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From: nevin1@ihlpb.ATT.COM (Liber)
Newsgroups: comp.edu,sci.math,sci.physics
Subject: Re: Student and Course Integrity
Message-ID: <9237@ihlpb.ATT.COM>
Date: 21 Dec 88 02:20:45 GMT
References: <4550@homxc.UUCP> <4847@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> <2082@imagine.PAWL.RPI.EDU>
Reply-To: nevin1@ihlpb.UUCP (55528-Liber,N.J.)
Followup-To: comp.edu
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories - Naperville, Illinois
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[followups to comp.edu]

In article <2082@imagine.PAWL.RPI.EDU> mccombt@turing.cs.rpi.edu (Todd McComb) writes:

>I agree.  Most introductory level courses (most anything taught at an
>undergraduate level) work well in classroom settings.

I disagree!  If this were true, there wouldn't be so many problems in
the advanced level courses.  It is much more important the fundamentals
to be taught well.

But look who teaches the intro courses at the majority of American
universities:  teaching assistants.  What are their *teaching*
qualifications?  None.  You do not need an education in education to be
considered qualified to practice education at the college level (ironic,
isn't it?).  I cannot think of any other profession where this is true.

Why does this happen?  Although it is more important for professors to
be teaching the fundamentals, they are the only ones who know enough to
teach the advanced courses.  So what happens?  Students don't get a
good base on which to build, and they really have to struggle all of
their college life.  Will this change?  Probably not; universities are
not all that interested in educating Joe Student.

Unfortunately, benchmarks, (er, uh, I mean grades) don't reflect these problems
in the introductory courses; it is much easier to get a B in a
100-level course if you don't really know what you are doing than it is
in a 300-level course.  If you are getting an A or a B, you tend to
think that you 'know' the material.  It's only later, when it is far
too late to catch up, that your understanding is actually tested.
-- 
NEVIN ":-)" LIBER  AT&T Bell Laboratories  nevin1@ihlpb.ATT.COM  (312) 979-4751