Last semester I took a class that changed my life. It wasn't a computer science course (computer science is my major), a student development course, or even a religion course. It was a political science course. It wasn't the subject matter that changed me; instead it was the professor: Professor Gilchrist. The unique thing about him is that he actually challenged the way I thought. You might say that goes with the territory in political science, but it was much more than that. He was also one of the few teachers I've had that actually inspired me to be a better person; not even all of my religion teachers have pulled that one off. He is revered by most of his students because he actually cares about them and, more importantly, about their learning. Now guess where he is teaching this semester. Utah State actually. Did he go there because he wanted a change of scene? No. Was he sick of BYU? No, as a matter of fact he loves BYU. He's gone because he didn't make tenure here. Why didn't he? He didn't publish enough papers. This is a tragedy: an institution of higher learning firing a professor that actually helps students learn. What makes it worse is that his replacement will probably just write papers that will only be read by his peers. This is one of many examples that shows that our education system does not value what it should. Teachers are most valuable for having doctorates and published papers, rather than having a genuine interest in their students. Students are expected to learn how to "regurgitate" information rather than how to think in a rational and innovative manner. Universities were created to help educate the people; now they simply want to be famous and make money. It seems they have lost sight of what it truly is all about.
Article that inspired this piece of work: Adjuncts, lecturers and professors, oh my!
I appreciate your comment. It's interesting because our Family History department at BYU actually suffers from a lack of professors. Since it falls under the history department, professors are required to have a PHD. But seriously... how many people get a PHD in family history? So we actually have a lack of professors and it really impacts the program. It's kinda sad that this department is struggling when it's one of the core missions of the church. I wish they'd put more emphasis on the learning process than just meeting the bullet points on a list of requirements.
ReplyDeleteI don't think we should ignore the value of good research, i.e., published papers. BYU is not officially a research institution (this is why we were not a candidate school to enter the Pac-12 and several other football conferences), but much of BYU's prestige is based on the research of its professors. Tenure at a university is a big investment; I can understand why a university wants tenured professors to contribute to the research of their fields.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like a tricky balance. Good research is valuable, but so is good teaching. It seems like Universities should have more separation of research and teaching so that they can each be given the time they need, but at the same time, we don't want the the teaching to get stale.
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