ACTA's Must-Reads
« A bachelor's in three years? | Main | Getting the high costs and the high times out of higher education »
Bauerlein on the decline of undergraduate instruction (and its comeback?)
Emory University professor and ACTA friend Mark Bauerlein has an insightful article on Minding the Campus today about the culture of the professoriate and what that means for undergraduate education. Simply put, at most universities the deck is stacked against undergraduates, especially freshmen and sophomores, with many of their introductory courses being taught by graduate teaching assistants or poorly-paid adjuncts. First-year composition, general education courses, and student-faculty interaction are often the first casualties of this arrangement.
And where are the professors in all of this? While there are undoubtedly many faculty who have a keen desire to teach and inspire the youngest students, many find themselves caught up in a system that places a premium on publishing, conferences, and networking and downplays less scintillating resume material like office hours and English 101. But there is hope on the horizon for faculty who do wish to devote more time to teaching, with programs like the Veritas Fund giving grants to professors for developing courses geared towards undergraduates, particularly first-year students. Alumni have also had an impact by helping to fund and sustain "oases of excellence" at schools like Princeton, Hamilton, and Texas, where students are given an opportunity to interact more fully with professors as well as visiting scholars.
As Bauerlein makes clear, solving this problem will require a profound change in the culture of the university, especially when it comes to training graduate students and making decisions concerning promotion and tenure. But these new developments are certainly heartening for those concerned with undergraduate education.
Posted by Sandra E. Czelusniak on November 14, 2008 at November 14, 2008 01:55 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.goactablog.org/blog/mt-tb.cgi/501