Re: Not qualified to teach? Who cares?

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You are so right on Kate!!! As the wife of an engineering professor who
has focused on educating and preparing undergraduate engineers with a
21st century skills set for 30 years, I can tell you his interest and
focus have not been appreciate. But oh well, he decided a long time ago
he did not want to spend his career on just educating a few foreign
graduate students a year. The unfortunate truth is that the entire
paradigm of tenure and promotion is focused in most cases on research
dollars, publications and then teaching. And, one class a year is not
unheard of or one a semester, but to just a small group of grad students
in a very narrow area so you don't really have to prepare much.

The interesting thing that my husband and his fellow senior cohorts are
watching is that as they cram more undergrads into larger and larger
engineering classes to pay for the researcher equipment in a few years
even the one course person is going to be facing 70 or more more
students!! The other thing that is happening across education is that
universities are becoming more and more dependent on hiring adjuncts
rather then tenure track faculty or else hiring folks and letting them
go without tenure after six years or so. Now sometimes the undergrades
luck out and can get a practicing or even retired engineer for example
who knows a lot and really enjoys the outlet of teaching. BUT you can
also find a person who wants some extra dollars or to try teaching, but
does not have the skills and then it is just a trying experience for
both sides.

At some point the cost of college education even in state schools is
going to be the factor that is going to bring about real change, but it
may be another 10 or so years. It is very sad to see how many are in
college education and have very little interest in what should be the
finished product - the student at least on the undergraduate level. The
system at least in engineering is destroying a generation of future
American-born engineers as many just are so fed up by senior year that
they opt for law, business or even medicine rather than an advanced
engineering degree.

On 8/27/09, Kate wrote:
> Not that this is right, but major universities do not reward
> professors for good teaching. It's not how it works. Research dollars
> are the key, in science and engineering, anyway. When the people
> teaching fight over who gets to NOT teach, a communication class
> isn't going to help. JMO, and yes, I have witnessed several
> professors griping about teaching one class, once a year (not once a
> semester).
>
> On 8/26/09, sspil wrote:
>> It's not just teachers who don't have knowledge, it those who
>> can't communicate it to others that are a problem as well. I've
>> run into many very knowledgeable people who were very bad
>> teachers. Just because you know your subject, doesn't mean you
>> can communicate it to others. Some of the most brilliant people
>> in their field are horrid teachers. Perhaps they should require
>> all those who plan to teach at a university to take a class on
>> communication skills.
 

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