ABSTRACT
It is not enough to be highly motivated to read the books. Independent studies place an extra burden on the learning skills of students. Students are motivated to take on independent studies because of curiosity about a subject matter that is not offered as part of the regular curriculum. You have no obligation to offer this subject matter, on which you may or may not be knowledgeable. You gain no tangible benefit from doing so. There are two key questions to whether this interaction is worth your time: Where will it lead the student when it is completed? And does the student have the reasoning skills to learn independently using literature of the complexity entailed in the chosen topic? When I discuss potential independent studies with students, I listen for them to describe a series of experiences they are willing to undertake, beginning with some previous experience and continuing through the independent study to other experiences, of which they have some clear vision. I liken the images they generate to a row of dominos. Some of the dominos have already fallen. The rest are likely to fall. The one domino in question is the independent study. Another way of thinking about this is the overdetermination test that is often applied to grant proposals: do the students’ preparation and future goals constitute an existing organic whole that will only be reinforced and strengthened by the independent study? As a general rule, these will be students in the upper division of the major or interdisciplinary program, most often in the third or fourth year, who are professionally oriented and proactive in seeking out extracurricular learning. In almost all of the independent studies I have participated in recently, the students were preparing to write fellowship proposals or graduate admission essays.
