ACTA's Must-Reads
« Foreign languages, Arkansas, and America's future | Main | The Keystone State...or the innovation state? »
Avalanche!
ACTA friend Mark Bauerlein, along with a host of co-authors, has a provocative piece in The Chronicle of Higher Education entitled "We Must Stop the Avalanche of Low-Quality Research." The basic gist is that there are too academic publications these days that are cited by no one and contribute less to knowledge than to overburdened reviewers' and researchers' workloads -- and to a decrease in quality. The authors suggest limiting the number of papers candidates can submit, giving greater weight to the impact of articles (or at least the extent to which they are cited by others), and limiting length. Their criticisms and prescriptions are well worth reading.
Of note, though, they conclude as follows:
Best of all, our suggested changes would allow academe to revert to its proper focus on quality research and rededicate itself to the sober pursuit of knowledge. And it would end the dispiriting paper chase that turns fledgling inquirers into careerists and established figures into overburdened grouches.
This is fair enough, and would certainly be an upgrade from the status quo. But the thought comes to mind that if Mark and his merry band are right, the best outgrowth might not be a greater focus on quality research but on excellent teaching. After all, one important reason faculty members often have little incentive to prioritize their teaching is that their careers depend on cranking out lots of publications, not making sure their students are actually learning something. If a different set of incentives resulted in graduates who know more -- well, what could be better?
Posted by Charles Mitchell on June 16, 2010 at June 16, 2010 10:57 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.goactablog.org/blog/mt-tb.cgi/768