Xref: utzoo soc.college:4905 comp.edu:3103 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uunet!ncrlnk!ncrwic!wsuiar!tdhammer From: tdhammer@wsuiar.uucp Newsgroups: soc.college,comp.edu Subject: Re: Research vs. Teaching Message-ID: <45.26010ad1@wsuiar.uucp> Date: 16 Mar 90 20:48:33 GMT References: <1990Mar12.164538.25093@Solbourne.COM> <1990Mar12.185155.10519@athena.mit.edu> <4100@mit-caf.MIT.EDU> <1990Mar13.052812.905@athena.mit.edu> <4112@mit-caf.MIT.EDU> <1990Mar14.021955.27323@athena.mit.edu> Followup-To: davis.edu> Lines: 58 Organization: Wichita State Univ., Wichita KS Lines: 55 In article , windley@cheetah.ucdavis.edu (Phil Windley/20000000) writes: > In article <1990Mar14.021955.27323@athena.mit.edu> oliver@athena.mit.edu (James D. Oliver III) writes: > > Anyway, the view that good reasearchers *in general* make lousy teachers > is pretty pervasive. What do people at other schools, particularly > those with undergraduate experience at places with smaller graduate > departments (i.e. less research emphasis) seem to think? > > > There is a very importatn point being missed here. In order to *teach* > GRAD students, you have to be able to do *research*. If a school awards > PhD's then more than likely, it will emphasize research because this is how > grad students are educated. Now I know that this doesn't sit well with all > the undergrads that want an excellent classroom teacher (not an execellent > mentor), but if you want a good undergrad education *AND DON'T PLAN ON > GOING TO GRAD SCHOOL* go to a school that DOESN'T offer the PhD degree. > You'll see a great emphasis on teaching. I think the emphasis needs to be on learning everywhere. It seems that every year at this time there is an uproar around the country about professors at universities who have been denied tenure because of a lack of publications. Students respond because that professor was a good instructor. Being available to students is a major part of being a good instructor, perhaps moreso than classroom ability. But, how is anyone, professor or student or professional, going to keep up with their peers without doing some kind of research? I hate to see a good instructor get the boot, but sometimes that instructor also has gotten a bit behind the times and can't keep up a discussion with colleagues. On a related thread, I attended a small, liberal-arts school because that was where I felt comfortable. I always expected to go to grad school and now I know how under-prepared I was, however I did get the emphasis on teaching. And I will return to that environment to teach if at all possible and take with me a commitment to be both a good teacher and a good researcher, even if it isn't the kind of work that brings in mega-money contracts. I think that that situation could be an excellent preparation for grad school or career. Tim .D. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tim .D. Hammer BITNET: TDHAMMER@TWSUVAX Teaching/Research Assistant UUCP: uunet!ncrlnk!ncrwic!wsucsa!hammer Computer Science Dept. Box 83 INTERNET: tdhammer@wsuiar.wsu.ukans.edu Wichita State University TalkNET: (316)689-3156 1845 Fairmont Wichita, Ks. 67208-1595 #include #define VIEWS_and_OPINIONS MY_OWN /* no one else would admit to them */ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "A little learning is a dangerous thing." Alexander Pope