As I was tentatively listening to the first lecture that Dr. John and Linda Bartelt were giving in their Advanced Human Sexuality Course, I saw more than just two people lecturing about a subject that acquires getting students out of their own comfort zones. I saw a husband and wife whose exuberating passion for getting to know their students and having their students progressively become in tune with their sexuality as well as love for themselves and their peers. This inspired me in a matter of just 1 class lasting 1 hour and 35 minutes. And what’s more amazing is the fact that this is just the beginning of a journey that will open up more and more as their course goes on. Not only do John and Linda teach Advanced Human Sexuality courses, but they are particularly active in the education courses offered at La Verne. What’s so striking and admirable about them is their ability to incorporate their students to delve into their passion while having those same students reflect on who they are and how they see the world in a much more grand scale.
Their goals as educators aren’t to get students to memorize definitions or answers to the standardized plateau that is so heaviliy inflicted upon college students, but their goal is to get their students to explore and discover themselves and by doing so that leads to a happier, fulfilling, and much more certain path. And even then, when there is uncertainty in how their students want their futures to map out, they encourage their students to keep exploring. It is because of the students that they continue to strive forward and teach every day. And because of that very motivation, they dedicate much of their time to developing activities and lesson plans that will help them engage with their students, as well as getting students to engage and be comfortable with one another.
When asked about how much time is dedicated to their students and their classes, Linda Bartelt says “When we think of activities we can introduce and bring into a class, we can spend about 16-18 hours a day dedicated to how we will carry out lesson plans.”
When asking about the human sexuality course, the goal for John and Linda and what they hoped to see from their students from Class 1 to the final class is simple.
“To love, understand, and be hopeful. It’s that simple. To be loving, to be understanding, and be hopeful human beings.” says John Bartelt.
One of the greatest analogies when it came to the concept of comfort zones particularly with the human sexuality course, John Bartelt used a deep “fish out of water” analogy.
“Let’s say you have an an all knowing, genius fish. The fish knows everything there is to know about everything. Everything except.. water. He lives in it but he doesn’t know about its properties and all of that because it’s constantly changing and surrounds it. So the person tells the fish that they’re going to take them out of the fish bowl for a couple seconds. At first, the fish refuses and is scared and doesn’t want to go through with ite, but eventually it does. So the person takes out the fish, and it can’t breathe and its freaking out. Then finally, it gets put back into the bowl.”
John’s analogy and message of that story reprsents how sometimes students or people feel they know what everything in the world is like such as how things are, how everything works, how everyone is. But it isn’t until they experience that other world and see for themselves that it finally gives in full depth and view of the world in around us and how it affects us personally. And that’s the genius and John and Linda. They want us to experience and live and love without fear, without vulnerability. They want their students to understand one another andrespect that everyone has a story and a reason. And it is because of those defining elements that we can be able to find out who we are, what we like, and what we want. If you ever hesitated to take a human sexuality course or are an education major/minor, make sure you have John and Linda Bartelt as your instructor. Don’t hesitate.