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OurBrokenSystemofEducation 7 - 09 Mar 2009 - Main.WilliamKing
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| | I was struck by the part of Professor Moglen's lecture yesterday on our education system, and I wish to address some particularly troublesome thoughts that I've had regarding our higher education system (university level and beyond).
Prof. Moglen said that in general, professors don't care about their students very much. Instead of learning about their students, they would rather sit around in a faculty lunch and discuss how intelligent they are. While as an undergraduate, I had sinking suspicions of this sentiment, it was only until I worked as a graduate student TA that I realized the pervasiveness of this truth. I pursued a PhD? in engineering in part because of my love for teaching, and I was shocked to realize how few professors truly care about it. As a TA, I have worked for professors who rehash each year's lecture on dull powerpoint presentations despite repeated critical evaluations of their ineffectiveness, delegating almost all aspects of evaluation (including all test writing, grading, and office hours) to me and almost all aspects of actual learning to the student himself. In fact, while conversing with fellow graduate students, I have heard of certain professors openly declaring that they cared nothing about their undergraduates, that they were a pain in the ass, and that they would rather do research. And this was at a university which was consistently ranked in the top 5 in the nation and liked to boast of the success of their graduates in that particular field. | | | There are two separate issues here. One is that higher education is driven by prestige, and that the reputation of a degree can have a substantial bearing on a student's career prospects. The other is that "universities hire the people who bring in money", many of whom aren't particularly interested in the teaching aspect of their job. I don't think we have to complacently accept this state of affairs simply because we can read reviews about different schools.
Would a university system, in which teachers don't write and researchers/writers don't teach, be viable? | |
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> | I am particularly interested in this conversation because it wasn’t until I came to Law School that I gave serious thought to criticisms of the higher education learning system. For Undergrad, I attended Holy Cross, a small liberal arts school in Massachusetts; the majority of our class sizes were rarely over 20 people and there was a great emphasis on teacher student dialogue. Had it not been for some of my professors at Holy Cross, I most likely would not be at Columbia Law School. I came to Columbia with the belief that though it was graduate school I would still have the ability to converse with and ask questions to my professors. Thus far this has been the case.
Beginning with Professor Sovern in Legal Methods, I saw that even at this level there remained an open and present opportunity to email or visit my professors to ask questions and clear up any apprehension. Though I have not engaged in this practice often, I have never doubted its existence.
As to the prestige concern, I agree that prestige has become a driving force in leading students to choose one institution over another. But I kindly disagree with Alex’s assertion that prestige is independent of any REAL factors. Prestige is not necessarily grounded on what the student learns or is taught at the University. Rather, prestige is about the type of graduates the university has produced and their influence on society. I school is not only judged by their professors but also their Alumni. I also do not see a direct correlation to the prestige of a university and the professors at that university opting not to teach. While there may be institutions of prestige in which professors use their tenure to act in bad faith, I do not see this as evidence against incorporating prestige in assessing a university.
-- WilliamKing - 09 Mar 2009 |
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