If you received credits in college for just being yourself, would you fail? Have you ever felt you needed to conform to another person’s perspective to succeed? Were you ever forced to learn about something that you did not believe in?

For me, the answer to each of these questions is yes.

It makes me proud that I have earned enough confidence to be myself no matter where I am and who is present when I get there. However, throughout my journey in academia I have consistently felt out of place. In part for how I look, more for what I had to say. It was as if no one was truly interested in my point of view.

After seven years this finally changed when I took Dr. James Hansen’s elective for my Master of Arts in Counseling.

Philosophical and Meta-Theoretical Issues in Counseling is a paradigm shifting course in all of academia, not just for Oakland University. This isn’t a class where the professor stands in the front and demands, “This is what we know, so this is what you will learn.”

This is a class where the professor sits with you and simply says, “Tell me how you feel about this” and “there is no right or wrong answer,” because “I’m not asking you to agree with me.”  

Some may ask: if that’s the class structure, then what do you learn?

My answer: you will learn more about life and more about yourself than you will in any other classroom setting.

“The class is about sharing ideas outside the confines of traditional class work,” Hansen said.  

Hansen feels strongly that the pressures of exams, quizzes and assignments can be disruptive to learning at times.

“Students need to be excited about learning,” he said.

One thing about being an idealist is that it can sometimes breed naivety. I have spent a great deal of my life being this way, and I’ve just come to that realization recently.

Naïve is one thing Dr. Hansen is not.  

Since holding the first class in 2011, Dr. Hansen’s Philosophical and Meta-Theoretical Issues in Counseling has proven its value in the most vital way, by having a lasting impact on the life and education of students who have taken it. 

“I’m someone with practically no experience in the counseling world,” Hansen said. “I’ve had some struggles with this throughout the program, trying to fit into the counseling box that seemed to be created in my other classes … I found myself questioning some things I was learning and not really fitting into that box.”

Students chimed in on the class.

“This is the best class I have taken so far. I have learned so much about theoretical concepts, the counseling field, culture and so much more. It allows you to look critically at the good and bad parts of the field, which is a rare opportunity in this program.”

“It is one of the classes that I really enjoyed so far, not only in the program but overall. Dr. Hansen is a one-of-a-kind professor. He allows open debates and challenges in any discussion. Philosophical issues are not only valuable for the field of counseling but for issues that we as humans deal with everyday life. Dr. Hansen’s class opens new doors for students like us to appreciate our ‘selves,’ culture, history, humanism, life in general. I am convinced that so far this was the class that made me feel that I am getting educated properly.”

“Dr. Hansen’s (class) was by far the most intellectually driven and challenging course I have taken to date. This course should be a part of the required core courses. I admire Dr. Hansen and feel indebted to him for all he has taught me.”

Dr. James Hansen is a very practical man. Gratified by his impact on people and his expanding influence in the counseling profession, he is authentically modest by nature.

“I’m just grateful to have a job and the ability to take care of my family,” Hansen said. “I’m incredibly lucky to be doing something that I enjoy, but to have people appreciate my work in such a way, I don’t know how to respond to that.”