Value of Higher Education - Fenton

Re: Is our students learning? by Margaret Wente (referencing the U.S. book “Academically Adrift”), published in the Globe and Mail on June 16, 2011:

Jeffrey Simpson's more recent piece "professors should teach" ... was perhaps more alarming.  Most of the generalizations Margaret Wente presents below are just that ... generalizations.  I just finished teaching an intersession course ... ended up with 9 students.  None of them of the calibre I would see in fall or winter versions of the same course.  Before this experience I would have rambled on about the Walmartization of university education ... huge classes, etc.  So I learned that in large classes there are more gems.

I still think that large classes (leaving open the definition of "large") are a mistake.  Perhaps as big a mistake as having faculty members who do not teach or who wallow in the luxury of reduced teaching loads, leaving their jobs to be done by others.

I would say forget Margaret Wente and focus on Jeffrey Simpson.

Brock Fenton, Professor and Chair, Department of Biology, The University of Western Ontario, and 3M National Teaching Fellow.

0

0

0 Comment(s) 

To post a comment or rating, you must LOGIN if you’re an existing Studentawards member OR SIGN UP if you’re new to this site.