Re:America's Most Overrated Product: the Bachelor's Degree
by tptacek on Monday October 06, 2008 @04:04PM
(#325250)
It doesn't simply say that students are unprepared; it says that colleges do a bad job of teaching, because they staff teaching jobs with people who are trained and competant only to do research work. When it asserts that colleges take advantage of students, it backs it up with arguments like "students end up in large lecture classes" or classes taught by grad students.
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Re:America's Most Overrated Product: the Bachelor's Degree
by hugh on Monday October 06, 2008 @05:45PM
(#325340)
I think this is a problem with the students as well.
Kindergarteners need to be taught by people who are trained for teaching. Eleven-year-olds need to be taught by people who are trained for teaching. But by the time you get to the the university level, you're supposed to be clever enough that you can pick up a subject just by having one of the world's super-experts in the field stand up and ramble in front of you for a while. If you can't learn without hand-holding, you don't belong at university.
Re:America's Most Overrated Product: the Bachelor's Degree
by decode on Monday October 06, 2008 @05:02PM
(#325299)
In my experience, there is a large gap between the smaller, liberal arts "teaching" college and the large, research institution. I did my Bachelor's at the former and had great teachers and small classes (no classes with more than 30 students in 4 years). I did my Master's at a Research I university and there the undergrads are put into huge classes taught by professors that couldn't care less about them and grad students who are overworked and underpaid. Of course, at the graduate level the tables turn in the student's favor again: the Research I university offers small classes taught by some of the foremost experts in the world.