Question for those teaching

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  1. #11

    Join Date
    Oct 2006
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    The amount of BS in tertiary education is almost unbeliveable... improper student-prof relationships, profs using(and abusing) graduate students to teach undergrads, using graduate students for their own research with little or no mention of them in published articles, often a complete disregard for undergrads. I wholeheartedly agree that it's often even worse in universities with a higher reputation because of publish or perish attitude...

    And you are right, the archetype personality of the successful researcher rarely matches the traits necessary to interact successfully with student and particularly undergrads who may not have the same talent/interest/maturity as the older graduate students. which is why these courses are often shunned by older tenured teachers and passed on to graduate students or junior professors.


  2. #12

    Join Date
    May 2006
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    Pampanga, Philippines
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    29,763
    Quote Originally Posted by gilleshk:
    The amount of BS in tertiary education is almost unbeliveable... improper student-prof relationships, profs using(and abusing) graduate students to teach undergrads, using graduate students for their own research with little or no mention of them in published articles, often a complete disregard for undergrads. I wholeheartedly agree that it's often even worse in universities with a higher reputation because of publish or perish attitude...

    And you are right, the archetype personality of the successful researcher rarely matches the traits necessary to interact successfully with student and particularly undergrads who may not have the same talent/interest/maturity as the older graduate students. which is why these courses are often shunned by older tenured teachers and passed on to graduate students or junior professors.
    Yep as a graduate I did teaching and even the marking for a senior prof who was "too busy" to do his own. Luckily when I was a research associate my prof had already been done for plagiarising the work of a researcher so was very careful to shove everything in my name - even seeing a paper published under my name when I had written nothing for it (but using my research).

    It is not only the traits that are lacking but also the motivation. As you say it is "publish or perish" for them and students just get in the way. There are many notable exceptions but generally the best teaching I have come across has been in some of the lowest ranked universities and the worst in some of the highest ones.