Xref: utzoo comp.edu:1651 sci.math:5222 sci.physics:5291
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From: nevin1@ihlpb.ATT.COM (Liber)
Newsgroups: comp.edu,sci.math,sci.physics
Subject: Re: Student preparedness
Message-ID: <9238@ihlpb.ATT.COM>
Date: 21 Dec 88 02:36:43 GMT
References: <4893@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> <6435@killer.DALLAS.TX.US> <1988Dec16.153701.8316@cs.rochester.edu> <97@microsoft.UUCP> <502@mccc.UUCP>
Reply-To: nevin1@ihlpb.UUCP (55528-Liber,N.J.)
Followup-To: comp.edu
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories - Naperville, Illinois
Lines: 26

[followups to comp.edu]

In article <502@mccc.UUCP> pjh@mccc.UUCP (Pete Holsberg) writes:

>However, most people find that their time is
>spent more effectively in the company of a person who understands how to
>teach them what they are to learn.

Yes, but the intersection of those people and my college professors
yields a very small set indeed!  Professors are not usually hired based
on their teaching ability; they are hired on their research ability.

Assuming that their job is *teaching*, what is their
degree in?  Usually in the field that they are going to teach.  It is
like hiring a mechanic to design an auto factory,  or a librarian as
a head publisher (this is not intended as a put-down of mechanics or
librarians; I'm just trying to point out that the job is mismatched.).
Seems absurd, doesn't it?

It is not even a necessary condition, let alone a sufficient condition,
to know the material in order to teach it.  If you look at professional
videotapes made for teaching, you will notice that most of the good
ones have actors, not professors, doing the teaching (you can usually
tell the difference on technical terms).
-- 
NEVIN ":-)" LIBER  AT&T Bell Laboratories  nevin1@ihlpb.ATT.COM  (312) 979-4751