Endless Energy: Portrait of an Intellectual
Endless Energy: Portrait of an Intellectual

Author(s): Peter Roberts
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Education, Higher Education , Scientific Life
Published by: Addleton Academic Publishers
Keywords: Michael Peters; higher education; intellectual; scientific life;
Summary/Abstract: I have known Michael Peters for more than 30 years. My first encounter with him was in the 1970s at an Auckland secondary school where I was a student and Michael was a teacher. I was not in Michael’s classes but did see him in action once or twice when he appeared in a Social Studies course taught by someone else. Those memories are hazy now but I have a clear recollection of our subsequent crossing of paths at the University of Auckland in the early 1980s. In my second year at university I enrolled in two Stage One Education courses, one of which was titled ‘An Introduction to Western Educational Thought’. Colin Lankshear and Jim Marshall were the course lecturers and Michael was my tutor. Michael was completing his PhD at the time (with Jim as his senior supervisor), and he was an enthusiastic, thought provoking tutor. He probed us to think more carefully and deeply in responding to educational questions and he played an important role, with Colin and Jim, in fostering my interest in philosophy of education. He was also willing to meet outside class times to discuss essays and other aspects of the course, for which I was most grateful. I went on to major in Education for my BA degree and Michael was involved in a number of the other courses I completed. A Masters degree in Education followed, and in 1987 I was interviewed for a Junior Lectureship at the University of Waikato, an institution located about two hours south of Auckland. I was offered the job and thereafter my contact with Michael lessened for a number of years, though we did see each other at conferences and other events from time to time.

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