Re:Why College is Frustrating
by barry-cotter on Monday November 23, 2009 @01:47AM
(#956989)
Proposal: Debundle teaching and research (and while I'm asking for the moon, certification as well.)
Most university lecturers are there to do research, teaching is a sideline. Some people genuinely like teaching, among them some of the research productive. But optimising for two things at once will not give as good results on either measure as optimising separately.
I don't hold out much hope here given that the main purpose of elite colleges for undergrads is status by association with prestige, which comes from the research productive. Teaching excellence is strictly a sideline.
Most university lecturers are there to do research, teaching is a sideline. Some people genuinely like teaching, among them some of the research productive. But optimising for two things at once will not give as good results on either measure as optimising separately.
I don't hold out much hope here given that the main purpose of elite colleges for undergrads is status by association with prestige, which comes from the research productive. Teaching excellence is strictly a sideline.