If argument is essential to a Danenberg semester, so is cooperation and compromise. Making the program work involves commitment from everyone and can be emotionally painful. But living and learning for a while in an environment where you can't hide from yourself or others is almost always a good thing. Those kinds of discoveries are exciting, but they're scary as well. Four Oberlin professors a year, from all over the college, lead London semesters and collaborate with a colleague.
Classes taught by two professors have a different flavor from classes led by just one.
For one thing, a professor used to controlling his or her own classroom must learn to share authority. I got used to the students' irreverence and love of debate a long time ago. Sharing teaching here is almost more Oberlin than Oberlin, and it means you're sharing learning, as well. Because they are teaching together and learning all the time, the scope of the class extends far beyond the readings and the discussions. The students come to see the question of science's relationship to art as dynamic, growing, and changing between these two professors as well as between themselves.