and to teach full time.  Then it is to have season tickets to the Red Sox games and watch every game in Fenway.  Own a Harley Davidson, and have enough money to live but to have a little extra to do what I want.  Finally, I have thirteen more states to go to and then I will have seen all fifty states of this country.  

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