Steven: Suffolk County tutor

Certified Tutor

Let me introduce myself, starting with my education and then explaining my teaching experience in America and Japan.

After graduating high school, I originally went to Wichita State University, and then I transferred to The University of Kansas where I obtained a degree in psychology. I then returned to WSU and got a degree in philosophy. I had studied Japanese as a foreign language, and had a deep interest in cultural anthropology, and so I went to Japan for two years as an assistant language teacher. After two years, I returned to KU where I earned a master's degree in the history of philosophy and was also awarded the outstanding graduate student award as well as the outstanding teaching assistant award for that year. I then transferred to the Ohio State University, which was at the time ranked 10th in the world in my chosen field of study, philosophy of mind and cognitive science. After obtaining my second master's degree in that field, I went on to get a PhD in analytic philosophy at OSU.

While at both KU and OSU I taught various courses for a total of ten years, including introduction to logic and critical thinking, introduction to philosophy, and introduction to ethics. I also assisted professors, including such courses as ancient philosophy, Asian philosophy, symbolic logic, and probability and decision making.

After obtaining my PhD, given my interest in cultural anthropology, I spent a total of over five more years living and teaching in Japan. By my third year in Japan, after much independent study of Japanese history, culture, and language, the Japan University of Economics, where I had been teaching English, asked me to teach Japanese history to the foreign students at the university. I also published an article in a Japanese academic journal on the philosophy of language written in the Japanese language, and so the university asked me to teach a course in Japanese on Japanese culture. I was asked to stay on at the university, their philosophy professor having retired, to teach introduction to philosophy and introduction to ethics. Both classes would have two sections, one taught in English and another taught in Japanese. Unfortunately, I had to decline, having to return to America for personal reasons.

In addition to teaching at a Japanese university, I taught four years at Linden Hall High School and over a year at Daiichi High School. At Linden Hall, I was the International Bachelorette Theory of Knowledge instructor and IB Creativity, Activity, and Service coordinator. At Daiichi, I was the IB Psychology instructor and CAS coordinator. I am also certified to teach IB philosophy.

I am now back in America hoping that students I tutor can benefit from my education and experience.