Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!killer!elg
From: elg@killer.DALLAS.TX.US (Eric Green)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: Student preparedness
Message-ID: <6771@killer.DALLAS.TX.US>
Date: 13 Jan 89 09:10:37 GMT
References: <5268@pdn.UUCP>
Organization: The Unix(R) Connection, Dallas, Texas
Lines: 44

in article <5268@pdn.UUCP>, reggie@pdn.UUCP (George W. Leach) says:
> In article <13160@bellcore.bellcore.com> duncan@ctt.bellcore.com (Scott Duncan) writes:
> 
>>What techniques do people use to produce an atmosphere where questions that do
>>not have immediate answers get asked and pursued?
> 
> industry.  Often a professor is looked upon in awe by the average undergrad.

I think this is the crux of the matter -- the professor being put up
on a pedestal as "the man who knows EVERYTHING about Computer
Science." The lecture turns into Awestruck Students Avidly Awaiting
Tidbits of Enlightenment from Oh Noble Guru of Professorhood. Pthui.

What needs to be gotten across to students is that professors don't
have magical powers. They're just ordinary folks who put a helluva lot
of time into research and study. Any Joe Student after the first few
semesters ought to have enough background so that he can begin making
sense of the books and papers on a topic... but how many students do
you think actually go out of their way? How many students taking, say,
a Compiler course, will do more than just scan the book? Short of
folks going for an advanced degree specializing in compilers, I can't
think of many who'd buy every compiler book they came across, and
check out the referenced papers. Yet that's just the difference
between Dr. B and Joe Undergrad. Dr. B has put years into it, but
there's nothing magical or mystical about it.

I don't know how to impart upon students the self-confidence needed to
participate in class and pursue outside questions. But I do know that
part of the answer is to eliminate the self-proclaimed Godhood of All
Instructors. Teachers in elementary and secondary education in
particular use this method to actively discourage questions, mostly
because they don't know the answers (if you ask an elementary school
teacher why 1+1=2, she'll just say "because."). I've also encountered
a few college-level professors, pompous types, who tend to fall into
the same relationship with their students ("I'm the Professor, you're
the peons, what I say goes."). Thankfully, at the college level, such
instructors are a minority. But the students don't seem to have
noticed. 

--
Eric Lee Green    ..!{ames,decwrl,mit-eddie,osu-cis}!killer!elg
          Snail Mail P.O. Box 92191 Lafayette, LA 70509              
Netter A: In Hell they run VMS.
Netter B: No.  In Hell, they run MS-DOS.  And you only get 256k.