Re:Universities can’t fulfil the myth, but can’t become voca...
by graycat on Monday June 02, 2014 @12:14AM
(#7831849)
While his history of higher education in old England
is interesting, my view of current college
education in the US is quite different from his:
In short, my view, from my experience as a student,
is that the best teacher is essentially always the
best researcher. Why? Because he (she) knows the most
about the subject, thus, has the best judgment
about what's important in the subject, has the deepest
and most mature view of the subject, likely
knows where the subject is headed for the next
5-10 years,
and is likely one of the brightest and hardest working
guys around. For his ability at 'teaching', I learned
not to care: It's just not very important for the
learning. That is, I didn't really need the polished,
practiced, proven, trained, highly developed
'pedagogical techniques'; instead, what the best
researcher brings is much more important and, really,
enough for 'pedagogy'. Sorry 'bout that.
Next, the universities are the source of crucial parts of
essentially all important research in our civilization, and
research has a long history, back at least to Newton,
of being by a wide margin the most valuable activity
for civilization, the economy, standards of living,
return on investment, etc. So, for anyone who wants
to learn, apply, or add to such research, start at
a good college and get for teachers the best
researchers can get.
I've seen 'teachers' who were good with pedagogy, and
I've seen good researchers; the mere teachers far
too often just didn't know the subject well enough,
and hands down the researchers were the much better
deal. Or, it's (A) high quality pedagogy of low quality
content or (B) high quality content from someone
who really understands the subject and is a good
teacher because of that understanding; I've seen
both, and I'll take (B) any time. Or, to heck
with the pedagogy; instead, I'll just study some of
the best texts and papers; in that, a good researcher
can help me pick the texts and papers and help
me find the most important points, and
a mere teacher just can't, especially for material
close to the leading edge of research.
In short, my view, from my experience as a student, is that the best teacher is essentially always the best researcher. Why? Because he (she) knows the most about the subject, thus, has the best judgment about what's important in the subject, has the deepest and most mature view of the subject, likely knows where the subject is headed for the next 5-10 years, and is likely one of the brightest and hardest working guys around. For his ability at 'teaching', I learned not to care: It's just not very important for the learning. That is, I didn't really need the polished, practiced, proven, trained, highly developed 'pedagogical techniques'; instead, what the best researcher brings is much more important and, really, enough for 'pedagogy'. Sorry 'bout that.
Next, the universities are the source of crucial parts of essentially all important research in our civilization, and research has a long history, back at least to Newton, of being by a wide margin the most valuable activity for civilization, the economy, standards of living, return on investment, etc. So, for anyone who wants to learn, apply, or add to such research, start at a good college and get for teachers the best researchers can get.
I've seen 'teachers' who were good with pedagogy, and I've seen good researchers; the mere teachers far too often just didn't know the subject well enough, and hands down the researchers were the much better deal. Or, it's (A) high quality pedagogy of low quality content or (B) high quality content from someone who really understands the subject and is a good teacher because of that understanding; I've seen both, and I'll take (B) any time. Or, to heck with the pedagogy; instead, I'll just study some of the best texts and papers; in that, a good researcher can help me pick the texts and papers and help me find the most important points, and a mere teacher just can't, especially for material close to the leading edge of research.